Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

Transport consultant Edward Leigh, of whom a number of you will know, was commissioned by Cambridge Past Present and Future and was cross-examined by leading counsel at the inquiry. See my earlier blogpost for a summary of the inquiry and what it’s about. It is ***really heavy going*** so not for the faint-hearted One ofContinue reading “Cambridge Past Present and Future gives evidence to the Busway Inquiry”

The Mayor of the Combined Authority has published his draft local growth plan – a requirement from central government. As the saying goes, location, location, location You can read the plan at item 4 here The section conspcuous by its absence Why no mention of The Arts? That’s an incredible omission given the amount ofContinue reading “Cambridge’s new large concert hall is an acid test for how inclusive our city is”

I was going to title it Ugglington because the architectural style makes me feel ill with rage, but I thought better of it. Anyway, they’ve submitted their outline planning application. See the following: If you want to comment on this planning application…> …see the guidance from the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service here Note thatContinue reading “Eddington’s back with a big planning application”

Wandering through some superb videos by neurodiverse people on their journeys in an era of discovery, exploration, and overturning mindsets from the last millennium This sort of follows on from my earlier blogpost on all things neurodiversity and the challenge of having to unlearn so much from the late 20th Century in order to tryContinue reading “‘Child me’ had it more held together than ‘current me!’”

Which is a bit rubbish given the interim report of the NHS taskforce back in June 2025 Furthermore, the high use of locum GPs in Cambridge inevitably means things don’t always get followed up, increasing the delays unnecessarily – but something that is a symptom of the wider housing and cost of living crisis combinedContinue reading “A 2 year local NHS waiting list for ADHD assessments”

Cambridge City Council debated the contents of a report on improved forms of local engagement. But what real impact can they have in the face of gamed algorithms hotwiring social media users towards inflammatory content? I blogged about this in the second half of this earlier blogpost, and earlier this evening city councillors had aContinue reading “The challenge of council engagement vs gamed algorithms and inflammatory content”

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority – AKA IPSA established a Citizens’ Forum of randomly-selected members of the public to examine the work and pay of MPs You can: 23 people randomly selected, undertaking 18 hours worth of activity Imagine this as nine evening classes at two hours each – so a term’s worth. Hence theContinue reading “The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority’s experience of democracy education”

Should the Green Party of England and Wales go onto even greater things politically, the party conference speeches by their leadership team will be milestones in their story Have a listen to the end of Rachel Millward’s speech from 20mins50secs here And whatever you do next… ***Don’t let anyone use this as an exam textContinue reading “Rachel Millward’s *finest hour*”

Local political coverage catches up on what happened at the party conferences You can catch up with: Fast food outlets to flood Parker’s Piece at student Freshers’ Fair You can see the details here – it looks like they are being very tight on who can get in compared with previous years. Which will probablyContinue reading “Party conferences – was anybody listening?”

Welcome as the new Cambridge Homelessness Charter is, the roots of the problem are embedded in how our city, county, and economic sub-region are governed. Changing this requires a change in the law. And for that to happen, it needs conversations with ministers You can read the charter at https://cambridgehomelessnesscharter.org.uk/ – something that reminded meContinue reading “Cambridge cannot solve its homelessness crisis without addressing how councils are funded”