Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

In a letter to the Chairman of Homes England, the Minister for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook MP name-checked the city as being an example of how other parts of England might ‘deliver’ major infrastructure If that’s the case, then his officials and the key stakeholders around him are only giving him a partial, rose-tintedContinue reading “Housing minister says the ‘Cambridge model might serve as a template for establishing other place-specific delivery bodies’”

Cambridge’s first indoor skate park opened earlier today – I went along to have a look Cambridge hasn’t had anything like this – not in my time anyway. It’s also been something I’ve been cheering on from afar and chasing after local politicians over (See this from April 2023). I’m not going to claim anyContinue reading “CamSkate shows Cambridge how to do it right – and do the right thing”

My question on what assessment the GCP had made of Rail Future’s consultant’s report on Rail Haverhill was declined by the Board. I tabled the PQ following a depressing GCP Assembly meeting where assembly members failed to ensure senior officers demonstrated sufficient examination of alternative proposals. I wanted to see whether the GCP had consideredContinue reading “Greater Cambridge Partnership doubles down on CSET busway over rail alternatives”

The results of the review have potentially huge implications for the provision of lifelong learning services in England (it’s a devolved matter remember) – but only if ministers are prepared to put serious resources into it as well Image: From Adult Education for Democracy (1944) digitised here You can read the call for evidence pageContinue reading “Adult education and the national curriculum review”

See the blogpost by the Better Beehive Campaign here. Furthermore, the Combined Authority really need to approach ministers for additional powers and funding to get the Cambridge-Newmarket line upgraded for new railway stations at Coldham’s Lane Bridge, Cherry Hinton Lakes, and Fulbourn. I have written numerous articles since I first became aware of redevelopment proposalsContinue reading “Residents near the Beehive Centre, Cambridge ask for **your help** to scrutinise revamped application”

As the closest institution to a ‘Civic University’ for our city (it’s rooted in the pre-ARU/APU/AHEI days as CCAT / The Tech), there’s a huge potential civic leadership role for Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge – one that Cambridge University as an institution could never fulfil because of the competing financial interests of itself andContinue reading “Can Anglia Ruskin create the public, democratic spaces for people to shape the future of Cambridge?”

A new report from the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at Cambridge highlights land value capture – and also refers to Gothenburg’s plan for the future You can read: “In a new Bennett Institute report, Thomas Aubrey critiques the government’s reliance on private finance initiatives (PFIs) for infrastructure development and recommends a more integrated approachContinue reading “Who is paying for the expansion of Cambridge – and what are the catches?”

You can read the refreshed document here – the context being the general election of July 2024 (and some of the recent policy announcements since then) The first thing to pick up in the refreshed document is the ‘refresh’ section “What constitutes a successful place in terms of urban design has evolved rapidly in theContinue reading “Cambridge Biomedical Campus 2050 vision – the summer 2024 refresh”

Once the final sets of devolution deals are completed, ministers should commission a major evaluation project to see if they are functioning as intended – and if they are not, whether the policy response needs only minor changes or an overhaul of governance nationwide This follows the publication by the Institute for Government of aContinue reading “I’m still not convinced by Combined Authorities for England”

The Chair of the New Towns Task Force said some things on the radio which worried a few of us given the intro into the news item! It wasn’t a formal statement of government policy, rather a short soundbite that actually didn’t add anything new. But things like this can set the political cat amongstContinue reading “The Government needs to get much better at managing expectations on the future of Cambridge”