Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

As the two-tier structure of local government for Cambridge comes to an end, ministers and their policy advisers must be told that continuing with enfeebled powers of revenue raising risks increasing, rather than decreasing the chronic inequalities in and around our city – both geographically and in magnitude. Image – from Menagerie Theatre’s council-funded projectContinue reading “No Strawberry Fair or Big Weekend events in Cambridge in 2025”

You may have seen the headlines earlier on here. There’s little that regulators can do to achieve new growth figures in time for the Sunday morning paper review. Also, it’s a slow news weekend so why the rush? Image – Whitehall and Westminster still confusing? Here’s a guide from the olden days: Because it’s YourContinue reading “Do headlines on Sir Keir demanding growth policies reflect narrow thinking in Westminster?”

As Cambridge’s community and amateur (i.e. not paid professional, or church/chapel choirs) have a breather over the festive break, the popularity of both their groups and audiences collectively might be telling us something about the sort of city we want to become That’s not the same as appropriating every single person’s motivation to participate inContinue reading “It’s like Cambridge’s popular singing groups are trying to tell our city something”

A stream of articles have been published this month about the state of our town centres. How festive did your one look this year? (And does Waterford’s Winterval do a much better job?) Despite the handful of carols at last weekend’s Christmas Cocktail concerts I sang in as part of We Are Sound, I’ve hardlyContinue reading “Did Christmas save your town centre?”

‘…after we were so rudely interrupted…’, our Cambridge-based music collective performed two successful sold-out shows at the 460-year-old Trinity College Chapel “…described by the press as “a harmonic phenomenon bursting onto the scene like a firecracker” and by fans as “explosive”, “thrilling” and “a tour de force”, Cambridge’s finest sound collective returns after a 5Continue reading “‘We Are Sound’ are back!”

Those who say Cambridge is the perfect small city have not been looking closely enough. In the meantime, Ministers need to come up with a new vision for what they think 21st Century Municipal Government should be like – so that villages, towns, and cities can start putting it together for their part of theContinue reading “Enfeebled Cambridge City Council cannot run its own tourist information centre”

The long-awaited formal statement of government policy on the governance of England, English regions, and local government in England has been published You can: Read the English Devolution White Paper here The speech in Leeds by the Deputy Prime Minister Read the written statement to Parliament from the Minister for Local Government here Watch theContinue reading “Government Publishes Devolution White Paper”

Can Cambridge Pledge-makers help find a much-improved solution for town and gown alike with the old Hobson Street Cinema building? You can read the article here. This follows the refusal of Cambridge City Council to authorise the comprehensive redevelopment of the cinema for offices back in November 2024 following significant representations from a number ofContinue reading “BBC Cambridgeshire interviews the owner of Hobson Street Cinema”

The board of HM Treasury needs updating as it’s over 3 years out of date. And if the personnel are still the same, then the lack of local government experience speaks volumes You can read the biographies here Government to abolish district councils – says the FT See Jen Williams here. The line that leftContinue reading “HM Treasury is the weak link in the Government’s devolution plans”

And none of them account for the the needs of the wider city and economic sub-region as a whole – which is why ministers need to strengthen local councils and combined authorities to push back against the financiers most likely to profit handsomely from a new generation of housebuilding I’m posting this to coincide withContinue reading “A reminder of who has what plans for the future of Cambridge”