Category Archives: Uncategorized

The centrist Reform think tank (i.e. NOT TeamNigel’s outfit) made a series of recommendations on strategic or combined authorities – and I concur with many of the conclusions. Browse through their report here – and note the 13 recommendations on page 6 The Cambridgeshire & Peterborough influence Both the Chief Executive of the Cambridgeshire &Continue reading “Regional tier of Government’s devolution plans need strengthening”

Is the Land Registry on the road towards providing free open access to anyone on who owns what? If so, it’s a huge breakthrough for transparency campaigners Image – Cambridge Land Justice – part of Cambridge Resilience Web Remember that thing I said about controversial announcements being made on a Thursday afternoon just as MPsContinue reading “Who owns England? The Housing Minister has intervened on ownership data access”

Cambridge opens its brand new ‘one-stop-shop’ for community consultation / A ‘shared space’ for various activities / A ‘collective memory‘ for Cambridge Have a look at https://www.cambridgeroom.org/ and scroll down and sign up for updates. See also the photographs from Ze’ev Feigis of Borough Architects here Cambridge Urban Room – nearly two years in theContinue reading “The Cambridge Room opens”

Or is it a revamped Levelling Up Towns Fund? Either way, ministers and senior civil servants must prevent excessive payments to consultants which might otherwise undermine the confidence that local residents have in the projects Image – one of the evaluation reports from the NDC Programme 2000-2010 £1.5 billion to restore pride in Britain’s neighbourhoodsContinue reading “New Deal for Communities returns for the mid-2020s”

…ask Prof Julia Steinberger, and Grace Blakeley Image – The Struggle for Democracy published during WWII, which you can browse through here along with some other old publications from times when democracy was in even more trouble than today You can browse through: This stems from an extended thread by Prof Steinberger that ends here,Continue reading “What are we up against, and what can we do?”

The highly-choreographed events around the Lancaster House meeting earlier today showed that the visual signals sent out to the wider world were just as important as the content of discussions by the mainly European heads of government [Updated to add: And as if to make that point, Downing Street released this video a few hoursContinue reading “24 hours is a long time in international politics”

I was going to go with Trumpanzees go ape-s–t but thought better of it. One member of the US Congress was particularly scathing of the behaviour of his head of state towards the Ukrainian President – behaviour that has had the effect of galvanising the responses of EU heads of government in the hours thatContinue reading “International relations meltdown live on (inter)national television”

Health Secretary and former Cambridge University (Selwyn College) chap (because local news angle) was up the road in Peterborough on Thursday to discuss all things dentistry with local MP Andrew Pakes, and my local councillor (because local news angle) Anna Smith, Labour’s Mayoral Candidate You can see John Elworthy’s extensive coverage here – and feelContinue reading “Health Secretary visits Peterborough in the same week Combined Authority responds to my ARU school of dentistry idea”

Papers just released show an initial contribution to the £12.6m allocated by Cambridge City Council. See https://cambridgecivicquarter.co.uk/ if you need a reminder of what’s proposed See item 6 of the Investment Committee papers here. (There’s enough time for you to table public questions – you’ll need them in by 10am Wednesday as the meeting isContinue reading “Combined Authority to contribute £1.5million to Cambridge Civic Quarter”

Mr Pennycook said so in a written statement to Parliament Image – Central Gov’t guidance on the development planning system from 1968 – reflecting how long the present system has been in place. Although when that guide was written, such were the concerns about the lack of public participation that the Skeffington Report was commissionedContinue reading “The Minister for Housing wants local plan-making processes to be optimised for community participation”