Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

You can read them in the papers for the Environmental and Sustainable Communities Committee papers here – and given that Transport is on the list, I’m tempted to throw in a Q about light rail infrastructure in a post-GCP age given that the controversial partnership winds up in just over five years time But beforeContinue reading “Combined Authority’s snapshot of Cambridgeshire’s infrastructure challenges”

I hope we can discuss this and learn how to achieve a more aesthetically-pleasing set of buildings in the future when the Cambridge Room opens. Image – Front Page of the Cambridge News and ongoing proposals for the Hobson Street Cinema – article by Cait Findlay I wrote about the Cambridge Room here and, likeContinue reading “Designing out bland building design”

There was a surreal debate in the House of Lords as a former Bishop introduced a citizenship education bill into the upper chamber of Parliament to put pressure on ministers during the public consultation on the national curriculum and exams. You can read the debate in Hansard here where peers approved the principles of theContinue reading “Lords and Baronesses debating citizenship and democracy in an appointed chamber”

The public art proposal for Cambridge South Station doesn’t inspire me. You can comment on the planning application with your opinions – support/object/neutral I can’t pretend I like it. I don’t. You can view the application via the planning portal here and typing in the reference: 21/02957/COND20A The decoration of the stairs bridge is somethingContinue reading “Can Cambridge Station South do better than words on a rust-coloured background?”

The GCP Assembly met on 16 October 2024 and as Mal Schofield, a former Conservator of the Cam highlighted, not only have the City Access issues not gone away, but a significant amount of time has passed, along which further changes to the city and to governments have happened. Have events overtaken the GCP? SeeContinue reading “Cambridge City Access – the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s problem that hasn’t gone away”

Those working full-time on climate campaigning in public policy circles now need to start turning solid policies into draft legislation for very specific issues and industries This is one of the reasons why I go on about Citizenship Education. Anyone with the most basic understanding of law and politics would have read the first clauseContinue reading “The Climate and Nature Bill does not go far enough”

Only this has dragged on for long enough – and the county already has a huge shortage of display space for historical and archaeological finds from recent infrastructure projects. Yet this is a symptom of a wider malaise in local government not just in our county, but nationwide. “Future of Shire Hall in question againContinue reading “Look, if you can’t decide what do to with the old Shire Hall, let the people of our city turn it into a museum and gallery”

Strikingly little publicity for a move that brings the rest of the UK in line with Scotland that brought in votes at 16 back in 2014 This really should have been part of an oral statement to Parliament, and given far more publicity by the media because it is such a significant change – evenContinue reading “Minister confirms Votes at 16 for all UK elections”

…nor is it ‘the greatest small city in the world’ – because great cities large and small would not have such defunct governance systems, nor would they have such huge levels of inequality Image – from Prof Josh Ryan-Collins’s report on demand for housing as an investment Former Queen Edith’s councillor Sam Davies spotted thisContinue reading “Cambridge *is not* ‘the perfect small city’”

Fortunately I wasn’t the only person who provided feedback to the Cambridge Civic Quarter proposals. Because if my ideas were adopted without anyone making any improvements, the laws of unintended consequences would have a field day! TL/DR? See https://cambridgecivicquarter.co.uk/ Above – Waterford Whispers on crazy old dude who reads planning applications The consultation analysis –Continue reading “NEWZ: ‘Local historian studies guildhall proposals like he owns the place’”