It’s on Wed 17 Sept 2025 at 5pm – get your final public questions in!
The details are here and questions need to be in by Monday 15 Sept 2025. So…not long!
The chronic lack of capacity in Accident and Emergency at Addenbrooke’s
Back in January I wrote about holding healthcare organisations accountable.
The failure to fund Addenbrooke’s A&E service – the buck stops at the Chancellor’s desk
I wrote a blogpost under the above-title here following my admission to Addenbrooke’s following early morning chest/arm pains about six or so weeks ago. Seeing how massively over-crowded the A&E unit was at a time of year where it’s meant to be quieter, really disturbed me. Especially when I had to spend a night in a reclining chair until a bed became available.
Hence tabling a PQ to this APM asking what conversations CUH NHS Trust has had with ministers about the chronically under-resourced A&E Unit.
In the meantime…
“AstraZeneca pauses £200m Cambridge investment”
This from BBC Cambridgeshire which I found out about the day after having been to a consultation event. This news also came at the same time as another big pharma firm froze their plans for further investment in the UK.
Above – does this mean that this won’t get built?
I don’t know – it’s not clear from the announcement whether the funding pause relates to their proposed office block and conference centre (which I wrote about here), or whether it relates to another facility.
For both institutions, transport access remains a huge issue for the Biomedical campus
The state of the roads into and out of Addenbrooke’s in terms of maintenance remains grim. Which reminds me – the Combined Authority’s Transport Committee meets this week.
“The Greater Cambridge Transport Strategy [another one!] is currently in development and will provide a robust evidence base for Greater Cambridge connectivity and the Mayor’s ambition”
“• Provide the transport evidence underpinning the emerging Greater Cambridge Local Plan, which will set the spatial strategy for development to 2045. The Local Plan is a statutory requirement, and the Strategic Transport Authority must provide clear and credible transport evidence that demonstrates a reasonable prospect of delivering the infrastructure needed to align with proposed commercial and housing development and timelines. The GCTS will therefore play a key role in demonstrating how transport interventions can be planned and delivered within that timeframe.
• Provide the transport evidence for wider growth ambitions for Greater Cambridge outlined in the Mayor’s manifesto and our emerging Local Growth Plan, alongside those advanced by the Cambridge Growth Company (GCG). It will examine the transport interventions needed to deliver the Local Plan, as well as assessing scenarios and interventions that go beyond those required by the Local Plan, whilst remaining aligned with the ambitions of the Local Growth Plan.
• Inform investment and funding decisions. By setting out a coherent approach to transport and a delivery framework, the GCTS will strengthen the case for additional resources to support local growth and connectivity ambitions over the short, medium, and longer term.”
Above – Combined Authority Transport Committee Papers 15 Sept 2025, item 16
It’ll be interesting to hear what the CPCA also has to say about light rail following its appointment of Peter Cushing as Light Rail Commissioner.
“Peter will advise the Mayor on all aspects of assessing, planning, and potentially delivering a light rail network for Greater Cambridge. He will provide oversight, constructive challenge, and expert input into the viability of proposals, the development of business cases, and the integration of light rail within the broader transport system. Peter will play an advisory role in shaping the long-term transport vision needed to support sustainable growth across Greater Cambridge and the wider region.”
Above – CPCA Press Release 03 Sept 2025
Personally I’d like to see far more people who are involved in the future shape of our city and county subscribing to the LRTA’s Tramways and Urban Transit Magazine so they can familiarise themselves with what other cities around the world are doing.
Above – past copies of Tramways and Urban Transit
…which are also available on that online auction site too.
Only having relevant case studies – eg cities of a similar size to what ministers want Cambridge to become enables people and organisations to talk about the practicalities rather than the principles of whether to build a light rail or not. (That question was answered comprehensively by the electorate earlier this year)
As for what the Government’s policy is on light rail, I asked but got a short response here. If you want something more substantive, for example a formal ministerial policy statement to Parliament, you’ll need to email your MP and ask them to lobby ministers on your behalf. (As these things need more than one person to ask for it before they happen!)
Food for thought?
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Below – what National Audit Office said about Light Rail 20 years ago.
The Cambridge Town Owl 