Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

Daniel Zeichner MP leaves the Government having held the post of Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food, & Rural Affairs since the general election – having held the shadow post for several years before that. Mr Zeichner confirmed the announcement below. This was part of a wider series of changes that alsoContinue reading “Cambridge gets its MP back following Government reshuffle”

You can respond to the consultation survey here. (The Chief Exec of the county council, Stephen Moir got in touch to say this is not a formal consultation, but rather an informal survey and engagement exercise). Before you do, note Your three choices are here, as Cambridgeshire County Council makes a pitch for incorporating EastContinue reading “Cambridgeshire County Council’s consultation on unitary councils”

See the 03 Sept 2025 edition of the Cambridge Independent. Plus the state of the region reports from the Combined Authority (item 7 here) – read carefully! Above – p4 of this week’s Cambridge Indy. Buy the paper for the full story. If anyone wants to submit a public question to the Combined Authority’s GrowthContinue reading “Anglian Water to oppose all new large planning applications in Cambridge”

Journalist Mark Williamson has started a new blog – and in his latest post he’s rightly critical of the state of our city You can read what he says here Mark starts off quoting Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd – someone who lived in recluse not far from where I spent most of my lifeContinue reading “Cambridge’s declining public realm”

Not that you’d know from BBC Politics’ love-in with Team Nigel It’s in the smaller, independent/online outlets that are picking up on the issue of taxing tourism similar to how other countries do so. ‘Get on with it’: Support builds for London-wide tourism tax – Greenwich Wire 11 Aug 2025 Labour Mayor Accuses Treasury ofContinue reading “Labour Mayor slams Labour Treasury ministers over lack of tourism tax powers”

But…it struggled to link it all together in a cohesive theme and wasn’t able to become greater than the sum of its parts. Why was this? Let’s have a look. I went into town (i.e. Cambridge’s city centre – a term I’ve used since childhood and old habits die hard!) for both days of theContinue reading “Out of the Ordinary Festival Cambridge showcases local dance & musical talent”

If so, Frankie’s got some cultural observations on left-wing academics. Also, how this links to Cambridge’s growing pains! Above – did you come to the conference for the free drinks reception with canapes at the end? Actually, it reflects something that has been troubling me about the public policy processes ever since I joined theContinue reading “Have you ever been to an academic conference? This might be about you”

The saga of what should happen with council-owned buildings in an era of austerity continues – as ministers continue to hold back on granting greater revenue powers for local government The latest attempt to sell off Mill Road Library (against the wishes of local residents) has fallen through. [Updated to add:] By Jonathan Giblett toContinue reading “Can we have our library back please?”

Central Government’s decision to pull funding for the relocation of Anglian Water’s sewage works at Milton, just north of Cambridge to a new site at Honey Hill means that some very expensively-produced plans are going to need revamping It’s worth highlighting that The Government has since stated that the additional funding requirements needed to relocateContinue reading “Now that the waterworks won’t be moving, where will 8,000+ new homes be built?”

Earlier today, Cambridge City Council confirmed that ministers had pulled the funding for the relocation of the Milton sewage works on the northern edge of Cambridge You can read the press release here. One group breathing a sigh of relief are the Save Honey Hill campaigners who spent years opposing the proposals – and spendingContinue reading “How much money, time, and work has been wasted over the Cambridge Sewage Works?”