Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

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”

The final two party conferences are coming up over the next five days – for the Greens and finally the Conservatives respectively. How will politics look when Parliament returns for the run up to the Budget? I guess going by the traditional political press, the likes of Chris Mason might be competing with GBeebies toContinue reading “On Labour and Conservatives facing new pressures from smaller parties”

As with the Cambridge water works relocation, rising costs have proved to be an insurmountable barrier. How quickly will the firm be able to find an alternative location? In the meantime the Cambridge East website is frozen in time You can read the article at BBC Cambridgeshire here. If the firm does not vacate theContinue reading “Marshall Aerospace’s proposed move to Cranfield is dropped”

On top of the three originally proposed, Huntingdonshire district has made a pitch to go it alone, while the MPs for Peterborough and North West Cambridgeshire (messrs Pakes and Carling respectively) have made a pitch to split Huntingdonshire into two. Which is a bold move for all concerned. In particular the proposal to split theContinue reading “Cambridgeshire restructure has more options”

Paul Bristow was also cross-examined by the representatives supporting the application You can watch the footage here. You can see the inquiry’s homepage here “I campaigned on a promise to oppose the C2C Busway and to push for the abolition of the Greater Cambridge Partnership” Paul Bristow, Mayor of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough to the PlanningContinue reading “Combined Authority Mayor gives evidence to C2C Busway Inquiry”

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.”