Marshall Aerospace’s proposed move to Cranfield is dropped

Posted byCambridge Town OwlPosted inUncategorized

As with the Cambridge water works relocation, rising costs have proved to be an insurmountable barrier. How quickly will the firm be able to find an alternative location? In the meantime the Cambridge East website is frozen in time

You can read the article at BBC Cambridgeshire here. If the firm does not vacate the site by the time the next local planning period begins, then planners will have to find new sites to cover 12,000 additional homes on top of the ones that are no longer being built on the water works site – mindful that Anglian Water are also saying that they will oppose all new large developments because of this.

I can’t help but think there are lots of very serious conversations and meetings being had behind the scenes – not least Peter Freeman of the Cambridge Growth Company who now has another potential headache to deal with.

In the grand scheme of things I think an additional site will be found. The value of the ‘real estate’ at Cambridge airport is too high to ignore.

Cambridge City Council to discuss a motion asking for money back

Councillor Bob Illingworth (Lib-Dems, East Chesterton) has tabled a motion for the Cambridge City Council full council meeting asking for the government to reimburse the city council the costs it incurred (£millions) over the water works planning application that was approved by the then Defra Secretary Steve Reed – now the Housing & Local Government Secretary. See the agenda here, the Qs start at item 9.

Want to ask a public question of Cambridge City Council? See the guidance here and then email democratic services via the address at the foot of the page. It would be great to get some first-time people there tabling their questions.

For those of you outside of Cambridge in South Cambridgeshire, your full council is this week – see the agenda here, noting the Q from Cllr Lentell about Cambridge’s Guildhall.

For those of you interested in civil contingencies and risks of major disasters, there’s a random paper in the Fire Services O&S Committee at the County Council at the end of the agenda here

Above – from the emerging risk radar just below item 11 . The paper also has an assessment of emerging and rising threats – many of which originate online

Arthur Rank Hospice grant funding cut

South Cambridgeshire MP Pippa Heylings is campaigning against the decision by CUH NHS to cut the grant they pay to the hospice. If anyone wants to meet with one of the directors of the NHS Trust, they need to get their requests in by 09 October 2025 as per the notice here.

And two lighter things.

The Cambridge Dancers’ Club starts a new term of beginners dance classes in

  • Ballroom
  • Latin American
  • Salsa
  • Rock’n’Roll

For more details see their timetable and membership info here

Cambridge Model United Nations for 14-18 year olds

See https://cammun.org/ which is being hosted at Stephen Perse Cambridge in Cambridge, United Kingdom, from 30th January 2026 to 1st February. I think every state school in & around Cambridge should be sending a delegation and those delegations should be supported and prepared. (Note the dress code – this should not be a barrier for anyone given Cambridge’s resources). Deadline for applications is 03 Nov 2025

I got lots out of this during my uni days a quarter of a century ago – going to the ones organised by Harvard that were hosted in Athens in 2000 and Istanbul in 2001. Anyone who is even vaguely interested in politics – local to international, will get lots out of this.

Above – by https://cammun.org/

And finally…singing

There are a couple of community singing groups with some taster sessions for people to try out.

I think nearly all of them are on the lookout for male singers (tenors and basses)!

If you are interested in the longer term future of Cambridge, and on what happens at the local democracy meetings where decisions are made, feel free to: