Category Archives: Uncategorized

Come along to the event on 08 March 2025 at the Mill Road Community Centre and find out more about what the future holds for our city and county People of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, you are cordially invited by the Cambs Unitaries Campaign (founded by Chris, Martin, and Phil) – of which I am aContinue reading “Cambs Unitaries Campaign and the future of Cambridgeshire”

…which barely goes halfway to Haverhill – yet for reasons only they can explain, councillors from all three main parties approved the proposals at various stages from GCP officers to get to where we are – which is the submission of the application to the Department for Transport The Greater Cambridge Partnership Assembly meets atContinue reading “Campaigners meet to oppose the GCP’s proposed busway from Addenbrooke’s to the A11”

I moaned about the lack of funding of our libraries service for Cambridgeshire last month – and despite pleas and requests, there’s still next-to-nothing that introduces politics and democracy available to borrow for local residents. So I dropped a bag full of books including these three titles on their booksale shelf that helps raise fundsContinue reading “What hope for local democracy if local libraries won’t even stock the books?”

Come up to Cambridge and engage with residents groups, community groups, arts organisations and environmental campaigners. Because you never know, you might find some new supporters in unexpected places. Create Streets revamped their proposals for Cambridge earlier this month – you can see them here. I had a look at their previous plans a fewContinue reading “Note to Create Streets from Cambridge: Nothing about us without us”

Three years ago, I wrote: “Cambridge Ahead will need a strategy to engage with non-members in order to deliver on its vision & purpose.” That is even more important today given the prominent role it plays in local and regional policy-making As I wrote in the introduction to that blogpost, You can read about Cambridge AheadContinue reading “Cambridge Ahead’s project groups are missing some very important voices”

Ministers cannot expect towns and cities to create socially sustainable (or even ecologically sustainable) communities while existing structures that enable the large scale extraction of financial value are kept in place. Image – Radical Leadership by New Local – we’ll need some of that if things are going to improve I originally spotted the quotationContinue reading “On trying to build socially sustainable communities in an extractive economy”

Only that’s what a recent study from Gallup indicated (if that link doesn’t open, look for the Leadership needs of followers here). Image – A sense of purpose – from the Adult School Union’s annual scheme of work for church-based lifelong learning courses from the last century. Have a browse through the civics & democracy-basedContinue reading “Which local & mayoral election candidates can communicate a sense of ‘hope’ to voters?”

“Whatever you think your answer is, it’s what you are doing right now” Image – we need to get more citizenship teachers trained up In the second half of my previous post I pondered on this point. Following the developments of recent days, it looks like the European Union heads of government (any any otherContinue reading “**What would you do if there was a real threat to democracy?**”

Refreshed planning application for student accommodation says that the 2017 housing study for Cambridge City Council is now out of date I wrote about Cambridge’s student accommodation issues back in August 2023, noting the chronic and collective failures to co-ordinate policies on higher education policy, housing, and local government. Go back a quarter of aContinue reading “Cambridge needs to talk about student accommodation & universities’ expansion again”

…says Emma Cooke of the Quality of Life Foundation in response to the Newtowns taskforce’s interim report. Also, on radical leadership and empowering communities You can read Ms Cooke’s blogpost here which is a reminder of the importance of health and wellbeing being designed into communities. Which also reminds me of Stephen Platt’s evaluation ofContinue reading “*Post-occupancy evaluations are essential*”