Phil Rodgers: A year of dramatic political changes to our city and county but many things are as they were

The last 12 months brought some dramatic political changes to our city and county, but also left a lot of things largely as they were. Here’s a look back at the local events of 2024, and a selection of some of the most memorable moments.

While 2023 was the year of the congestion charge, the main political event in 2024 was of course the long-awaited General Election. While this brought the expected sweeping Labour landslide, it also slowed down developments on a lot of issues affecting Cambridge, as everyone waited to see what the policy of the new government would be. Key amongst these issues was the growth plan for the city, which still remains shrouded in uncertainty. However, Peter Freeman’s Cambridge Delivery Group is busily working away behind the scenes, so we will just have to wait and see what proposals it will eventually deliver.

In contrast to the General Election, 2024’s city council elections were rather less dramatic – though I was very pleased that I finally managed to predict the outcomes in all the seats correctly. With just one seat changing hands, Labour kept their comfortable majority on the city council. However, they will find future local elections a good deal more challenging now that they are doing some unpopular things in government at Westminster.

Election victory of the year

There are several contenders for the most impressive election win locally. In May’s city council elections, honourable mention must certainly go to Hugh Clough’s resounding win for the Green Party in Newnham, capturing the seat from Lib Dem Lucy Nethsingha. It was clear that the Greens were on course for a gain, but the results still made me go “wow!” when the returning officer read them out. Local Lib Dems were rather happier with results in the General Election. As the count concluded, the vast Conservation Hall at Duxford resounded to Lib Dem cheers as they scored a hat-trick of wins in the three seats surrounding Cambridge. Perhaps the most unexpected of these was Charlotte Cane’s 495-vote majority over former Conservative cabinet minister Lucy Frazer in Ely and East Cambridgeshire.

However, I think the award for election victory of the year has to go to Sam Carling, who started the year as city councillor for West Chesterton, and finished it as Member of Parliament for North West Cambridgeshire, defeating veteran Conservative Shailesh Vara by just 39 votes. The graph shows you just how close it was.

Battle of the year

There have been battles in Cambridge on a good few issues during 2024. A particularly notable one was the Battle of Owlstone Henge, which saw the city council perhaps ill-advisedly affixing some rather hysterical ‘environmental crime scene’ tape to boulders by the side of Owlstone Road, which had been placed there by a resident as an unofficial but effective traffic-calming measure. In the end, after some national press coverage, common sense prevailed and the boulders remained. There was a better outcome for the council, however, in its battle over The Don, the controversial sculpture in Hills Road which was finally removed after an unsuccessful planning appeal.

But undoubtedly the battle of the year in 2024 was the continuing struggle over the bus gate on Mill Road bridge. While the county council made a tactical retreat, agreeing to have its Traffic Regulation Order quashed by the High Court, this gave it the opportunity to come back for another go with a more legally robust order. While this too is currently facing a legal challenge, things aren’t looking very good for the objectors, with the most recent court judgment describing their case as “very far from convincing”. But this is a battle that will undoubtedly continue for some time yet.

Word of the year

For me, I think the political word of the year in 2024 is ‘looming’, because it can be attached to so many of the issues which are on the Cambridge horizon. As well as the Growth Company’s plans, East West Rail is definitely at the looming stage, along with the Cambourne to Cambridge busway plans currently looming over the apple trees of Coton orchard. After a pause due to budgetary constraints, the revived Cambridge South East Transport busway route is also looming over the countryside around Sawston, Stapleford and Shelford. Expect a good deal more looming in the new year.

Number of the year

There are plenty of candidates for political number of the year. An obvious one is 150,000 – often mentioned as the number of new homes that government plans might bring to the Cambridge area, which would more than double the number of households in Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire combined, currently around 120,000. Another notable number is 6,400, the number of E. Coli colonies found in 100ml of river water at Sheep’s Green in July, prompting the Environment Agency to rate its water quality as ‘poor’. But I think one of the most interesting political numbers this year was 30.1 per cent – the overall Conservative vote share across the eight constituencies of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough at the General Election. Despite the drubbing that the party received at the polls, this still puts them ahead in the area that will choose the next mayor of the Combined Authority in May’s elections, as the graph shows.

Shortest council motion of the year

There seems to be something about local government that encourages verbosity. It is an amusing fact (to me, at least) that the constitution of Cambridge City Council is about 15 times as long as the constitution of the United States of America. Ahead of council meetings, our elected representatives doggedly plough through hundreds of pages of documents on the issues they’ll be debating. So while some motions to council do tend to be on the lengthy side (and yes, I’m looking at you, Cambridge Green Party), I think it’s worth celebrating the occasional bit of brevity that appears on council agendas. This year that honour went to County Council leader Lucy Nethsingha, who managed to raise the issue of air quality monitoring in just three short paragraphs totalling 130 words.

While the year ends with a new government with new policies which will certainly make a difference to Cambridge, many of the old challenges remain. The city’s housing is still eye-wateringly expensive; its roads are still congested; its river is still polluted and its water supply is still stressed; it still has huge pressures from growth; its local government arrangements are still bewilderingly complicated; and it remains one of the most unequal cities in the country. What will 2025 bring? I’ll be taking a look at the political prospects for the new year in my next column.