Cambridgeshire is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west. The city of Cambridge is the county town. Modern Cambridgeshire was formed in 1974 as an amalgamation of the counties of Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely and Huntingdon and Peterborough, the former covering the historic county of Cambridgeshire and the latter covering the historic county of Huntingdonshire and the Soke of Peterborough, historically part of Northamptonshire. It contains most of the region known as Silicon Fen.
Cambridge is a university city and the county town of Cambridgeshire, England, on the River Cam approximately 50 miles (80 km) north of London. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, its population was 123,867 including 24,506 students. Cambridge became an important trading centre during the Roman and Viking ages, and there is archaeological evidence of settlement in the area as early as the Bronze Age. The first town charters were granted in the 12th century, although modern city status was not officially conferred until 1951.
South Cambridgeshire is a mostly rural local government district of Cambridgeshire, England with a population of 148,755 at the 2011 Census. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Chesterton Rural District and South Cambridgeshire Rural District. It completely surrounds the city of Cambridge, which is administered separately from the district by Cambridge City Council.
South Cambridgeshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Heidi Allen since May 2015, originally a Conservative, but latterly a member of Change UK. Allen quit as both party leader and as a member in June 2019 and now sits as an independent.
South East Cambridgeshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Lucy Frazer, a Conservative.
The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN) is a registered charity which manages 126 nature reserves covering 3,945 hectares. It has over 35,000 members, and 95% of people in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire live within five miles of a reserve. In the year to 31 March 2016 it employed 105 people and had an income of £5.1 million. It aims to conserve wildlife, inspire people to take action for wildlife, offer advice and share knowledge. The WTBCN is one of 36 wildlife trusts covering England, and 47 covering the whole of the United Kingdom.
Cambridgeshire County Council is elected every four years by the first past the post system of election. The council currently consists of 69 councillors, representing 60 electoral divisions. The Conservative Party is currently the largest party on the council, having lost overall control in the 2013 local elections. The council meets at Shire Hall in Cambridge, on the site of Cambridge Castle's bailey and a 19th-century prison.
Stonea Camp is an Iron Age multivallate hill fort located at Stonea near March in the Cambridgeshire Fens. Situated on a gravel bank just 2 metres above sea-level, it is the lowest hill fort in Britain. Around 500 BC, when fortification is thought to have begun at this site, this "hill" would have provided a significant area of habitable land amidst the flooded marshes of the fens. The site exhibits at least two phases of development over several hundred years of settlement, with a D-shaped set of earth banks surrounded by a larger, more formal set of banks and ditches.
Stour Brook is a river that starts north west of the town of Haverhill, Suffolk just over the Cambridgeshire border in the parish of West Wickham. After leaving Haverhill, it quickly joins the River Stour by the village of Wixoe, Essex. During its course through Haverhill, most of the natural channel of this river has been replaced with a concrete channel.
Cooper's Hill is an 18.1 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Ampthill in Bedfordshire. It was notified under Section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in 1984, and the planning authority is Central Bedfordshire Council. A smaller area of 12.7 hectares is also a Local Nature Reserve, Part of the site is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.
Pegsdon Hills and Hoo Bit is a 79 hectare nature reserve in Pegsdon in Bedfordshire. It is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. The site is on the border between Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and it covers Pegsdon Hills and part of the adjacent Deacon Hill in Bedfordshire, and Hoo Bit in Hertfordshire. It is in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and part of the site is designated by Natural England as the Deacon Hill SSSI.
Barnack Hills & Holes is a 23.3 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Barnack in Cambridgeshire. It is also a national nature reserve. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. In 2002 it was designated as a Special Area of Conservation, to protect the orchid rich grassland as part of the Natura 2000 network of sites throughout the European Union.
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, about 14 miles (23 km) north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles (129 km) by road from London. Æthelthryth founded an abbey at Ely in 673; the abbey was destroyed in 870 by Danish invaders and was rebuilt by Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester, in 970. Construction of the cathedral was started in 1083 by a Norman abbot, Simeon. Alan of Walsingham's octagon, built over Ely's nave crossing between 1322 and 1328, is the "greatest individual achievement of architectural genius at Ely Cathedral", according to architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner. Building continued until the dissolution of the abbey in 1539 during the Reformation. The cathedral was sympathetically restored between 1845 and 1870 by the architect George Gilbert Scott. As the seat of a diocese, Ely has long been considered a city; in 1974, city status was granted by royal charter.
Pegsdon is a hamlet located in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is part of the Shillington civil parish, and is almost encircled by the county border with Hertfordshire.
Elections to South Cambridgeshire District Council were held on Thursday 3 May 2018 as part of the 2018 United Kingdom local elections. Forty five seats, making up the whole of South Cambridgeshire District Council, were up for election in twenty six wards. The council previously had 57 members, last elected by thirds in 2016, 2015 and 2014. Following a boundary review, there has been a reduction of twelve seats to 45 and the electoral pattern has changed from election by thirds to all out elections, meaning that all seats were up for election on this occasion.
