Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

This could be as part of a wider communications and public education campaign about how our county functions – and the data underpinning the decisions made by politicians. Note this also requires a ‘Total Place approach, that I covered here. You can view the snapshot posters here Above – detail of the first of tenContinue reading “Can the Combined Authority put these display boards where people can see them?”

The campaign for an overhaul of local government in Cambridgeshire & Peterborough had its first workshop today at Cambridge’s Central Library. It’s one thing agreeing that the present governance diagram is a mess, but it’s quite another thing to try and figure out what to so about it – as everyone at the Cambs UnitariesContinue reading “Cambs Unitaries Campaign meets a public audience for the first time”

A report out from University College London by a trio of former diplomats has ruffled the sensitivities of the traditionalists. “International bright young thingNow you know for sure that you make the world swingInternational bright young thingMake it swing” …was what Jesus Jones sang in 1990/1991 I played it lots during the 2000s whenever IContinue reading “International Bright Young Things? Time to rebrand the Foreign Office”

The candidates have been named. Four political parties are standing full slates, two minor parties have one candidate each, and three independent candidates (not me!) are also standing for election to Cambridge City Council. There are also three candidates for Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough See https://www.cambridge.gov.uk/elections-in-2024 and click on “Statements ofContinue reading “Cambridge elections 2024 – lists of the candidates published”

The winner of the Wolfson Prize 2014 highlights issues that the people of Cambridge need to be aware of when scrutinising and challenging decisions made about our city’s future. You can read the documents here As the firm stated: “Uxcester Garden City: Our essay describes a plan to create a garden city of almost 400,000Continue reading “Does the Uxcester 2014 plan indicate what awaits Cambridge?”

Independent Candidate Will Bannell hosted a gathering attended by both supporters and opponents of the proposed traffic filter on Mill Road Bridge. I went along to see what it was all about The Salisbury Club near the corner of Mill Road and Coleridge Road was where the gathering took place. The club was founded inContinue reading “Independent candidate in Romsey cross-examined over transport issues”

I’ve been wanting to get into the specifics of community centres for some time now – and the constructor of Cambridge United Football Club’s new training centre facility provides some interesting case studies You can read ModuleK’s case study of their Cambridge United commission here Beautiful verses functional My previous blogpost on this asked whetherContinue reading “Modular community centres vs Gove’s ‘Build Back Beautiful’”

I wonder if future generations will ask why our generation carried on with the current economic and social structures we currently have that seem to be doing so much damage to so many – and for what? Image – from the EU’s Emptiness project It’s hard to put into words my long term outlook –Continue reading “Emptiness, loneliness – and how to deal with it”

We used to have ***lots of them*** in the olden days. Can we have them back again? Back in 1922 we had a by-election after Eric “The Axeman” Geddes who decided to resign as MP for Cambridge having brought in the spending cuts that bore his name as a minister a year before. In theContinue reading “Public meetings for election candidates in and around Cambridge”

Clarendon House is back again – out for consultation so you can all comment on it too! Go to https://applications.greatercambridgeplanning.org/online-applications/ and type in 24/00889/FUL into the search box. See the guidance here if it does not make sense. This is the Clarendon House redevelopment which was featured last December in the Cambridge News by CaitContinue reading “How to do community engagement – badly: a Cambridge case study”