TL/DR? Overhaul our local government structures and create a Unitary Council – you can read his thoughts here. Also don’t forget the petition for a new Royal Commission to overhaul local government in England!
I’ve known Chris for a number of years – he’s a former Conservative Councillor for Coleridge Ward back in Gordon Brown’s most difficult of days, and is very much on the ‘One Nation’ wing of the party if he doesn’t mind me saying.
Not long after I had posted my previous post asking how the people who make up the city of Cambridge (residents, commuters, students, regular visitors) could respond to the Government’s announcement on our city’s future did the former councillor for this part of town post his blogpost.
I’m not going to do a point-by-point response. I recommend you read what he has said and come to your own conclusion. The reason being is that you are likely to see more than a few articles and opinion pieces in response to what the Government has proposed. Often I have found reading such things is that I can agree with the analysis but not the policy recommendations stemming from it (such as the Holford Wright Report of 1950) and vice-versa.
The two key points Mr Howell has raised (that stand out for me, other than the local history things) are:
- Our structures of local governance are a mess
- The planning system is too expensive, unnecessarily complicated, and stops us from getting nice things – and instead does the opposite
There have been some reviews by former Labour ministers on planning – such as the Raynsford Review for the TCPA in 2018, and also the Kerslake Review of the Treasury from 2017 – which although are from the previous leadership that the present one wants to distance itself from, were led by two highly respected individuals that the party may not want to dismiss their findings so quickly.
“So I would like to see launched a political campaign for a Greater Cambridge – and work to achieve these goals through bottom up support – active support from local people through the election of local representatives who will support these aims and actively work to take them forward.”
Chris Howell, 24 July 2023
Mr Howell’s top lines are:
- Better Local Government
- More Homes where they are needed near Cambridge
- Transport Infrastructure funded by levies on new development
- Supporting the growth of the Cambridge knowledge based economy
- Growth that works for everyone
This reminds me of the report by the Young Advisory Committee of Cambridge Ahead, whose presentation I went to (see my write up and the links to the report here)
I’m not going to comment on the top lines other than to cite relevant transport-related blogposts including:
- Tom Loosemore’s public digital principles applied to Cambridge
- Transit-orientated development for Cambridge (i.e. linking Cambridge up by light rail to the nearby market towns of Newmarket, Haverhill, Saffron Walden, Royston, St Neots, Huntingdon and the Cathedral City of Ely)
- Linking Cambridge up to larger county towns over the county borders including Bedford and Northampton as a means of channelling some of the growth towards large, historic riverside towns that have the space and need (assuming residents can influence the process and ultimately give consent to it)
- What a ‘Great Cambridge’ Unitary might be like, and how it could incorporate existing town and parish councils into their structures *and* increasing the latters’ powers and influence through devolution on local issues.
Make of those what you will
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