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Mr Ben Obese-Jecty MP (Cons – Huntingdon) contested the proposed overhaul of local government in Cambridgeshire in a Westminster Hall debate, forcing the Minister for Local Government, Mr Jim McMahon MP (Lab – OIdham West…) to reply for the Government Image – abandoned proposals for a Greater Cambridge Unitary from Redcliffe Maud’s report of 1969Continue reading “MP for Huntingdon claims Cambridge City Council ‘may lose 25% of total resources’ under Government plans”

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander MP once again refrained from even mentioning Ely Junction in her statement to the Commons. Furthermore there is nothing in the press release about this heavily-lobbied for rail upgrade plan “To be fair, £500million is a very big ask” She stated in response to questions from MPs that ministers “prioritised theContinue reading “If the Transport Secretary won’t fund essential upgrades, then the Chancellor must give regional tiers new revenue-raising powers”

Several public questions on bus services, something on light rail, heavy rail, and more strategies – is the huge consultancy spend at a cost to the corporate memory of the public sector? You can read the meeting papers here – noting a number of public questions (item 5) on buses. Which reminds me: Relaunch andContinue reading “The first transport committee meeting under the new Combined Authority Mayor”

“There’s a shortage of water, there’s a transport crisis, and there’ll shortly to be a power crisis [i.e. lack of electricity]” Above – Peter Freeman to Nick Dines from 2m30s The Chair of the Cambridge Growth Company Peter Freeman was interviewed by Nick Dines for his Better Places podcast, which you can listen to inContinue reading “Peter Freeman doesn’t pull his punches on Cambridge’s problems”

One of Cambridge’s most influential employers’ groups says Cambridge’s new unitary council should ‘align…with the functional economic area of Cambridge’. Image – the proposals for a Greater Cambridge Unitary from the Redcliffe-Maud Report of 1969 You can see what the proposals meant for Cambridge in my Lost Cambridge blogpost. “Proposals should align as much asContinue reading “Cambridge Ahead says new unitary council should not be restricted by existing boundaries”

Former councillor Sam Davies pointed me to some of the threads on the Reddit Cambridge boards to get some more extended takes on what’s happening in and with our city In particular the threads on: One reason for raising these is because so many of the civic society meetings or events I go to theseContinue reading “Why is Cambridge unable to ease its housing and cost of living crises?”

Two reports published earlier in 2025 cover community venues in South Cambridgeshire villages, and industrial/warehouse supply/demand in and around the city You can read the reports from the Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service here. The most recent reports are: “Which reminds me – we are still awaiting an indoor leisure facilities strategy for Cambridge, aren’tContinue reading “New reports getting to the specifics on What a growing Cambridge needs”

In October next year it will be a decade since Cambridge Past, Present, and Future convened their Keeping Cambridge Special event. How have we done in the years since the 2016 event? Above – The Cambridge Room. See their events calendar and discussions covering the future of our city. “Keeping Cambridge Special is an initiative startedContinue reading “Keeping Cambridge Special – a decade on (2016-25)”

You can watch/listen to the preliminary exchanges in front of the two planning inspectors (Richard Clegg, and Geoff Underwood) who will make a recommendation to the Transport Secretary on whether to grant planning permission for the controversial busway The substantial hearings will take place from 16 Sept 2025 for eight weeks. The website hosting theContinue reading “Cambourne-Cambridge Busway Public Inquiry – first hearing”

Dr David Skinner Anglia Ruskin University and Dr Will Brown of the University of Cambridge are challenging the almost-entirely positive narrative being spun about Cambridge’s sci-tech bubble – and through it providing much-needed scrutiny on the wider structural inequalities which are driven [institutionally] by the University and its colleges It’s quite a controversial – evenContinue reading “Taking on inequalities on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus”