The Combined Authority’s Skills Committee is due to discuss this 100+ page document under the chairmanship of the new County Council leader, former LibDems MEP Cllr Lucy Nethsingha You can view the papers here. The party-political balance of the Combined Authority means that the Conservatives have a 4-3 majority. (Representatives from Peterborough City, Fenland District,Continue reading “How skilful is Cambridgeshire?”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
On the concentration of further education (16+) institutions in South Cambridge
How did this part of the county end up with such a high concentration of young people travelling such great distances for post-16 courses in and around Cambridge? Yesterday I bumped into a group of sixth form students raising money for the homelessness charity Jimmy’s in Cambridge. There were a number of different groups doingContinue reading “On the concentration of further education (16+) institutions in South Cambridge”
Boundary Commission proposes an additional Parliamentary seat next to Cambridge
The new proposed seat of St Neots incorporating rapidly-growing Cambourne may be added to the county, as Cherry Hinton could be moved into a re-oriented South Cambridgeshire with wards now dominated by Liberal Democrat councillors You can read the essentials from Ben Hatton in the Cambridge Independent. You can also see other constituencies and submitContinue reading “Boundary Commission proposes an additional Parliamentary seat next to Cambridge”
East Cambridge lakes and the eastward expansion of the city
Two significant planning applications are up for your scrutiny and comments – the land south of Coldham’s Lane – including the lakes, and the next phase of the Marleigh expansion next to the Cambridge Ice Rink – now re-opened. You can read the news articles for the essentials: Planning permission sought for 420 homes inContinue reading “East Cambridge lakes and the eastward expansion of the city”
If Greater Cambridgeshire (i.e. Cambridgeshire + Peterborough) is to be the county of culture 2025, heritage and transport are key components
Oh – and it would be nice to have a new large concert hall for Cambridge by the end of the period as well. (Because the time has arrived for it). Some of you may have spotted my live-tweets from earlier. …since written up by Mr Hatton in the Cambridge Independent. (It’s worth subscribing toContinue reading “If Greater Cambridgeshire (i.e. Cambridgeshire + Peterborough) is to be the county of culture 2025, heritage and transport are key components”
Refreshing Greater Cambridge’s 2030 vision post-CV19 & Post-2021 elections
There’s still time to get your questions in for the Greater Cambridge Assembly Meeting on 10 June (see start of my last blogpost here). There is also the formalities of the first Mayoral meeting on 02 June with local council leaders from across Cambridgeshire – the papers are here. The vision of the transport systemContinue reading “Refreshing Greater Cambridge’s 2030 vision post-CV19 & Post-2021 elections”
The Greater Cambridge Partnership must change policies to reflect the recent local election results
For the first time in its history, there will be no Conservatives on the GCP Board. Yet for its first four years (2014-18) that party held the majority. In the course of three years, the electorate has voted to remove Conservative political control of both South Cambridgeshire District Council, and of Cambridgeshire County Council. Accordingly,Continue reading “The Greater Cambridge Partnership must change policies to reflect the recent local election results”
Reading between the lines of what the Community Planning Alliance Map shows us
Some of you may have spotted the crowd-sourced map here, It was started by Rosie Pearson and seems to have picked up quite a following, with over 400 separate grassroots campaigns now listed. It has also been picked up by a new generation of pro-housing campaigners (mainly my age and younger) who are basically crushedContinue reading “Reading between the lines of what the Community Planning Alliance Map shows us”
If developers want their post-2030 bids in South Cambridgeshire to be accepted, they need to get behind Cambridge Connect Light Rail
*Declaration of interest: I’ve been supporting the concept of a light rail underground from Cambridge Connect since first hearing about it. I run its Facebook page as a volunteer. This is also an opinion piece by myself speaking only for myself, and not for any institution, organisation, alliance, collective, association or group. Looking through theContinue reading “If developers want their post-2030 bids in South Cambridgeshire to be accepted, they need to get behind Cambridge Connect Light Rail”
Cambridge Biomedical Campus – the plans for a very large expansion
This is why you need transparency *and* trained, informed, and educated people (whether councillors, paid professionals, or active residents) to keep a watch on very large institutions In this case, Cllr Sam Davies (Ind – Queen Ediths – Cambridge City Council) spotted this. “Noooo! My head is full of brain fog! Do we have toContinue reading “Cambridge Biomedical Campus – the plans for a very large expansion”