Huntingdonshire District Council’s Liberal Democrat-led joint-administration collapsed over backlash to plans to build on car parks

The leader of a district council has survived a vote of no confidence sparked by backlash over plans to build flats on car parks. Cllr Sarah Conboy will continue to lead Huntingdonshire District Council after Tuesday evening’s vote failed.

The Liberal Democrat-led administration collapsed last month after two Green councillors left, leaving them without a majority. Councillors Stephen Ferguson and Lara Davenport-Ray said they had lost faith in the council’s leadership over their handling of the plans.

The council joined a partnership with developers Capital and Centric in July 2025 to come up with ideas to regenerate parts of St Ives, St Neots and Huntingdon. The developer unveiled plans to build homes earlier this year which included building on a number of council-owned car parks, though no formal application has been submitted.

Cllr Ross Martin, leader of the Conservative group, said that calling a special meeting for the vote of no confidence was not something they had taken lightly.

He said: “We have seen, quite sadly from my point of view, a series of events which has significantly damaged the reputation of this council. When we look back in history, we see empires being destroyed by barbaric invasions, we see governments brought down from scandals or financial issues.

“It’s not very often that you see a council administration fall down because of a consultation – a questionnaire essentially.”

He said that nobody has taken ownership of the decisions that have been made but it is up to elected officials to bear the responsibility. Cllr Tom Sanderson said the administration had invested in leisure centres – reopening Sawtry swimming pool and putting £30 million towards improving One Leisure in Huntingdon.

The Lib Dem councillor said: “There are plenty of good things happening in this district and I think we need to remember those as well.”

Cllr Julie Kerr, leader of the independent group, said that Cllr Conboy still had their support and they should wait for the facts to be investigated first.

She said: “Tonight we are being asked to overturn a democratic decision – so I think we have to ask a very simple question, what’s changed? What has happened since May that is so fundamental that it justifies removing a leader that this council elected?

“The decision at cabinet was to explore the regeneration opportunities and work with Capital and Centric – it was not a final approval of a particular development.”

Cllr Alex Bulat, the council’s only Labour member, accused the Lib Dems of trying to shift blame and hide from responsibility. She said: “It’s the same playbook every single time – it’s always someone else’s fault, never the right time to say, ‘we got this wrong’.”

Cllr Geoff Seef said: “There is not a councillor in this chamber, nay a resident of Huntingdonshire, that is not concerned and does not have questions to ask about Capital and Centric’s appointment and instructions.”

The Lib Dem councillor said voting to oust the leader would disrupt the investigation into how the contract was awarded and what the developer was told.

He added: “It does not allow attention to our residents’ needs and frankly they’ve done this for naked, and I would say naive, attempt to gain political advantage”

Cllr Ricky Ioannides said: “You have been elected to lead this council yet all we have got is blunders, excuses, blaming of others and the same old waste – not only of time, but of our taxpayers’ money. But equally blind and deaf, I’m afraid to say, are the Tories.”

The Reform councillor said they had failed to scrutinise the Capital and Centric partnership and would not be able to win a vote of leadership – which could lead to a hung council or a different Lib Dem-led administration.

He said: “I am therefore minded to abstain from this vote because you are all as bad as each other. You all brought this disaster upon yourselves today and to be honest I’m sick of this nonsense.”

Cllr Sarah Conboy said she had “listened carefully” to the debate which had been “excruciatingly uncomfortable”.

She said: “I have said publicly, and I will say again tonight – we got this wrong. I deeply regret the cause for concern to our communities and the damage this has done to the confidence in this council.

“I didn’t wait for a vote of no confidence to act – immediately after the final engagement event, I commissioned the information needed to understand what had happened. I haven’t hidden from the response – I have spent hours reading residents’ emails and watching the conversations on social media. If I say I’m going to listen, I have to be prepared to listen.”

The motion of no confidence failed with 24 votes against, 18 for and eight abstaining. Following the vote, a spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats branded it a “failed political stunt”.

They said: “We’re glad that we can get back on with the job we were elected to do, which is making Huntingdonshire a fairer, greener, and better place to live. We are listening to residents and will make sure their views are being fed into the work this council does. Compare that to the Conservatives who have wasted everyone’s time with their failed political stunt this evening.”

Reform UK begin their annual conference in Birmingham a bigger party than they were a year ago, their numbers swelled at Westminster, at Holyrood, in the Senedd and in local authorities.

But they also gather amid significant political headwinds, much of which revolve around money.

There was that whopping £5m gift to Nigel Farage from Christopher Harborne, the Thailand based British billionaire, and the long running row about whether the money should have been declared by Farage once he became an MP.

Then there is, among other things, the Metropolitan Police investigation into donations to the party during the last general election campaign.

Reform insists that it “takes pride in its stringent vetting of donations.”

When the party got together in the same West Midlands venue a year ago, they were an insurgency provoking intrigue and attention and demonstrating plenty of momentum.

Indeed that momentum was so significant that it was a major factor, perhaps the major factor, in accelerating the demise of Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister, because the potential prospect of a Reform government frightened the Labour Party to its core.

Would Starmer, its then desperately unpopular leader, help or hinder their attempts to take on Farage? Hinder was the eventually overwhelming view within Labour, and so Starmer was a goner.

But politics can change, and change quickly. With Starmer out and Burnham in, there is early evidence of some support for Labour picking up. No longer are Reform comfortably leading in all the opinion polls – in some they’re not leading at all. Add to this a more confident and prominent Kemi Badenoch leading the Conservatives and the recent rise too of Restore Britain, the outfit set up by the former Reform MP Rupert Lowe. And the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru won and so beat them in the devolved elections in Scotland and Wales respectively. In other words, collectively Reform’s opponents appear more energised and popular.

Make no mistake, no party at a UK wide level is popular at the moment, but the scrap appears more evenly matched than it did.

Autonomous cars – vehicles that drive themselves – can sound like either the future of transport or an utterly terrifying prospect. 

For me, they’ve always felt more ‘science fiction’ than ‘London taxi’. But now that future has arrived on the capital’s streets – and I’m about to find out what it’s really like.

Uber and intelligence firm Wayve have today launched ‘driverless’ rides in London, marking the first time the service has been available in the UK.

I say ‘driverless’ because, for now, a supervisor remains behind the wheel for safety reasons, with their hands hovering close by.

I climb into one of the much-talked-about cars – already used for testing and private trips around the city – and set off through central London.

And initially, it feels remarkably… normal.

Booking one is simple. You request an UberX, Uber Electric or Uber Comfort and can opt to be matched with a Wayve car at no extra cost, with the fare shown upfront in the app.

So far, so Uber. Except this time, there’s a robot in .

Once seated in the car, you can adjust the temperature and seat

Riders – like myself – matched with a Wayve ride will travel in an all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicle equipped with the Wayve AI Driver, as well as surround sensors. 

The in-vehicle experience, designed by Uber, features interactive screens available in 64 languages where riders can start their trip and view the vehicle’s planned path. 

My car pulls up to collect me and, aside from a couple of add-ons (notably the camera bar on top of the car and Wayve markers on the side), looks like any ordinary car.

But the robo-taxi element kicks in once it comes to a halt.

To unlock the doors, you need to press a button in the app.

It’s the driving itself that is most bizarre.

Knowing that the steering wheel will move on its own is not enough to prepare you for seeing it in the flesh.

It’s totally unsettling at first – and then inexplicably cool. I felt like I was in a sci-fi movie.

While drivers are currently still in the vehicle for safety reasons, they do very little, other than a quick safety briefing, and I can envisage the joys of hopping into a taxi with no pressure to make conversation.

A few minutes into our drive, which has thus far been an exercise in child-like wonder given the spinning steering wheel, I’m struck by how few passers-by are looking at the car. 

Don’t they realise how groundbreaking this is?

The vehicles are identifiable by the overhead camera panel

The steering wheel moves by itself – and for now, a supervising driver is in place to monitor the journey

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The truth is, part of the success of the vehicles is exactly this – they function just like an ordinary car, down to the braking and accelerating, speed and general smoothness of drive.

In all honesty, it’s one of the smoother rides I’ve had through the nation’s capital, known for its stop-start traffic and often jerky taxi rides. 

It’s even better than being driven around by some of my friends and family – you’re not relying on someone’s skill with navigating tough routes and gear changes (sorry, mum!).

You can also adjust the temperature inside the car – I favour cooler rides, so I turn it down a couple of degrees – as well as the music.

I’m told that soon you’ll be able to do so directly from the app or by voice, without even having to fiddle with buttons inside the car. 

When our drive comes to an end, it pulls over seamlessly into a parking spot – and nestles in perfectly without any of the manoeuvring and faff I associate with parking when forced to do so myself.

A real feat for what I consider to be robo-engineering mixed with a spot of witchcraft and wizardry.

It’s not the end of the road for developments in the field, either. 

Uber and intelligence firm Wayve have launched the cars today

The question on my lips is, of course, when will the cars be totally driverless?

Kaity Fischer, Wayve’s vice president of commercial and operations in London, tells me it’s not yet confirmed – the safety trial phase currently in operation needs to undergo rigorous development and testing first.

Headquartered and founded in London, Wayve has built and specifically trained its AI technology on the capital’s roads since 2018.

Wayve’s approach uses an AI model that learns from experience, much like a human, allowing it to scale and adapt to complex environments without relying on traditional HD maps or hand-coded rules.

This launch is part of Uber and Wayve’s partnership, which included an investment to put Wayve-powered vehicles on the Uber network in 12 markets around the world, beginning with London.

As part of the future service in London and other global markets, Wayve and Uber will also introduce riders to the Nissan LEAF vehicle, powered by the Wayve AI Driver using NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion, starting in Tokyo later this year.

‘We’re proud to introduce the Wayve AI Driver to the public for the first time right here in London, our home city and one of the most complex driving environments in the world,’ said Alex Kendall, CEO and Co-founder of Wayve. 

For now, the car model used is an all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicle

‘Autonomous driving technology will complement the city’s rich transport network, and we’re excited for Londoners to experience it first as we begin our global rollout with Uber.’

Sarfraz Maredia, global head of autonomous mobility at Uber, added: ‘London is a world-class hub for transportation innovation and this launch is a major milestone in scaling safe, accessible AV technology in a city with some of the world’s most complex roads.’

London being first is important and my ride, I reflect, is a success.

It’s unsettling at first. But after a moment getting used to the steering wheel moving of its own accord, it becomes just as ordinary as any other taxi ride. 

At least two civilians were killed and four others were injured, including two police officers, when a gunman opened fire at a downtown Minneapolis apartment building.

Minneapolis police received a call at 4.36pm on Wednesday that one person had been shot at Loring Towers, an affordable housing community, Minneapolis Police spokesman Sgt Garrett Parten said at a news conference.

Soon, other calls came in reporting additional gunfire.

When police then arrived at the scene at 4.39pm, they found one victim dead and several others suffering from gunshot wounds.

Police then followed the sound of gunfire to an upper floor, where they were confronted by a ‘haze’ that limited their visibility. 

Still, officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect, leaving two officers shot, while a third sustained a non-life threatening injury.

One of those officers was shot in the stomach, while the other sustained a non-life threatening gunshot wound to the leg KSTP reports. Both are now expected to make full recoveries.

In total, seven patients were rushed to Hennepin County Medical Center, one of whom was later pronounced dead, spokesman Jonathan Comito said. 

The officer who was shot in the stomach has since undergone surgery, and was said to have been in stable condition. 

The suspect was also killed on the scene, but it remains unclear whether he died in a police-involved shooting.

Photos from the scene show a massive police presence, as other emergency officials arrived

Minneapolis police, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives rushed to the scene

Photos from the scene show a massive police presence at the Loring Towers, where some windows were shattered.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz added that his public safety team was also responding to the shooting, and noted that state officials are ‘on the ground to support local law enforcement.’

By 5.30pm, ATF agents, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents all responded to the scene. 

FBI Director Kash Patel also shared on social media that agents are responding to the scene as he vowed to ‘offer any and all resources necessary to assist local authorities.’ 

Meanwhile, the nearby University of St Thomas Minneapolis campus ordered students and staff to shelter in place before giving an all-clear at around 6.15pm.

The Hyatt Regency Minneapolis had also been placed on lockdown, but that was lifted at around 6.20pm. 

At least one civilian was killed in the attack on Wednesday evening

Officers who responded to the scene found a ‘haze’ that limited visibility

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said his public safety team was also responding to the shooting

Anthony Strong told the Minneapolis Star Tribune how he was smoking behind the apartment building when he heard gunfire.

‘It was pop, pop, pop, pop and it was a bunch more after that, and then I went upstairs,’ he recounted.

There, he said he saw a property manager on the ground ‘and outside, there [were] two more people shot on the ground.

‘And then I saw them bring an officer out that got shot in the leg.’

Strong said he is still trying to ‘process’ what he witnessed. 

Umecua Agnew, a resident of the building, also said she was in the elevator on the first floor when the shots rang out.

‘It was three adults and one child in the elevator, we were all together and when we got to the first floor, it was when we heard the massive shooting,’ she said.

At that point, Agnew said she and another woman grabbed the child and went to her eighth-floor apartment, from where she heard more gunfire. 

A nearby hotel was placed on lockdown amid the shooting 

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By 5.30pm, ATF agents, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agents all responded to the scene

Officers are asking the public to avoid the area of 15 East Grant Street

Another resident eventually led her out ‘because I wasn’t gonna leave, I was terrified that I might get caught in the shooting in the hallway so bad I didn’t want to leave.’

The two residents were then led across the street to safety.

‘I just thank God for being alive because that could have been me, or he could have killed another girl or her mom or anybody that could have got shot right there,’ Agnew said. 

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison called the situation ‘horrifying’ in a post on social media.

‘My deepest thoughts are with those killed and hurt, including the police officers injured. I pray for their quick recovery,’ he said.

‘I fully support responding law enforcement and my office will help in all the ways possible.’ 

Residents were evacuated from the apartment building following the shooting

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The massive police presence at the apartment building is pictured

Police swarmed the downtown area following the mass shooting on Wednesday

In a statement on social media, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said he and his wife are ‘praying for the Minneapolis police officers involved in this tragedy and all the victims.’

He added that he is in contact with law enforcement and is awaiting further information.

‘God bless our Peace Officers,’ Emmer wrote.

Lisa Demuth, speaker of the Minnesota House who is now running for governor, also said she was ‘aware of reports regarding a shooting in downtown Minneapolis.

‘I am praying for the victims of this heinous crime and I’m incredibly thankful for the massive response of our brave law enforcement officers.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to Minneapolis police for more information.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. 

There will be no through traffic whilst the closure is in place, except for buses

A road in Peterborough has been closed for up to four weeks so that gas works can take place. Cadent is replacing 700m of ageing metal mains pipes with modern plastic ones.

The works will be taking place along Flaxland, Hudds Meadow and Rightwell East. Flaxland closed today (September 1) from the junction with the side road to Aldi to where Rightwell East begins (the side road junction to the Bretton Medical Practice).

No traffic will be allowed along Flaxland for up to four weeks, excluding buses. Temporary traffic lights will be in operation on Hudds Meadow and Rightwell East during the final sections of work.

Amber Greensmith, Head of Customer Experience at Cadent, said: “The metallic pipes that are in place in this section of the network have been very well used over the past 60 years and it’s time for them to be replaced so that we can continue to deliver gas to peoples’ homes 24/7, 365 days a year.

“These upgrades also have big environmental gains, as they reduce methane emissions and enable a move to more renewable gases like biomethane. This is essential for a cleaner future – the UK will need energy to come from a range of sources to meet demand and be sustainable.