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Councillors Reject Plans to Demolish The Queen Edith Pub
I observed Cambridge City Council’s South Area Committee on the 11th of November 2010 where councillors refused to give planning permission for the demolition of The Queen Edith pub and for new homes to be built on the site. Councillors on the committee were told by the planning officer that Cambridge City Council’s own planning […]
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Cambridge City Council Debates Cuts
I observed a special meeting of Cambridge City Council’s full council on Monday the 8th of November 2010. The meeting’s purpose was to consider the latest draft of the council’s Medium Term Strategy (3MB PDF) in light of the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review the outcome of which was announced on the 20th of October. The […]
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Cambridge City Council Bans Filming Meetings
Cambridge City Council has banned all videoing, photography, and recording of its meetings just a few weeks after it allowed the practice for the first time. The first deliberations of the council ever to have been recorded on film were at a planning committee meeting on the 22nd of September 2010, by the 21st of […]
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Cambridge West Central Area Committee October 2010
On the 28th of October 2010 I attended Cambridge City Council’s West Central Area Committee. Key points: Councillors approved a number of new projects, including a portable sandpit for beach volleyball, to be investigated by council officers with a view to spending S.106 development taxes on them. I think spending these taxes, which are a […]
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Liberal Democrats to Privatise Cambridge Council House Maintenance
At a meeting of Cambridge City Council on the 21st of October 2010 the Liberal Democrat ruling group’s plan to privatise council house maintenance was debated. I filmed the debate and have made it available on YouTube as well as embedded within this article; the debate is presented as a “Playlist” with one video per […]
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Government Says UK Must Give Prisoners Vote. MP Huppert Responds: Great!
On the morning of Tuesday the 2nd of November 2010 the Government announced, via the news media rather than through a statement in Parliament, that they are planning to give prisoners the right to vote. Cambridge’s MP Julian Huppert responded to the news with a tweet saying: It’s great to wake up to hear that […]
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Cambridge MP Julian Huppert Questions G4S Management on Use of Control and Restraint
At the Home Affairs Select Committee on the 2nd of November 2010 Cambridge MP Julian Huppert questioned David Banks, Group MD of G4S and Stephen Small MD of the G4S Detention & Escorting Business on their use of “control and restraint” when deporting people. Mr Huppert reported a very worrying instance of the police refusing […]
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Julian Huppert’s Recent Parliamentary Votes
Image: Houses of Parliament, London, Monet c.1904 Since I wrote my last article on Cambridge MP Julian Huppert’s Parliamentry voting record, which I published on the 9th of September 2010, there have been 44 more votes in the House of Commons. On the day I published that previous article Mr Huppert rebelled against the coalition […]
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Public Meeting on Alexandra Gardens Trees
Unofficial notices warn of the council’s proposed chainsaw massacre on Alexandra Gardens. No further official notices or consultation are planned despite not all information yet being available, and a final decision not being made till December or January. On Friday the 15th of October 2010 a public meeting was held by Cambridge City Council to […]