Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

The Sing! Community Choir’s summer concert in Cambridge earlier reflected how community choirs can grow and evolve over an extended period of time It was Katy Roper of the Cambridge Science Centre who recommended I go along to this after we had met at the Cambridge Zero Carbon event (where I think I pleaded withContinue reading “How community choirs grow and evolve over time – Cambridge case studies”

I saw the scale of the work involved retrofitting a standard cottage-type interwar semi-detached property this week. Having to repeat the process for every single property of its type in the city and more, is utterly daunting Cambridge Carbon Footprint has been leading on attempts to encourage people to retrofit their homes to reduce theirContinue reading “We underestimate the retrofitting task ahead at our peril”

Or to give it its full title: The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. And it’s very complicated You can read the Bill documents here, although you will get more sense of what ministers want from it from the explanatory notes. See also the Local Government Association’s briefing here. What the Bill does is putContinue reading “Government publishes Devolution Bill”

Mr Ben Obese-Jecty MP (Cons – Huntingdon) contested the proposed overhaul of local government in Cambridgeshire in a Westminster Hall debate, forcing the Minister for Local Government, Mr Jim McMahon MP (Lab – OIdham West…) to reply for the Government Image – abandoned proposals for a Greater Cambridge Unitary from Redcliffe Maud’s report of 1969Continue reading “MP for Huntingdon claims Cambridge City Council ‘may lose 25% of total resources’ under Government plans”

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander MP once again refrained from even mentioning Ely Junction in her statement to the Commons. Furthermore there is nothing in the press release about this heavily-lobbied for rail upgrade plan “To be fair, £500million is a very big ask” She stated in response to questions from MPs that ministers “prioritised theContinue reading “If the Transport Secretary won’t fund essential upgrades, then the Chancellor must give regional tiers new revenue-raising powers”

Several public questions on bus services, something on light rail, heavy rail, and more strategies – is the huge consultancy spend at a cost to the corporate memory of the public sector? You can read the meeting papers here – noting a number of public questions (item 5) on buses. Which reminds me: Relaunch andContinue reading “The first transport committee meeting under the new Combined Authority Mayor”

“There’s a shortage of water, there’s a transport crisis, and there’ll shortly to be a power crisis [i.e. lack of electricity]” Above – Peter Freeman to Nick Dines from 2m30s The Chair of the Cambridge Growth Company Peter Freeman was interviewed by Nick Dines for his Better Places podcast, which you can listen to inContinue reading “Peter Freeman doesn’t pull his punches on Cambridge’s problems”

One of Cambridge’s most influential employers’ groups says Cambridge’s new unitary council should ‘align…with the functional economic area of Cambridge’. Image – the proposals for a Greater Cambridge Unitary from the Redcliffe-Maud Report of 1969 You can see what the proposals meant for Cambridge in my Lost Cambridge blogpost. “Proposals should align as much asContinue reading “Cambridge Ahead says new unitary council should not be restricted by existing boundaries”

Former councillor Sam Davies pointed me to some of the threads on the Reddit Cambridge boards to get some more extended takes on what’s happening in and with our city In particular the threads on: Commuting from Cambourne-Cambridge (from 2022) Being Poor in Cambs and the Misery of Commuting (from early 2025) One reason forContinue reading “Why is Cambridge unable to ease its housing and cost of living crises?”

Two reports published earlier in 2025 cover community venues in South Cambridgeshire villages, and industrial/warehouse supply/demand in and around the city You can read the reports from the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service here. The most recent reports are: Greater Cambridge Industrial and Warehousing Sector Study 2025 South Cambridgeshire Community Facilities Study 2025 “Which remindsContinue reading “New reports getting to the specifics on What a growing Cambridge needs”