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Strategy for Locating New Homes in Cambridgeshire
On the 7th of April 2009 I observed a meeting of the “Joint Cambridgeshire Regional Spatial Strategy Review Panel”. County Councillors, Cambridge City Councillors along with District Councillors from Huntingdonshire, East Cambridgeshire, and South Cambridgeshire discussed the high-level strategy for locating new homes in the region. Councillors received a presentation from consultants and discussed what […]
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Policing Addenbrooke’s Hospital – April 2009
I attended Cambridge City Council’s South Area Committee on the 2nd of April 2009. I used the opportunity to raise some questions about policing the Addenbrooke’s hospital campus. I told the meeting what the Chief Constable had said during the December 2008 meeting of the Police Authority which I observed: “At Addenbrooks’ – there is […]
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Cycling on Hills Road Bridge During the Roadworks
I attended Cambridge City Council’s South Area Committee on the 2nd of April 2009. During the policing agenda item James Woodburn, representing the Cambridge Cycling Campaign, spoke about the situation on Hills Road Bridge. The roadworks on the bridge have resulted in narrow lanes for traffic, it is impossible for cyclists to be overtaken safely […]
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Horrendous Speeding on Queen Edith’s Way
A recent survey conducted by Cambridgeshire police on Queen Edith’s Way revealed that 32,000 vehicles per week were speeding to a degree which would prompt prosecution. Some were speeding to an extent which would result in them losing their license in one go if they were caught. Other statistics included: Over 75% of vehicles were […]
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A Democratic Decision to Fell Trees on Midsummer Common
I attended Cambridge City Council’s planning committee on Wednesday the 1st of April 2009 where councillors considered the proposed felling of trees on Midsummer Common. The decision to fell was originally taken by officers, however following an objection I made, it was referred to Executive Councillor Julie Smith who in turn decided to seek the […]
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Novel Traffic Control Experiment Proposed at Addenbrookes
Speaking at a public session of the Cambridgeshire Transport Commission on the 26th of March 2009 Roger Cutting, Addenbrookes’ planning and development officer, gave what I believe was the first public description of the scheme currently proposed to prevent the new Addenbrookes’ link road being being used by people wanting to access the south of […]
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Looking into the Folk Festival Mistakes
On the evening of Monday the 30th of March 2009 Cambridge City Council’s Civic Affairs Committee considered a report into how the council came to lose £644,951 which was not paid to the council by the company it appointed to sell Folk Festival tickets online in 2008. I have written a previous article on the […]
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Council Spy HQ to Commence Operations
In February 2009 I attended an event which included a presentation by John Peerless of the National Anti-Fraud Network (NAFN), a organisation established by local councils to assist them in fighting fraud. Council officers can log in to the NAFN website and search for information about individuals. The information available via NAFN already includes phone […]
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Holding the Police to Account – March 2009
On Thursday the 19th of March 2009 I attended Cambridge’s North Area committee, where councillors vote on what they believe ought to be the local policing priorities and hold the police to account for their performance in the areas they have prioritised. The police were represented by Sgt. Jason Wragg. Using the opportunity given to […]
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Damming Report on Cambridge Folk Festival Fiasco
The report paints a picture of the City Council as institution in a state of chaos where junior council officers working on the folk festival were free to ignore advice from the council’s finance and legal departments. The key questions of where the city’s money is, and what’s being done to try and get it back have not been tackled. It also isn’t the independent, external, report promised.