And ministers have a duty to ensure the new-style councils are properly funded and empowered to do so. Otherwise, what’s the point in the restructures?
In recent days I’ve taken a few photos of the depressing state of Cambridge as I made my way around the city by bus to get to various things including the Future of Cambridge Science Park consultation. (Where I moaned to the staff that it was so far out of the way for the public to get to it made it feel like they didn’t want our feedback!)
Above – a trio of grey miserable carbuncles on the Cambridge Science Park (hence the desire to do something about it)
At the consultation event earlier I urged the Science Park representatives to look at Dr Cleo Valentine’s research (including Visual Discomfort in the Built Environment: Leveraging Generative AI and Computational Analysis to Evaluate Predicted Visual Stress in Architectural Façades, 04 July 2025) and to commission her to do some work for them on what the revamped and new buildings might look like based on her and her colleagues’ research.
L-R – broken electronic signs and broken interactive terminals at the Science Park busway stop. Empty poster boards and an unclean scene at Drummer Street
L-R: Rail replacement buses dominating the main railway station bus stops, VOI Tech getting it wrong. Again – installing a two-way docking station that is only accessible from one side. Anti-social parking outside a business called ‘The Artist’ in a building and with a shop front completely lacking in colour and interesting detailing.
“What ever happened to FixMyStreet.com?”
It’s still there https://www.fixmystreet.com/ – but what can underfunded councils do when the huge amount of work required exceeds their enfeebled budgets?
In Cambridgeshire the county council prefer you to report broken things on highways via their webpage here – just our luck that the site is down this weekend!
L-R Bus stops with nature making a comeback outside the very expensive Marque carbuncle. Long Road crossing at Robinson Way ditto with greenery growing out of the drains (along with a death-trap of a road junction next to two further education colleges), and the Coleridge Dragon which needs a clean!
L-R: Communists taking over Brookgate’s bland bus entrance to the railway station from Hills Road. Stagecoach abandoning the old fashioned way of providing info. And what’s happening with the Romsey Labour Club?
“Why are you talking Cambridge down? It’s a splendid place! The adverts say so!”
Which is what makes it all the more jarring.
Above – one of many images that Innovate Cambridge published for CamTechWeek 2025
…Because the advert not only is not matching the lived experience of too many of our city’s residents, it came at a time when the adverts were contradicted by some of the news headlines.
Above – Joanna Taylor for BBC Cambridgeshire 09 Sept 2025
The reports mentioned by Ms Taylor have been published by the Combined Authority (see item 12 here) and The Mayor of the Combined Authority will be discussing their content at the CPCA Board Meeting this Wednesday on 24 Sept 2025 – which will be livestreamed via the webcast icon in the agenda here.
In the meantime life goes on. ICYMI there’s also a further update on the proposals to revamp The Guildhall, Market Square, and the Corn Exchange. The Cabinet of Cambridge City Council meets on 25 Sept 2025 at The Guildhall – get your PQs in asap. I’ve sort of disengaged from the process because having attended a number of consultation events and having submitted a series of public Qs and made a series of proposals, these were all ignored.
Above – Graz in Austria – I guess this was a little too grandiose and expensive to replicate!
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Below – The Trials of Democracy is back – sign up for the new set of events in early October 2025!
The events are
- The Dazzle – a new play
- If You’re Not at the Table, You’re on the Menu
- Earth Democracy in Action – A Participatory Workshop
- Democracy Beyond Elections?
And on what democracy means to different people in and around Cambridge? Have a look at the playlist here
The Cambridge Town Owl 