About the Council
A beautiful place to live and work, Cambridge is an historic University city and market town with high quality architecture and attractive open spaces. It is also a city of national and international importance, being home to a world-class university and a globally renowned hub of research, innovation and knowledge-based industries including information technology, telecommunications and life sciences.
Cambridge is at the heart of a buoyant sub-region which is an area designated for major growth in employment and housing.
The population of Cambridge is over 150,000.
The council is committed to supporting sustainable growth of the city in housing, jobs and community infrastructure.
The Cambridge Rich Picture is a visual tool that has been developed by Live Illustration working with council staff, stakeholders, partners and shaped by feedback from Residents and Communities. The tool focuses on outcomes, not how to fix the problems but about what’s important and what we want Cambridge to be like. It takes complex information contributed by a wide range of stakeholders and translates it into an easy to interpret visual narrative. The tool is designed to support conversations about the city with communities, partners, and stakeholders, helping to clarify similarities and differences in expectations, and providing valuable insight for the Cambridge system, of which the Council is a part.
Our vision
We have a clear vision to lead a united city, ‘One Cambridge, Fair for All’, in which economic dynamism and prosperity are combined with social justice and equality. It is a vision we will share and develop, working with our citizens and partner organisations.
Continuous Improvement
The City Council employs around 850 staff directly as well as delivering services through others who are based in our shared services and arm’s length partnership arrangements. As an Investors in People employer, we are committed to developing and supporting our staff through effective leadership and continuous improvement that supports the Council’s vision. We are an accredited Real Living Wage employer and an award-winning Living Wage champion organisation. In addition to the Real Living Wage we pay a Cambridge Weighting to staff on Cambridge City Council terms and conditions to bring the minimum pay rate to £12.50 per hour.
In addition to the traditional district council services, the City Council provides or commissions a comprehensive range of leisure and arts and community development activities, including through a £1m annual community grants programme. These services include: swimming pools and sports facilities, an internationally renowned Folk Festival, a number of free open air events in our parks and open spaces and a range of community centres. We have our own housing stock and are landlord to 7,000 council homes. We are able to fund and deliver this broad range of high-quality services partly through income derived from our extensive commercial property portfolio and other fees and charges. The council’s turnover is c. £155 million each year across the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account.
Increasing levels of partnership working, an ongoing drive for greater efficiency and a clear focus on good customer service mean that we have developed new models for service delivery, driving change and different ways of working.
Vision, Plans and Budget
The Council has a clear vision to lead a united city, ‘One Cambridge – Fair for All’, in which economic dynamism and prosperity are combined with social justice and equality.
Please follow the links to information about us, budget setting and key plans and policies: