A version of this article by Cllr Cameron Holloway, Leader of the council (pictured), was first published in Cambridge Independent on 28 January 2026.

‘I’m fed up with politicians. I don’t trust any of them.’ I hear this a lot, and it worries me. At a time of global upheaval, it’s vital that local leaders and, by extension, local councils, can build trust with the people we are here to serve. As I said when I became the leader of Cambridge City Council in May last year, it’s incumbent on us to win that trust.

For me, there are two essential elements to restoring trust in local politics: giving people a genuine democratic voice in local decision-making; and making a material positive difference to people’s lives.

Elections are one of the key expressions of that democratic voice. The government recently asked us whether postponing this year’s council elections would help to free up capacity for local government reorganisation. We’ve written back with a strong message that we want to go ahead with elections: local government reorganisation is a challenging process, but, with big decisions coming up, it’s vital that Cambridge residents have their say on who represents them in the coming years.

Elections are essential to local democracy, but they’re not enough on their own to build trust. We need to hear from residents all year round, and involve people in decisions that affect them – particularly people who might not always be the first to come forward.

Our draft Local Plan, which sets out plans for housing, jobs, infrastructure and the natural environment for the next 20 years, has already had input from thousands of residents. For our latest consultation, we held 100 separate events, to make sure we heard from as many people as possible.

In Abbey, we’re trialling ways to do engagement differently: rather than coming up with ideas ourselves and then consulting on them, we’re asking local people what they want, and supporting the development of grassroots, community-led projects. So far, these include: a social supermarket for affordable, healthy food; an enterprise facilitator for careers and business advice; a group of parents campaigning against educational inequalities; a project to develop ‘community champions’; and a food skills kitchen to help people to cook tasty, nutritious meals. We’re now looking to take those lessons of how to hear from and support communities and apply them in other areas of the city.

But as well as giving people a say, we know that we have to show results.

We’ve just published our draft budget proposals for the next financial year – and I’m proud that, despite years of national austerity, we’re in a very solid financial position. What was looking a couple of years back like a future deficit of £11.5 million is now just £1.5 million, thanks to years of hard work and careful stewardship.

Having solid finances matters. It means we can continue to spend money on the things that really matter to you. We’re proud of our 99.9% bin collection rate, of maintaining and investing in 100 play parks across the city, of our generous council tax exemptions for people on the lowest incomes, of our work on homelessness, with over half of long-term rough sleepers supported into sustained accommodation in the last year, and of enhancing biodiversity with wildflowers, habitat creation and even a new nature reserve at Logan’s Meadow. We’ve built over 700 desperately-needed council homes, and we’ve cut the council’s carbon emissions by 51.9% since the baseline in 2014/15.

And we continue to choose each year to spend over £1 million in grants to charities and community groups; to keep running seven great community centres to bring people together; to put on free summer activities, fireworks night, the Mayor’s Day Out, and so much more.

We know times are tough, but we hope that, by working hard every day to listen to you, work with you, and make things better, we can steadily build trust from the bottom up.