On the 18th of November 2014 I observed the first public meeting of the members of the Greater Cambridge City Deal Board. The Greater Cambridge City Deal is at least £100m which the UK has, as a nation, decided to invest in Cambridge. Following the initial £100m two further central government grants of £200m each […]

Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright told Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Panel on the 5th of November that his secretary has been dressing up in police uniform for him. Graham Bright told the panel: My secretary has been parading round wearing bits [of uniform] to show me, it looks fantastic. Graham Bright’s friend Brian, […]

Councillors have recently installed temporary lights on the Jesus Green Plane Tree Avenue as part of the works to replace the path under the trees. The temporary lights have been put in place prior to the permanent installation of “heritage” street lamp columns due at the start of December. Despite this significant effort, and presumably […]

There are four Conservative MPs who have voted more strongly against the European Union than Douglas Carswell. Carswell recently “stood down” as a Conservative MP and was re-elected as a United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) MP in the resultant by-election. Mark Reckless who also “resigned” as a Conservative MP to contest a by-election as a […]

Cambridge City Councillors are to review the sections of the council’s constitution relating to people observing, speaking at, and reporting on council meetings at their Civic Affairs Committee meeting on the 17th of September 2014. Ministers gave councils a month to update their rules before a new law on recording local government meetings was introduced. […]

On Friday I volunteered to become a member of Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Panel. I volunteered previously, in October 2012. One of those appointed by the panel in 2012 didn’t attend any meetings of the panel for over a year, and didn’t respond to correspondence from the panel. Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Panel appeared quite […]

Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Panel has formally met ten times since it came into being. The panel’s first meeting was in December 2012 so it has been meeting for less than two years. There are thirteen places on the panel and twenty-seven people have filled those seats over the panel’s relatively short period in existence. […]

On the 18th of August 2014 I watched Cambridge City Councillors unanimously deny planning permission for an extension on the grounds it would be too big. The councillors making the decision appeared unaware that the applicant had already been given permission by the council for an even bigger extension and that he was actually seeking […]