Bid to scrap Greater Cambridge Partnership rejected by councillors

Steve Count argued the Greater Cambridge Partnership should be disbanded

The Greater Cambridge Partnership should be disbanded as everything it does is "tainted" by the congestion charge, according to a councillor.

Steve Count, Conservative opposition leader at Cambridgeshire County Council, said the failed plans had ruined the GCP's reputation.

He submitted a motion for its funding and responsibilities to be given to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

However, the motion was defeated.

The partnership was set up to deliver the Greater Cambridge City Deal, which was announced in 2014 as a £1bn scheme to improve transport, housing and skills.

It dropped its proposal for a congestion charge in the city last year after political support for the idea ebbed away.

At a county council meeting on Tuesday, members in support of the GCP said it was still the best body to deliver the transport improvements needed in Cambridge and the surrounding areas.

A petition signed by 258 people calling for the organisation to be disbanded was presented to the meeting, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Count said the combined authority had similar aims as the GCP, and should therefore take on its responsibilities and funding.

He said the failed congestion charge proposals had left a "stain" on the GCP, which "tainted" anything the body now tried to do.

"There have been so many failures by the GCP. No one has confidence in it anymore, so it is time for it to go," he said.

Fellow Conservative councillor Steve Tierney said the partnership was "stupid" and should be "scrapped".

But other members voiced support for the GCP.

Liberal Democrat Alex Beckett said it had "faced its share of challenges", but that was because it was "dealing with complex issues".

Labour councillor Elisa Meschini, deputy leader of the council and chair of the GCP board, said the partnership had saved the Chisholm Trail, which she said was now used by thousands of people.

Liberal Democrat member Lorna Dupré expressed "grave reservations" about whether the GCP could be disbanded without the government clawing back the money it had put towards the city deal.

The motion was rejected by 31 votes to 18.

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