Welcome

Dear Candidate,

I am delighted you have expressed an interest in becoming Chief Financial Officer of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

I and my colleagues in the Combined Authority are ambitious for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. We know that conventional ways of delivering strategic housing and transport infrastructure and driving the economy forward cannot be relied upon if the economic success story of this area is to continue. Devolution has brought us a fantastic opportunity to come together to meet the challenges head-on and move forward with the boldness we need to drive forward the solutions that are urgently needed.

Since it was established the Combined Authority has delivered 258 affordable homes, funded the advanced training centre iMet at Alconbury Weald, funded road upgrades in the centre of Peterborough, completed the first project of a programme of upgrades at our Fen rail stations and have had the first care workers trained under the Health and Care pilot.

Next Spring, we will take on responsibility for adult education funding. In our next phase, we will need to put in place joined-up spacial and transport planning, a skills strategy and a powerful Local Industrial Strategy; we will be progressing new rail stations, dualled A-roads, and a new University of Peterborough and developing our market towns; and we will take decisive action to promote the Cambridge Autonomous Metro, a new public transport network of international significance.

We are looking for an experienced and expert Chief Financial Officer who will be responsible for delivering an effective financial strategy during this exciting time of growth for the region and increasing maturity at this start-up authority. While legally a local authority, the Combined Authority does not currently precept on local taxes and its funding mainly comes from money devolved by central government. The authority’s Business Board is also the area’s Local Enterprise Partnership. This means we need to be attentive to both central and local accountability frameworks and operate with a high degree of financial transparency and compliance.

We have worked at pace to establish the feasibility of projects vital to the success of our area and a number of key priority schemes including the A47, A10 and CAM Metro will require significant investment. The Combined Authority is already undertaking a process to make these projects deliverable by working with government, local partners, stakeholders and private investors.

Our Medium Term Financial Plan is currently out for consultation and represents a realistic balanced budget for the next four years. It is an important step in enabling us to move forward with the delivery of projects for the benefit of the people of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough with the support of members and partners.

The Combined Authority is a fast-paced, delivery focussed body that should challenge the public sector norm in pursuit of making Cambridge & Peterborough the leading place in the world to live, learn and work.

Once again thank you for your interest and I look forward to meeting you at a later stage of the process.

James Palmer
Mayor