New company to generate income for Council

The creation of the Local Authority Trading Company (LATC) by East Cambridgeshire District Council is set to take a step forward this week.

At the Full Council meeting on Thursday 16 July, members will be asked to approve a number of measures to help create the new LATC such as establish a committee to act as a Shadow Board for the company and produce a business plan.

The company is the a key part of the development of a more commercial approach at the District Council as the authority looks at alternative ways of generating income to mitigate loss of Local Government funding from Westminster.

The new organisation would look to develop the Council’s current assets, support Community Land Trusts in the district and develop more services commercially which could involve selling to customers or other local authorities.

Councillor James Palmer, Leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “In order for the District Council to deliver the services which our residents need, we must look at new and innovative ways to replace the funds which we used to get from Central Government. Over the last few years, we have transformed the way the Council works – balancing the budget while driving efficiency with the organisation. However, we don’t believe the savings which we can deliver in the future can meet the demands on the Council. We see the creation of Local Authority Trading Company (LATC) as a great way to make better use of the assets and services which we have.

“The new company aims to use the Council’s assets and services to generate an income to support our front line services. This means our teams will be encouraged to identify opportunities for their services to be delivered more commercially. This is a very exciting time and I believe we can achieve something very special over the next few months and years as we develop the company further.”