Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

***Crikey on a stickle-brick – I didn’t see this coming!*** (That said, I want to hear the The Chancellor, Prime Minister, or Deputy Prime Minister confirm this in a statement to Parliament Because *rules is rules* and ministers should be making any announcements of new government policies to Parliament in the first instance. New WhiteContinue reading “Municipal Journal says local government overhaul on way!”

Phew! You can view the planning application papers here for Weds 06 November 2024 Here’s me protesting outside one of the planning consultation events back in April 2023 Above – one-bloke-protest by crazed local historian who behaves like he owns the place (The chap featured in the Waterford Whispers video is my hero!) The fateContinue reading “Cambridge town planning officers recommend *rejection* of demolition & redevelopment of Hobson Street Cinema”

Especially in leisure, sports, arts, cultural facilities and civic amenities. Cambridge City Council will be going out to consultation on developer contributions to all of the above. We need to be informed and ready to talk about it – as there are a number of big gaps in the draft. These are being debated atContinue reading “We need to talk about the Civic Gap”

Can Cambridgeshire do better than an A-to-B shuttle service from one Fenland town to another? Noting that Ely-Cambridge has come up again too You can read the papers at Item 12 of the Combined Authority’s Transport & Infrastructure Committee here. At the same time, you can read my snapshot of the county’s wider infrastructure issuesContinue reading “March-Wisbech rail-link options shows limited thinking and even more limited funding of local transport authorities”

I tried to summarise some of the things for a community newsletter but the task seems impossible because there’s so much happening – hence my point about our consultation systems needing an overhaul, and also the need to come up with alternatives to a now broken social media world – such as a revamped TeaCambsContinue reading “October 2024 brain dump of Cambridge town planning things”

The Chair of the Federation of Cambridge Residents’ Associations, Wendy Blythe verbally pinned down the Chair of the Government’s Cambridge Delivery Group at the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service’s update on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus You can watch their exchange here. (Scroll back to the beginning to watch the full meeting) Note this comes afterContinue reading “Peter Freeman asked: Where is the water coming from? Water! Water! Water!”

The concept of live-tweeting seems to have died out as realtime social media content from the conference at the Guildhall was non-existent. So I’ll keep this bit short. It is also why reading the publications is ever so important – such as the delivering the strategy document paper here. Greater Cambridge Impact – social impactContinue reading “The Cambridge Pledge – Innovate Cambridge’s response to the chronic problems our city and county face.”

Can their new ‘Cambridge Pledge’ do better than bog-standard 1980s-style charity and focus on issues that will make for difficult conversations for investors and entrepreneurs as well as politicians and policy-makers? If they can, could they help make our city become greater than the sum of our parts? TL/DR? (and image) – Cambridgeshire Youth PanelContinue reading “Innovate Cambridge’s exclusivity bodes ill for the future of our city”

…only to face yet another hurdle – reinforcing the point made by Dr Andy Williams, formerly of Astra Zeneca, about the impact of overly-complex governance structures on big transport projects You can see the meeting papers here – it’s item 6 of Cambridgeshire County Council’s full council meeting. You can also see the Cambridge NewsContinue reading “Cambridge South-East Road with bus-only signs project clears next hurdle”

All the more important given the consultation on the review of the curriculum and exams systems – adults, you need to read this. (And feel free to discuss it with any children and young people too) The results of the Cambridgeshire Youth Survey – sample of around 1,000 young people aged 11-19 had some strikingContinue reading “Cambs Youth Panelists read the riot act to adults over education policy failures”