Future of Peterborough City Council to be revealed this week

Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) will see the way councils are made up across the country changed.

In April 2028, the current seven councils in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (including Peterborough City Council), will be replaced by larger unitary authorities.

When this happens, Peterborough City Council as it is known today will cease to exist.

Described as a “once-in-a-generation” overhaul, LGR is a move by central government to replace the current two-tier system of district and county councils in England with larger unitary authorities.

The belief is that this new model will achieve the twin goals of transferring more powers and funding away from national governance to local authorities, and improve services across the region by making them simpler and more efficient for residents and businesses.

Those who back LGR say that having fewer layers of councils will also save money, enable faster decision-making and reduce duplication of work.

The announcement of how the councils will be reorganised is set to be made this week – possibly as soon as Tuesday.

There are a number of options open as to how Cambridgeshire will be split up.

Peterborough City Council – and MPs Andrew Pakes and Sam Carling – have been pushing for the ‘Greater Peterborough’ option.

This would see one council made up of Peterborough and West Huntingdonshire, a second council made up of Fenland, East Huntingdonshire and, East Cambridgeshire, and a third council made up of South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge City.

Huntingdon MP Ben Obese-Jecty has said on social media he believed this is the option that has been chosen – although the final decision has not been announced.

Other councils in the county have been pushing for other options – with Mr Obese-Jecty saying the ‘Greater Peterborough’ option would be ‘the worst possible outcome for Huntingdonshire.’

No details on how the councils will operate – for example, where the new council’s headquarters would be – have been announced yet.

In October, it was revealed that Peterborough residents could to have to pay more tax as a result of LGR.

This is because Peterborough residents currently pay less council tax than those in other parts of Cambridgeshire.

According to a report put before Peterborough City Council’s scrutiny committees on October 28 2025, the current Peterborough Band D bill of £1,749.42 could rise by £31.52 (1.77%) to a total of £1,780.94. In contrast, residents in the proposed West Huntingdonshire could see their council tax bills decrease by £85.56.

These figures have not been confirmed, and are subject to change.

The October meeting also heard that if the ‘Greater Peterborough’ option is chosen, the new authority could have a total of 79 councillors.

Peterborough City Council has 60 seats, when all councillors are sitting (There are currently 59 city councillors in Peterborough, with a 60th set to be elected following Thursday’s Fletton and Woodston by-election).