Monthly Archives: February 2025

Come up to Cambridge and engage with residents groups, community groups, arts organisations and environmental campaigners. Because you never know, you might find some new supporters in unexpected places. Create Streets revamped their proposals for Cambridge earlier this month – you can see them here. I had a look at their previous plans a fewContinue reading “Note to Create Streets from Cambridge: Nothing about us without us”

Three years ago, I wrote: “Cambridge Ahead will need a strategy to engage with non-members in order to deliver on its vision & purpose.” That is even more important today given the prominent role it plays in local and regional policy-making As I wrote in the introduction to that blogpost, You can read about Cambridge AheadContinue reading “Cambridge Ahead’s project groups are missing some very important voices”

Ministers cannot expect towns and cities to create socially sustainable (or even ecologically sustainable) communities while existing structures that enable the large scale extraction of financial value are kept in place. Image – Radical Leadership by New Local – we’ll need some of that if things are going to improve I originally spotted the quotationContinue reading “On trying to build socially sustainable communities in an extractive economy”

Only that’s what a recent study from Gallup indicated (if that link doesn’t open, look for the Leadership needs of followers here). Image – A sense of purpose – from the Adult School Union’s annual scheme of work for church-based lifelong learning courses from the last century. Have a browse through the civics & democracy-basedContinue reading “Which local & mayoral election candidates can communicate a sense of ‘hope’ to voters?”

“Whatever you think your answer is, it’s what you are doing right now” Image – we need to get more citizenship teachers trained up In the second half of my previous post I pondered on this point. Following the developments of recent days, it looks like the European Union heads of government (any any otherContinue reading “**What would you do if there was a real threat to democracy?**”

Refreshed planning application for student accommodation says that the 2017 housing study for Cambridge City Council is now out of date I wrote about Cambridge’s student accommodation issues back in August 2023, noting the chronic and collective failures to co-ordinate policies on higher education policy, housing, and local government. Go back a quarter of aContinue reading “Cambridge needs to talk about student accommodation & universities’ expansion again”

…says Emma Cooke of the Quality of Life Foundation in response to the Newtowns taskforce’s interim report. Also, on radical leadership and empowering communities You can read Ms Cooke’s blogpost here which is a reminder of the importance of health and wellbeing being designed into communities. Which also reminds me of Stephen Platt’s evaluation ofContinue reading “*Post-occupancy evaluations are essential*”

Some sobering words from lawyer David Allen Green Image – from the Rebel Badge Club which is coming to Cambridge in late April! You can read his article in Prospect Magazine here – noting that the print version (available in all splendid outlets and a few downmarket ones too!) has an interview with Dr IanContinue reading “The nature of a seismic political crisis is…”

…well, you only have to look at what local residents in communities all over the country are saying what their areas are short of. Furthermore, with trust at such a low point combined with the threats to our imperfect democracy coming from multiple sources, ministers cannot afford to do a ‘GCP’ and go headlong intoContinue reading “Ministers won’t get local consent for housing growth until…”

Councils have until 21st March 2025 to make their initial proposals for unitary councils You can read Cambridgeshire’s guidance here I’m not going to lose too much sleep over it because the significant restrictions that ministers have imposed mean that beyond turning Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire into a single unitary council plus one of eitherContinue reading “Cambridgeshire County Council’s Devolution Guidance”