Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

The Chair of The CPCA’s Transport & Infrastructure Committee, Cllr Anna Smith (Labour – Coleridge) confirmed in a response to my public question on 22 July 2024. Plus I got stuck in an internet wormhole on East West Rail and regional rail improvements You can view the video clip here – and the following PQContinue reading “Combined Authority to examine growth of private commuter buses in/around Cambridge”

A controversial (with some people at least) pension fund is trying to push through a development far faster than the system will allow for – not least because government policy is likely to change between now and the time they get to submit their planning application I didn’t make the connection between the pension fundContinue reading “Feedback from The Paddocks redevelopment proposals”

Actually, this one could be a more interesting one if it were combined with other neighbourhood-level discussions because of the methods being used to get people to focus on where they live rather than ‘big strategies’. TL/DR/ I just want a pothole repaired! See https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/travel-roads-and-parking/roads-and-pathways/roadworks-and-faults Active Travel Hierarchy What does that mean to the generalContinue reading “Guess what?!? Another consultation! This one on foot paths and cycleways”

Even though I asked them specifically to cover how improved public transport infrastructure could support better provision for our county’s teenagers Disappointed but not surprised is my take on the long-awaited Grant Thornton study on the further education ‘cold spots’. You can see the formal reports item 6 of the CPCA’s Skills Committee meeting papersContinue reading “Combined Authority’s Further Education review fails to account for transport issues”

A local employment site close to where Coleridge, Cherry Hinton, and Queen Edith’s wards intersect (so on the constituency boundary of Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire constituency) has been bought out by a big pension fund. TL:DR? Have your say here, or alternatively go along to the consultation event at Lincoln House at The Paddocks onContinue reading “Another sci-tech development consultation? Over the summer holidays?”

The Government through its housing delivery agency Homes England put out a statement on the rapidly-growing New Town of Northstowe that has been in the news of late But before we start, have a look at this half hour video all about Northstowe published in mid-July 2024 (a few days ago). You can keep upContinue reading “Government intervenes in Northstowe”

At the formal opening of the new Parliament, The King read out a list of proposed new laws that the Ministers will ask Parliament to approve That doesn’t mean these are the only things that the Government proposes – rather that of the things that it wants to do, the ones that require changes inContinue reading “The King’s Speech – and another Cambridgeshire consultation”

What will our county or combined authority area be like in a quarter of a century’s time? TL/DR? Fill out the survey here. Actually, you’ll need to read the second PDF document of the Stakeholder Engagement Workshop 3 materials here in order to make sense of what the survey asks of you. Civics and citizenshipContinue reading “Cambridgeshire 2050”

Big questions remain for the organisations supporting the Cambridge Biomedical Campus – and ministers need to clarify what their policies are on the growth of Cambridge I wrote about the housing report the CBC published back in April 2024 here. I won’t repeat what I wrote in there. The meeting I was at earlier wasContinue reading “Public transport provision will make or break the Cambridge Biomedical Campus”

The newly-appointed Energy Secretary – taking up a former post he had in the last Labour Government, moved quickly to ‘unblock’ a trio of solar farm developments. One of those was the Sunnica Solar Farm on the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire border. This was a controversial decision given the scale of the proposals as well as the locationContinue reading “Ed Miliband approves large solar farm on the East Cambs / West Suffolk Border”