Richard Taylor

Tag: Cambridge

  • Police Ought Focus More on Criminals and Less on Those Reporting Crime

    Cambridgeshire Police can’t cope with leaving questions on forms blank, even when they are irrelevant. I attended Cambridge City Council’s North Area Committee on the 12th of November 2009. During the policing agenda item members of the public are given the opportunity to ask questions of the police and make suggestions. Councillors then vote on […]

  • Performance of NHS Cambridgeshire’s Exceptional Cases Panel

    I have been looking into the performance of Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust’s “Exceptional Cases Panel”. The panel is tasked with deciding if public money ought be spent on a treatment which is not covered by existing NHS contracts and policies. The kind of requests which the panel deals with include high cost treatments for rare […]

  • Will PCSOs Throughout Cambridge Wear Video Cameras?

    Earlier this evening I attended Cambridge’s South Area Committee in the British Legion Hall on Fisher Lane in Cherry Hinton. When the police attend area committee meetings the public are able to ask questions and make suggestions before councillors set the local policing priorities. I think this local democratic influence over policing is fantastic, but […]

  • Cambridge Parliamentary Hustings Focusing on Growth

    Top: Richard Normington, Daniel Zeichner. Bottom: Tony Juniper, Ian Nimmo-Smith. On the evening of Friday the 23rd of October I attended a hustings for prospective Cambridge Parliamentary Candidates run by the Federation of Cambridge Residents Associations with the cooperation of Cambridge Past Present and Future. The event focused on the subject of planned growth, particularly […]

  • Explosion of Complexity and Bureaucracy As City Council Introduces CCTV Policy

    Some residents of Martingale Close in Arbury Were Surprised when Cambridge City Council Deployed CCTV Cameras Outside Their Windows. At Cambridge City Council’s Strategy and Resources Committee on Monday the 12th of October councillors will consider adopting their first “corporate and unified” CCTV policy. I have been actively encouraging Cambridge City Council to improve the […]

  • Cambridge Councillors Ask Police to Tackle Speeding

    Police Sergeant Mark Kathro conducting speed checks in the East of Cambridge. I have recently observed councillors at Cambridge City Council’s North, West Central and East Area Committees discuss speeding enforcement with the police. In the North councillors have requested data be collected on speeding on Northfields Avenue and Kings Hedges Road, and have asked […]

  • Open Forum and Police Items at West Central Area Committee Dominated by Traffic and Cycling Matters

    Cycle Theft Remains at High Levels in Cambridge City Centre. During the open forum and policing agenda item at Cambridge City Council’s West/Central Area Committee on the 20th of August 2009 much of the discussion focused on traffic and cycling in the city centre. At the last meeting councillors had prioritised gaining the ability to […]

  • Determining Planning Applications At Area Committees – A Good Idea?

    The installation of a Mikvah at 37A Castle Street was one of three planning applications considered by the West/Central Area Committee on the 20th of August 2009. In Cambridge smaller planning applications which affect only one area of the city are decided at area committees. I observed the consideration of the following applications by the […]

  • Cllr Julie Smith Flailing in Efforts to Bring City Council Chainsaws Under Democratic Control

    These two substantial trees at the junction of Newnham Road and Barton Road may be felled according to council plans. In April 2009 I was present at a West/Central area committee where Julie Smith, Cambridge City Council’s Executive Councillor for Arts and Recreation (a portfolio which includes the city’s green spaces) gave clear instructions to […]

  • Asking Councillors to Ensure People Detained in Parkside are Treated Properly

    I am concerned by a report which found those detained in Cambridge’s Parkside police station were not being kept in a safe environment and not being offered appropriate access to medical care and food. In my recent article on a damning report into police custody in Cambridgeshire by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and HM Inspectorate […]