Category Archives: Uncategorized

Be radical or don’t do it at all is the message from the title of their new report Go Big or Go Home: Governing England’s polycentric regions. The policy recommendations are on pages 5/6. The first major proposals for regional government came from Harold Wilson’s Labour Government in the 1960s at a time of significantContinue reading “Re:State propose new English provinces for regional issues”

…stated the WEA [Formerly the Workers’ Educational Association] in response to the community cohesion report: The State of Us. At the same time, the More in Common group published their report: Shattered Britain. What are the risks to community cohesion in our polarised city, and what are the limited policy options for local government? ButContinue reading “*Stronger communities require opportunities to learn and grow together*”

A co-sponsored motion for next week’s full council meeting concludes that of the options available, the existing Greater Cambridge Partnership boundaries (i.e. South Cambridge District *including* Cambridge City Council in the middle) is their preference You can read the meeting papers here “That a unitary authority based on the current boundaries of Cambridge City CouncilContinue reading “Cambridge City Council goes for a Greater Cambridge Unitary on GCP boundaries”

The Sing! Community Choir’s summer concert in Cambridge earlier reflected how community choirs can grow and evolve over an extended period of time It was Katy Roper of the Cambridge Science Centre who recommended I go along to this after we had met at the Cambridge Zero Carbon event (where I think I pleaded withContinue reading “How community choirs grow and evolve over time – Cambridge case studies”

I saw the scale of the work involved retrofitting a standard cottage-type interwar semi-detached property this week. Having to repeat the process for every single property of its type in the city and more, is utterly daunting Cambridge Carbon Footprint has been leading on attempts to encourage people to retrofit their homes to reduce theirContinue reading “We underestimate the retrofitting task ahead at our peril”

Or to give it its full title: The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. And it’s very complicated You can read the Bill documents here, although you will get more sense of what ministers want from it from the explanatory notes. See also the Local Government Association’s briefing here. What the Bill does is putContinue reading “Government publishes Devolution Bill”

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”