East Cambridgeshire (locally known as East Cambs) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in the city of Ely. The district also contains the towns of Littleport and Soham and surrounding rural areas, including parts of the Fens.
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. The new district covered the area of three former districts, which were all abolished at the same time:[5]
The council has been under Conservative control since 2007.
The first election to the council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:[8][9]
Since the last full review of boundaries in 2019 the council has comprised 28 councillors, representing 14 wards. Elections are held every four years.[12]
Premises
The council is based at The Grange on Nutholt Lane in Ely. The building was originally a large Victorian house. It served as a maternity hospital from the 1940s until the 1970s. The building was acquired around the time East Cambridgeshire was created in 1974 and converted to offices. Several large extensions have since been added.[13]
Archaeology
The Fenland Survey of archaeological finds carried out in the 1980s mentions an enumeration of findings made between 1884 and 1994 in the region to the north of Devil's Dyke and Cambridge, from the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age (the region south of Devil's Dyke is not yet included in the survey). By far the greatest quantities of bronze objects found in England were discovered in East Cambridgeshire.
The whole district is divided into civil parishes. The parish of Ely holds city status, and the parish councils for Soham and Littleport take the style "town council".[16]
^"Ely". Cambridgeshire Community Archive Network. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
^Hall, David (1994). Fenland survey : an essay in landscape and persistence / David Hall and John Coles. London;English Heritage. pp. 81–88. ISBN1-85074-477-7.
^Hall, David (1994). Fenland survey : an essay in landscape and persistence / David Hall and John Coles. London;English Heritage. p. 4. ISBN1-85074-477-7.
^"Parish Councils". East Cambridgeshire District Council. Retrieved 14 June 2023.