Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

The lack of detail in Michael Gove’s Case for Cambridge, published with The Budget 2024, shows how complex building such a case is. But if the people of Cambridge and Cambridgeshire are to come up with alternatives, we need to know some civic essentials As I mentioned in my previous blogpost: Browse through The Treasury’sContinue reading “There are alternatives to Gove’s Case for Cambridge – Part 1”

Come along to one of my Great Cambridge Crash Course events! Some of you may recall a similarly-titled initiative from nearly a decade ago. It was even on BBC Look East Above – BBC Look East via Cambridge Ahead, 09 Oct 2015 Furthermore, Smarter Cambridge Transport and Rail Future East produced this piece listing theContinue reading “The Case for Cambridge – want to talk about it?”

Ministers finally publish their Case for Cambridge – but still have not confirmed the boundaries of their proposed development corporation. It all sounds very ‘Hand in Hand – German Allstars” 2020. Sing along! Above – if only we had German pop music to listen to when learning the language as 1990s teenagers in Cambridge! “So,Continue reading “Hunt and Gove’s utopian dream for Cambridge 2040”

And now Queen Edith’s Ward in Cambridge has its own case study. Image: Queen Edith’s Community Forum – chances are some of you will want to raise this at a future forum meeting (or alternatively on the F-book Page here as well). Local residents are *not* happy with this mast. This was something local residentsContinue reading “Ministers were warned about planning inspectors messing things up”

And if not, can we generate enough of it to shape our city’s future in the run up to the general election? Before I start, a quick reminder of the two events coming up this month on Cambridge’s past and its future, both being held at the Central Library in Lion Yard, Cambridge See https://cambridgetownowl.com/workshops/Continue reading “Civic Spirit in Cambridge – do we have any?”

…by failing to meet even the basic legal requirements on the minimum wage – let alone the Cambridge Living Wage, for those on the lowest incomes. Pictured – the student-led Cambridge Land Justice Campaign – which is campaigning on inequalities issues associated with the University of Cambridge During my various periods of house-bound boredom IContinue reading “Cambridge University’s colleges risk undermining the impact of the University’s research…”

I was looking at another planning application that, yet again replaces a not-particularly inspiring building with one that’s even worse It’s on Castle Hill at the Histon Road Junction by Mount [not so] Pleasant. Before Proposed ****Oooooooh!!!! Ugly Sh****te!!!**** At this rate I’m gonna be rockin’ up to a future planning committee and playing thisContinue reading “Cambridge, why are the main routes into our city filled with dull buildings?”

Today’s Cambridge Arts Network conference at The Guildhall saw delegates grappling with increasingly frustrating issues as the powerlessness of the people and small institutions became more than apparent In our globally-recognised city that is run like a market town, our city’s arts networks (including the Cambridge Arts Network, and CamCreatives) tried to unpick a numberContinue reading “Cambridge Arts Network takes on some very difficult challenges”

The Levelling Up Committee of the House of Commons took evidence earlier today – and came out with some damning quotations about the construction industry’s failures to accommodate children and young people. Image: Remember the Cambridge Playlaws project? You can read through the written submissions here. (I originally thought there were only three – whichContinue reading “Designing child-friendly communities”

The ex-Labour Cabinet Minister, now multi-tasking as an academic and a TV breakfast show worked with a team of researchers at Harvard, MIT, and UCL, to examine the massive regional inequalities in the UK which was published in Feb 2024. Pictured: East of England Regional Plan 2010 They are part of a series of papersContinue reading “Regional Government again – Ed Balls at Harvard”