The Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority Board meets in Ely today. They recently decided to meet every two months rather than monthly. Today’s agenda has 31 items and is 780 pages long.

I’m here to ask the questions the Combined Authority’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee agreed on Monday that I should ask on their behalf. There are eight public questions first, all on the Local Transport Plan. The consultation on the draft Plan took place at the end of last year, and the report to the Board today outlines the responses, along with suggestions for changes to the Plan in response. Questioners are particularly interested in the Huntingdon Third River Crossing.

The agenda includes setting the Combined Authority’s budget and agreeing its business plan. The Board also discusses the business case for “£100,000 homes”, public consultation on the CAM metro proposed tunneled section under Cambridge, and the next stage of the proposals for the regional ‘arms’ of the network. The Overview & Scrutiny Committee has asked about progress on identifying funding for this multi-billion pound project, and I’m told it’s expected to come from a number of sources.

The motion banning the Combined Authority from holding any meetings whatsoever in Cambridge, which the Overview & Scrutiny Committee unanimously disapproved, has been amended so that it allows for meetings hosted by the city council at the Guildhall, but not meetings hosted by the county council at Shire Hall. It’s all a bit academic anyway, as the county council will be moving out of Shire Hall to Alconbury soon, but it makes a very poor motion slightly less ridiculous.

The meeting comes to an end after four hours, and I’m very late indeed heading down the M11 and on to Hertfordshire to see my son and grandson.