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Planning and Licensing Challenges Face Mill Road Tesco
Shopfitting work is underway inside the shop on Mill Road which is due to open as a Tesco store on Saturday the 26th of August. Tesco is proposing to open their new store on Mill Road, Cambridge, on the 26th of August 2009. The store is to be smaller than Tesco wanted as their application […]
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Cambridge City Council’s Spending on Trees and Open Spaces
A cow enjoys munching on a tree at Midsummer Common in Cambridge. During the open period under the Audit Commission Act 1998 I visited the accounts department of Cambridge City Council to inspect the council’s accounts (I had written them first to let them know I was coming). Having written about this on my website […]
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Cambridge City Council Plans to Fell Eighteen Trees on Lammas Land
Consultation documents relating to Cambridge City Council’s proposed tree works on Lammas Land reveal the two substantial trees near the junction of Newnham Road and Barton Road may be felled. Cambridge City Council has plans to conduct major tree works on Lammas Land; the area between the City Centre and Newnham bounded by the River […]
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Looking At Some of The Detail in Cambridge City Council’s Accounts
Geoff Jones and I Visited Cambridge City Council’s Finance Offices to Look Through the Council’s Accounts. For twenty working days a year the Audit Commission Act 1998 allows people to go into local councils and inspect their accounts, including all documents such as invoices and contracts from which those accounts derive. Cambridge City Council’s open […]
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Cambridge City Council Decide to Make a Huge Leap Forward In Terms of Openness and Transparency
A buffet was provided for councillors and officers during a break in the meeting. I was hungry so I took up an offer of a sandwich. There were no professional press present. I guess I got the sandwich which would have otherwise been offered to them. (Photos of the meeting itsself were not permitted) I […]
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Stagecoach Managing Director Outraged at City Council Proposals to Confiscate His Business
At Cambridge City Council’s Strategy and Resources Scrutiny Committee on the 29th of June 2009 a paper was made available to the public containing an email from Andy Campbell, the Managing Director of Stagecoach Cambridgeshire. The Sustainable Communities Act 2007 has prompted the City Council to consider, and make central government aware of, what powers […]
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8.5 Percent of Freedom of Information Requests to Central Government Made Via WhatDoTheyKnow.com
With the help of other members of the team who look after mySociety’s Freedom of Information (FOI) site WhatDoTheyKnow.com I have used statistics released by the Ministry of Justice to look at the proportion of FOI requests being made via the site. In the first quarter of 2009 8.5% of all requests made to central […]
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Home Office RIPA Consultation – My Response
I have submitted the following in response to the Home Office consultation entitled: Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000: Consolidating orders and codes of practice. The consultation ran for twelve weeks to the 10th of July 2009. Should Councils be Allowed To Snoop? Should councils conduct covert investigations which are regulated under the provisions described […]
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Cambridge City Council’s 2008/9 Accounts, Receipts, Invoices and Contracts Opened to the Public