Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

Using Cambridge as an example given my limited mobility these days… Cambridge City Council has advertised a number of events at https://www.cambridgelive.org.uk/city-events …one of the biggest [independently organised] of which is the Strawberry Fair, which attracts thousands of people – esp young people, from all over the region. And they need more volunteers! Take theContinue reading “Cambridgeshire’s councils must ensure summer community events (eg The Strawberry Fair) include outreach stalls – esp for consultations”

This creates a huge opportunity for Huntingdon town (whose royal charter is older than Cambridge’s), and its surrounding towns and villages to make some radical improvements. It’s a shame the meeting was not live-streamed because this could become one of the most significant events in the history of the town and district. We were leftContinue reading “As the FenPowderPlot misfires, Huntingdonshire frees itself from Tory control for the first time since 1970s”

Some of you will have seen various accusations flying around social media. It relates to a motion of no confidence in Mayor Dr Nik Johnson, who was elected somewhat surprisingly as the Combined Authority Mayor around 12 months ago in the ‘Super-election’ that smashed Conservative domination of the county for the first time since anyoneContinue reading “The FenPowderPlot”

Or rather: “We’ve been here before.” Over the past few weeks I’ve scanned and uploaded dozens of very old books up to the Internet Archive on a host of subjects, not just local history. One worth looking at is Radical Technology from nearly half a century ago. It’s exquisitely illustrated by Clifford Harper – youContinue reading “You’ll never believe what they wrote in old books about things happening today!”

Such as potholes (county council) results in defeats for councillors who had no influence on the repair programmes. This came up from Ben Page of Ipsos Mori Let’s have a closer look Condition of roads – County councils Affordable decent housing – District/borough councils (Incl. Cambridge City Council) Health – Local NHS organisations Wages/Cost ofContinue reading “When local issues don’t align with the local council that is up for election”

Can Cambridge City Council invite community groups to have stalls at these community events? And can they even do some soft consultation outreach with display boards on their various plans? Music in the Parks is on the look out for bands and musicians alike. I reminded of this song by Fredrika Stahl (who some ofContinue reading “Cambridge’s Music in the Parks programme”

I’ll list her points from her blogpost at the end here: “What is your candidate’s vision for the future of this city, and how do they propose we should get there?  If they talk about ‘affordable’ housing or ‘sustainable’ development, what do they actually mean and what do they understand the environmental constraints to be? Given the Council’sContinue reading “Cllr Sam Davies asks for ideas to start conversations between candidates and Cambridge’s electorate”

…because chances are one of them will have a magazine about it. Me quoting Moya Lothian-McLean quoting author Sarah Woolley in my previous blogpost. I had to go into town today (i.e. the centre of Cambridge) and picked up some reading material to last a month, including a couple from this selection: Above – EasterContinue reading ““Find three causes and focus on those””

…and local elections are just one part of what constitutes local democracy. (A reminder that 89 is the target for this year’s candidates to beat – because no one wants to get fewer votes than Puffles the Dragon Fairy!) So how far can local activism and community action towards filling some of the voids? ChallengeContinue reading ““Local Democracy is not a spectator sport””

What might the county of our future look like? Cllr Hilary Cox Condron (Labour – Arbury) of Cambridgeshire County Council took a big step forward with a number of activist groups One of the big gaps in responding to the climate emergency that has persistently remained is the lack of visualising what a transformed cityContinue reading “Reimagining Cambridgeshire at Cambridge University”