Category Archives: Uncategorized

Surely we can do better than this collectively? By now many of you will be bored of the diagram above. But it’s still there. And as you know it doesn’t include our underfunded health services. I wrote about the weak institutional links between the local NHS and local councils earlier here. Furthermore I wrote aboutContinue reading “More on fragmented public service delivery in and around Cambridge”

…and how does the city deal with forces and institutions pulling in different directions? I stumbled across the Anstey Hall change of use planning application (See item 8 here) where it looks like the Covid Pandemic meant that the running of it as a wedding venue and hotel was no longer viable. You can seeContinue reading “Whose Cambridge is it anyway?”

Looking at where Cambridgeshire might be going wrong, while noting what others are learning – in particular in the aftermath of Grenfell – and this video in particular: Have a listen to this speech from 23 Jan 2019 at the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. Above – from 33mins 25 seconds in. One ofContinue reading “What can localgov learn from this powerful speech to Kensington & Chelsea Full Council from 2019?”

Digging behind the proposed golden bank of the sewage-filled River Cam. …recalling the protest against Anglian Water’s dumping of sewage into the River Cam last September – which in itself was a striking piece of public art. Only three months earlier in June 2021 the Friends of the River Cam took part in the DeclarationContinue reading “Does Cambridge’s public art glitter?”

Which is why we need to think about how both Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, and the new University of Peterborough, are developed over the next quarter of a century. I’ve very deliberately excluded the University of Cambridge from this piece simply because it is a global institution that draws its talent from all overContinue reading “Cambridgeshire has no post-graduate course providers meeting local needs on transport planning”

Pictured: Puffles the Dragon Fairy at an emergency services open day in Cherry Hinton 2013 Even accounting for the Covid Restrictions, the minuscule number and percentage of responses from teenagers and young adults is a huge concern “Of note is the response from those in the 18-24 band, with only six responses, less than oneContinue reading “The Police & Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough must overhaul his consultation process”

This is not political leadership, it is political cowardice. All it leaves is a huge policy void that neither helps investors decide whether or not to invest in the region, nor local communities and environmentalists concerned about over-development in the face of the climate emergency. “I am glad the OxCam Arc appears nowhere in theContinue reading “Ministers avoid the tough decision on the OxCamArc in their Levelling Up White Paper”

Above – the Old Addenbrookes from Britain From Above, as this post involves the hospital and its sisters. I had to write the Part 1 (See here) to give some historical and political context. This part looks at who could do what to improve our city (however you choose to define it) This pair ofContinue reading “Do our councils, hospitals, colleges, and wider public services discuss and sign up to shared aims? Part 2.”

Furthermore, do they discuss and share what specific policies and actions they need from each other? Public policy note: This is ***very complex*** and not easy to do at all. When I started off in the civil service back in mid-2004, many old hands, some of whom started their careers in the 1970s, told meContinue reading “Do our councils, hospitals, colleges, and wider public services discuss and sign up to shared aims? Part 1.”