Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

Newcastle has one – The Farrell Centre which “is a vital new platform for debating the future of architecture and planning, ensuring that everyone has a voice in this critical conversation.“ TL/DR? Read: You don’t need me to tell you why such a venue and facility could be transformational for the future of Cambridge. IfContinue reading “An Urban Room for Cambridge”

The Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, former MEP Cllr Lucy Nethsingha (LibDems – Newnham) speaks out on Gove’s plan for our city She was quoted in New Civil Engineer magazine here. What’s also been noticeable is the number of Artificial-Intelligence-Generated images (in particular this thread from Create Streets) doing the rounds that have resulted variousContinue reading ““I find the idea that a secretary of state should be the arbiter of what is beautiful for Cambridge deeply concerning.””

Furthermore, they should incorporate suitable learning materials from citizenship courses designed for schools, tailored for lifelong learning audience into their basic maths and english courses. (Image = cover of How to be a global citizen) TL/DR? The Combined Authority has a meeting of its Education & Skills Committee on 04 Sept 2023. As I alreadyContinue reading “The Combined Authority should commission GCSE citizenship & democracy evening classes”

TL/DR? Overhaul our local government structures and create a Unitary Council – you can read his thoughts here. Also don’t forget the petition for a new Royal Commission to overhaul local government in England! I’ve known Chris for a number of years – he’s a former Conservative Councillor for Coleridge Ward back in Gordon Brown’sContinue reading ““Building a Greater Cambridge” by Chris Howell”

tl/dr? We must create the discussion and learning spaces for this autumn and next spring given the scale of the Government’s proposals (and the climate emergency / water crisis that is also already here) In Case You Missed It (ICYMI) I’ve tried to summarise some key issues regarding Michael Gove’s proposals to ‘supercharge Cambridge’. AlsoContinue reading “Cambridge, Southern Cambs, and Huntingdonshire: What could our collective responses be to ‘Supercharged Cambridge’?”

TL/DR? Read the Secretary of State’s statement here. Personally I’d have gone for Captain Planet and the Planeteers given Cambridge’s pollution problems. The announcement is confirmation of the rumour of last week which I wrote about here. The same issues apply. Inevitably Michael Gove’s announcement alongside that of the Prime Minister has polarised opinion. ScrollContinue reading “Michael Gove plans *another tier* of government and sends in a ‘super squad’ of experts to make Cambridge ‘Europe’s science capital’”

TL/DR? Extend the principles of the Cambridge BID to cover all private education establishments and impose a levy on all of them to fund new activities bringing children from all backgrounds together. The problem? It would need ministers to move the necessary regulations in Parliament to establish this – reflecting our over-centralised system of government.Continue reading “How Cambridge’s private education sector could finance more free activities for young people irrespective of family incomes”

TL/DR: Developers have submitted their planning application. See Gemma Gardner’s summary in the Cambridge Independent here. Before I start, if you find any of this useful, and are also able to, feel free to help feed the Cambridge Town Owl / donate to my research costs here. Sadly long-term ill health means I am farContinue reading “You can’t have a big bookshop in the Grafton – it’s going to be sci-tech space! Scrutinising the planning application”

Only I’ve tried to find some but there aren’t any. It’s a bit like the lack of variety on books introducing children and young people to things like the law, and democracy – from their perspective. I’m from a generation (the Section 28 generation) that wasn’t taught about politics or the law at school. HenceContinue reading “What would an introduction to town planning book for children & young people be like?”

The Irish Playful City social media feed landed this one on me – and it resonated immediately but not for the most obvious reasons Coming back to that phenomenon I’ve written lots about over the years, the tweet below landed a few minutes ago. One of the sentences from the article that appears at theContinue reading “Living close to where your friends are – a simplified take on an over-complicated headline”