Category Archives: Uncategorized

That depends on how much they invest in local and regional infrastructure as part of their proposals. You may have read the headline here. Initial proposals go to South Cambridgeshire District Council councillors on Friday. <<– The link has a further link to the livestream – starts at 11am. “Hang on – I thought AstraContinue reading “How welcome is Wellcome’s monster campus proposal at Hinxton?”

Surprise ousting of Cllr Anna Smith followed by the resignation of her deputy Cllr Alex Collis will mean more than a little soul-searching for the Cambridge Labour Party You’ll be able to listen to former Cllr Collis’s comments to Louise Hulland on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire from just after 6pm (scroll to 3h20m) on the ChrisContinue reading “All change at the top of Cambridge Labour Party – and the City Council”

How were your local coronation festivities for you? I wanted to let some time pass before writing this piece if only to let the dust settle and see what was left behind. This post is less about what happened in London, and more about what didn’t happen in Cambridge & elsewhere – with a fewContinue reading “Did the deity rescue the monarch(y), or did apathy reign?”

One of the emerging things from the Capital Park first community engagement event. Turns out the building is in a conservation area and is also on the ‘At Risk’ register. Residents of Cherry Hinton, Fulbourn, and South Cambridgeshire, one for you to email your local councillors to find out why, and if necessary persuade themContinue reading “Why isn’t Victoria House / Fulbourn Hospital a listed building?”

…But our county’s governance infrastructure is such a mess that I fear this opportunity will be missed. Again. Some of you will have seen the headline in the Cambridge Independent on the new proposals at Coldham’s Lane. It actually refers to the publication of the Environmental Scoping Report (See the planning portal and type in:Continue reading “The new proposed sci/tech parks should help pay for upgraded rail lines”

How far has Cambridge progressed since I raised these issues nine years ago? These are from the minutes of the annual council meeting of June 2014 that saw Cambridge Labour take political control of Cambridge City Council off of the Liberal Democrats. Scroll just over halfway down and you’ll get to the public questions whichContinue reading “Holding local public service institutions to account – state run or privatised”

A ‘thinking out aloud’ piece on what it could include, how it could be run, and what pitfalls to avoid. As I mentioned in my previous blogpost: “Democracy workshops – what I wrote five years ago: is it relevant to today? This is what I wrote in April 2018 – some four months after coming outContinue reading “Pilot democracy & citizenship workshops in South Cambridge”

Not bad from a standing start – would have been nice to have gotten to 300 though! First of all, thank yous to: A reminder on why I agreed to have my name on the ballot paper Above: At no point did my campaign literature say ***vote for me!*** The way our electoral system worksContinue reading “Cambridge Elections – 261 votes with 9% of the total votes in Queen Edith’s”

The developers have branded it ‘Capital Park Cambridge’ even though the site sits outside Cambridge’s 1935-era municipal boundaries – as property development continues apace, not stopping for the local elections TL/DR?: Go to the event on Wed 10 May 2023 at the CPC2 building from 4pm-8pm. The Citi1 takes you there by bus from bothContinue reading “Capital Park, Fulbourn consultation – more science labs east of Cambridge”

Not only from a social justice perspective, but also because their own communities benefit as well Sadly we do not have the governance structures or systems to make it happen. Yet. “Cambridge has the potential to become a city greater than the sum of our parts” has been a theme of almost everything I’ve bloggedContinue reading “Cambridge elections – why residents in affluent wards can support city-wide facilities beyond their areas”