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Uncertainty Over City Council Funding
On the 24th of September 2010 I observed, and filmed, a meeting of the Cambridge City Council Executive. Key Points Some councillors are very uncomfortable with having their meetings filmed. There is massive uncertainty about how much money the City Council will have in the future. Cambridge City Council wants to raise a hyperlocal tax […]
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Publication Standards for Local Government Spending Data
Anyone wanting find out what an item of spending published by Bedford Council refers to is invited to contact the council to find out as they don’t proactively publish descriptions. On Friday the 10th of September 2010 Data.gov.uk’s Local Data Panel published their draft guidance for Local Authorities on how to comply with the Prime […]
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Visiting Cambridge City Council to Look Behind the Accounts
File containing reports from Cambridge City Council’s accounting system relating to items I had expressed an interest prior to my visit to inspect background material supporting the published accounts. On Thursday the 22nd of July 2010 I visited Cambridge City Council’s accounts office to make use of the provision in the Audit Commission Act 1998 […]
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Swimming Pool Management Fees Revealed
The five volume contract between Sports and Leisure Management Limited and Cambridge City Council. Sports and Leisure Management Limited (SLM) currently has a contract with Cambridge City Council under which it runs: Parkside Pools The Abbey Pools, including the floodlit pitches The King’s Hedges Learner Pool The Jesus Green Pool The city’s six paddling pools […]
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City Council Returns Tens of Thousands of Pounds to Belvedere Developer
Belvedere Development, Hills Road, Cambridge. During the open period for Cambridge City Council’s accounts which ran from the 7th of July to the 3rd of August this year I visited the council to look at some of the details behind the published information. I found that £49,894.26 of “S.106” money had been returned to the […]
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Councillors Assign High Priority to Spending £2.5K on Burnside Toad Crossings
Burnside, Cambridge. Councillors at Cambridge City Council’s East Area Committee on the 19th of August 2010 told officers to go ahead with, and give a high priority to, installing two thousand five hundred pounds worth of toad crossings at Burnside. These crossings are to take the form of dropped curbs. Councillors appeared to make the […]
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Ex. Cambridge City Council Leader Invited to Economic Crime Symposium
Sometimes comedy can be found in the most unusual of places. Earlier this evening I was reading Cambridge City Council’s mayoral engagements webpage and my eye was caught by an entry for the deputy mayor, Liberal Democrat Ian Nimmo-Smith who was leader of the City Council up to May this year. The schedule reveals that […]
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LibDem Leader Cllr Sian Reid on Icelandic Investments
Cambridge City Council leader, Liberal Democrat, Sian Reid went on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire on Wednesday morning to talk about money which under her party’s leadership the city council had invested in Icelandic banks which have now gone bust. Cambridge City Council had invested £5 million with Landsbanki and £4 million with Heritable Bank Limited. During […]
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Debating Proposals for Many More Academy Schools
On BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s Breakfast with Jeremy Sallis on the Monday 28th of June a news report stated: Over 20 schools in Cambridgeshire are thinking of cutting ties with the Local Education Authority to become academies. The legislation which would make this possible should become law before the end of July. Kevin Bullock is the […]