Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

Digging behind the proposed golden bank of the sewage-filled River Cam. …recalling the protest against Anglian Water’s dumping of sewage into the River Cam last September – which in itself was a striking piece of public art. Only three months earlier in June 2021 the Friends of the River Cam took part in the DeclarationContinue reading “Does Cambridge’s public art glitter?”

Which is why we need to think about how both Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, and the new University of Peterborough, are developed over the next quarter of a century. I’ve very deliberately excluded the University of Cambridge from this piece simply because it is a global institution that draws its talent from all overContinue reading “Cambridgeshire has no post-graduate course providers meeting local needs on transport planning”

Pictured: Puffles the Dragon Fairy at an emergency services open day in Cherry Hinton 2013 Even accounting for the Covid Restrictions, the minuscule number and percentage of responses from teenagers and young adults is a huge concern “Of note is the response from those in the 18-24 band, with only six responses, less than oneContinue reading “The Police & Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough must overhaul his consultation process”

This is not political leadership, it is political cowardice. All it leaves is a huge policy void that neither helps investors decide whether or not to invest in the region, nor local communities and environmentalists concerned about over-development in the face of the climate emergency. “I am glad the OxCam Arc appears nowhere in theContinue reading “Ministers avoid the tough decision on the OxCamArc in their Levelling Up White Paper”

Above – the Old Addenbrookes from Britain From Above, as this post involves the hospital and its sisters. I had to write the Part 1 (See here) to give some historical and political context. This part looks at who could do what to improve our city (however you choose to define it) This pair ofContinue reading “Do our councils, hospitals, colleges, and wider public services discuss and sign up to shared aims? Part 2.”

Furthermore, do they discuss and share what specific policies and actions they need from each other? Public policy note: This is ***very complex*** and not easy to do at all. When I started off in the civil service back in mid-2004, many old hands, some of whom started their careers in the 1970s, told meContinue reading “Do our councils, hospitals, colleges, and wider public services discuss and sign up to shared aims? Part 1.”

In the meantime, Cambridgeshire County Council passes its annual budget, while next door in NW Essex, Uttlesford District Council (incl Saffron Walden) is stripped of its planning powers by the Minister for Housing due to its opposition to Stansted Airport’s proposed expansion. The Uttlesford District Council announcement seemed to come out of nowhere: …but asContinue reading “Cambridge to reclassify major roads as GCP unveils major expansion of rural cycling/walking routes around the city”

Council leaders were unable to agree to a new Sustainable Growth Ambition at the last Combined Authority Board Meeting. Should we be concerned? Is the impasse the result of broken structures and systems that should be looking at more radical solutions over a longer period of time? You can read the article in the CambridgeContinue reading “Sustainable Growth Ambitions for Cambridgeshire”

Two articles in the FT caught my eye on Levelling Up. And as one former Downing Street insider once told me in my civil service days regarding newspaper trustworthiness: “Money does not lie to itself”. The articles are sub-headlined: “Reversing decades of regional disparity in the UK will require real devolution of power” by MartinContinue reading “Levelling up? Follow the money, follow the legal powers”

And what is the point of having a county full of Conservative MPs – including former and current ministers, if our spend per head on things like policing and schools remains some of the lowest in England? It was something I noticed at the meeting of the Police & Crime Panel where the Police &Continue reading “Why are Cambridgeshire’s public services chronically underfunded?”