Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

It’s not surprising that more voters are turning away from the top two parties – especially where they are not seen to be resolving the problems caused by their predecessors in government Have a listen to Grace Blakeley here – it’s something that could apply to later generations too. The mindset is something that resonatesContinue reading “Us 1990s teenagers were sold a deal by politicians that they didn’t deliver on”

The politicians and the pro-growth interests should be all over this and banging down doors in Whitehall. But how many of them even know that such a risk register exists, let alone know its contents? (Even though it is a public document). Plus some lessons to be learnt from Peterborough’s rapid expansion in the 1970sContinue reading “Addenbrooke’s alarming risk register – and their limited ability to respond”

Cambridge won’t see a penny of the £5billion in funding – but nor should it. Instead, ministers should follow up this announcement by enabling councils that have economies that generate more financial wealth to tax that wealth independently of The Treasury in order to fund the sorts of programmes that the P-in-P funding has beenContinue reading “169 Neighbourhoods across Great Britain gain from Pride in Place funding”

AKA Addenbrooke’s 3…which rest on a series of pillars outside of the control and maintenance of the CUH NHS Trust. You can find out more on Addenbrooke’s 3 here This follows on from the CBC Open Forum from June 2025 which I wrote about here The Cambridge Biomedical Campus Vision 2050 hinted at a newContinue reading “Plans for a ‘New, New Addenbrooke’s’”

The University and the City of Cambridge found out the hard way what happens when you leave it to other people to do the ‘politics’ back in the mid 2010s. Will history repeat itself? Image – Trials of Democracy, with events coming up on Sat 04 Oct and Sun 05 Oct 2025 In the middleContinue reading “Cambridge faces an existential political threat. Again.”

Some of you may have seen the clickbait-style articles doing the rounds mentioning the city. As ever, such pieces rarely involve the authors and researchers actually going to the places featured. Rather they look at data and interpret the numbers through their own biases. Former BBC Reporter Mark Williamson picked up on this Above –Continue reading “If Cambridge is the No1 retail hub in the UK, the country is in real trouble”

Lots to consider in this document but it could pay for the long-awaited Cambridge Rowing Lake – even though I will probably be six feet under by the time it is complete! Image – from the consultation on densifying and improving the existing Cambridge Science Park Greater Cambridge Shared Planning’s further call for sites ItContinue reading “Cambridge Science Park North – submission to the emerging local plan 2025”

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 includingContinue reading “The new unitary council must reverse the urban decay we see on our streets”

They meet at the Mill Road Centre on 20 Sept 2025 from around 4pm. On the wider issues, have a listen to Ash Sarkar on Newsagents here Pictured: The trials of democracy in Cambridge – which has new events coming up! See the details here – it’s also accessible online. Timings means it clashes withContinue reading “Your Party Cambridge meets amidst turmoil at the top while Trials of Democracy returns”

The problem with the latter? They’re just not legal ones. Not yet anyway. Cambridgeshire Police confiscated a number of privately-owned E-scooters from students at Impington Village College a couple of weeks ago. I picked up on it in this week’s Cambridge Independent, and it was also featured on the Histon and Impington community website theContinue reading “Peter Freeman gives evidence at the C2C busway inquiry as teenagers find their own transport solutions”