Author Archives: Cambridge Town Owl

The charity founded as the Cambridge Preservation Society call out the behaviour of one of Cambridge’s most controversial firms. TL/DR? ….and judge for yourselves. It’s a controversy that future generations will argue over just as the one before my return to Cambridge did with the proposals for the redevelopment of Cambridge Station. On my wayContinue reading “Cambridge Past, Present, & Future slam Brookgate’s ‘Great Wall of North East Cambridge’”

The Greater Cambridge Partnership senior officers and board members past and present of all three political parties, and the ministers that created the institution, only have themselves to blame. You can read the following: Residents in and around Cambridge (i.e. South Cambridgeshire district, and southern Cambridgeshire generally) have been protesting about a whole host ofContinue reading “Why the call for a referendum on congestion charging for Cambridge is flawed – but is not the fault of those signing it.”

…and MPs are not happy. Neither are others with proposals for regional committees of MPs to scrutinise combined authorities Scrutiny and accountability between elections has always been a problem for combined authorities and metro mayors. In late October 2022 (just over four months ago,) MPs on the House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional AffairsContinue reading “Gove dismisses calls for an overhaul of how England is governed”

***Wow! This is rare!*** It has been decades since the Cambridge Conservatives organised a public meeting in Cambridge, let alone showcasing four election candidates at the same time. But the proposed road user charging / congestion charging plans from the Greater Cambridge Partnership (ironically established by the Conservative-led Coalition Government along with Conservative-led South CambsContinue reading “Cambridge Tories to host public meeting in Cherry Hinton”

It may feel like quite heavy listening, but it’s essential for anyone who wants to get a feel for how national policies set in Whitehall (my old neck of the woods) affects town planning decisions in local neighbourhoods. You can listen to the full show here on Cambridge 105. See also Cllr Sam Davies’ commentaryContinue reading “Cambridge’s challenges on town planning – on Cambridge 105 with former Chief Town Planner Peter Studdert & Cllrs Lewis Herbert, & Sam Davies MBE”

Looking at the reaction to *that* tweet. One of the most thoughtful of responses was from historian Robert Saunders “If fascism becomes simply a grotesque anomaly, which others committed and ‘we’ defeated, it becomes impossible to relate any part of it to our own experience. Paradoxically, it becomes a source of complacency that assures usContinue reading “What does the BBC do when it becomes the news? (As Gary Lineker stands his ground)”

At the third time of trying… The guidance from the Local Government Association applies. It answers: These look similar to the seven consultation criteria from Cabinet Office published back in 2008 below: See also the shorter document but longer list of criteria from Cabinet Office from 2018 here On their own, if institutions can manageContinue reading “Make responding to Cambridgeshire’s consultations easier through standardising & co-ordination (Part 3 of 3)”

The background is in Part 1 here …and started as a result of this: The case Mr Elworthy of the CambsNews refers to is on Broad Street, in the Fenland town of March, Cambridgeshire. (If anyone wants to go on the March march in March (or from March to Cambridge), this annual event for 2023Continue reading “Make responding to Cambridgeshire’s consultations easier through standardising & co-ordination (Part 2 of 3)”

It was at nearly 2am that I wrote this because someone was wrong in politics or something – but I must mention that Cambridge City Council has its own online consultation portal here. Have you signed up and filled out your response to the one on putting residents at the heart of the conversation? …andContinue reading “Make responding to Cambridgeshire’s consultations easier through standardising & co-ordination (Part 1)”

This stems from a new unworkable policy that ramps up the rhetoric against migrants under the political cover of trying to deal with the curse of human trafficking. Despite the promotion of Debate Not Hate in the run up to the local elections in 2 months time. The lectern slogan with the flag in theContinue reading “UK politics reaches a point where it can no longer rely on old, outdated assumptions & stereotypes”