Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

With a planning hearing looming for the proposed redevelopment of the Beehive Centre, the public comments (both in support of, and in objection to) are worth a browse. Image – For those of you who want an olden days crash course in town planning I moaned about it here and in a host of otherContinue reading “Beehive Redevelopment by Railpen – hundreds of objections flood in”

Interested parties were sharing the link from the FT throughout today, and understandably quality journalism has to be paid for. But given the significance of the announcement and the number of people affect, why did none of the other news outlets cover it in the same way? Especially the BBC? I sort-of expected the contentContinue reading “OxCamArc is back, and you can read all about it – for a special fee!”

Well if they are going with the tried and tested route of ‘designed-on-a-spreadsheet’ vernacular with a separate piece of abstract modernist sculpture plonked by the building, then expect to be lampooned! Above – CGI of proposed dinosaur-sized monster POO next to building that could have been designed on an Etch-a-sketch in the 1980s See theContinue reading “Land-owning giant celebrates ARM expansion with huge vertical sculpture of freeze-dried dinosaur-size POO”

The Combined Authority’s Education and Skills Committee Chair confirmed that the tight spending rules on the devolved adult education budget means that a very narrow skills focus is all but inevitable – but could they push back for something better? Part of me wonders whether the Cambridge& people should include a story about meaningful devolutionContinue reading “Mayoral candidates need to challenge ministers on lifelong learning”

On a Sunday afternoon – which at least gives people time to read it You can read it here – I picked up on it because if the Government wants to announce something but not make a big deal out of it, it normally puts it in the form of a written ministerial statement lastContinue reading “Ministers launch consultation on streamlining big infrastructure planning”

A social innovation day on Friday 07 Feb 2025 from 10am-5pm You can sign up here It will be interesting to see the demographics of the group that turns up to participate. Not least because anything during the weekday inevitably excludes young people at school/college, and anyone working weekdays during the day. See also theContinue reading “Building a Better Cambridge at The Guildhall”

Over a decade ago I wrote a blogpost asking why Cambridge was systematically excluding young people from decisions that affect them That was in September 2013. It’s now January 2025. It has been a very long journey. Image – The Trials of Democracy is back Cambridge City Council is due to sign off/approve a newContinue reading “Cambridge City Council’s Youth Strategy”

A public question coming to a Combined Authority near me? Probably – if only because Prof Diana Coyle of the Bennett Institute has been writing a lot about it, Andy Haldane of the RSA (formerly of the Bank of England) has been talking a lot about it, and because Rob Fry of the North ofContinue reading “What are your institutions’ policies on growing social capital?”

Ideally it would be the function of local councillors but given the huge variance in calibre and levels of specialist knowledge now needed, should the new model of unitary councils bring in such new roles? Image – from Menagerie Theatre’s Trials of Democracy project – spot them outside Cambridge Guildhall this Sat 25 Jan I’mContinue reading “Is there a role for professional paid public advocates in local government?”

The people and firms behind the proposed redevelopment of The Paddocks employment site in my part of Cambridge have submitted their planning application to the city council I’ve moaned about this application before – noting that when I went to the face-to-face consultation, none of the representatives of the firm providing the funding were actuallyContinue reading “Sci-tech developers propose bland blocks despite being asked not to”