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New Plants for Akeman Street to Cost £42,000
The Akeman Street – Stretten Avenue junction. There are bare patches and broken curbs, but £17,750 appears a huge amount to spruce it up. At Cambridge City Council’s North Area Committee on the 10th of June 2010 councillors approved the spending of an astonishing £17,750 on plants, and a few new curbs, for Akeman Street […]
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Cambridge MP Julian Huppert Absent from Trident Vote
Tellers report the result of a vote on an ambiguous SNP amendment on Trident which was supported by just 27 MPs. On the 8th of June 2010 MPs were discussing the coalition’s programme for government in the House of Commons. An archaic tradition, which does nothing for making Parliament more accessible and easy to follow, […]
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Removing Unnecessary Organisation and Procedures can Absorb Forthcoming Cuts Say Cambridge Lib Dems
Cambridge Guildhall At Cambridge City Council’s annual meeting on the 27th of May 2010 Labour Councillor Lucy Walker put the following oral question to the Leader of Cambridge City Council Liberal Democrat Sian Reid: What services will you be seeking to protect in response to the Coalition Government’s proposed stringent cuts to the Department for […]
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Public Money Wasted on New Logo for Information Commissioner
While using the Information Commissioner’s Office website this evening I noticed that the ICO’s logo had been changed. The ICO have published a document on their website revealing they have spent £38,399.83 on the new “corporate image”. I am astonished at this shocking waste of public money, which has been spent while we are getting […]
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Government Wastes £2.4m Building Cycle Route Planner Instead of Linking to CycleStreets.net for Free
CycleStreets offers UK wide cycle route planning; it has received a few thousand pounds of public money. There has been a free online cycle route planner for Cambridge since the Cambridge Cycling Campaign Journey Planner was launched in 2006. The cycling campaign’s system has now become a nationwide project, CycleStreets, which suggests cycle friendly routes […]
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Legal Action by Cambridge MP David Howarth Prompts Apology from Councillor
Heavily Redacted Invoice for David Howarth’s Press Officer Ex. Liberal Democrat councillor John Hipkin, who is now an independent city councillor for Castle Ward, today wrote to recipients of his regular newsletter to issue an apology for an article in which he drew attention to some of Cambridge MP David Howarth’s expenses claims. Cllr Hipkin […]
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Cambridge And Higher Education Cuts
At three minutes to midnight on Thursday, Cambridge City Council got round to discussing the impact of proposed cuts to university funding on Cambridge. By the time the item, towards the end of their full council agenda, was reached many Liberal Democrat councillors had gone home and even the mayor, who was chairing the meeting […]
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Love Cambridge Considering Raising Taxes, Tackling Pigeons and Dealing With Unfriendly Customer Service
On the 23rd of February 2010 I attended the second members’ meeting of Cambridge’s City Centre management organisation: Love Cambridge. I am not a member but was invited to attend by Nicky Morrison, who serves as a director representing residents’ interests on the organisation’s board. Key Points Emma Thornton, Head of Love Cambridge, and the […]
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Should We Buy Our Councillors iPads?
Cambridge City Councillors are eyeing up the iPad and asking us if we’d like to buy them one. Photo derived from image by: Glenn Fleishman (licence) It looks as if Cambridge City Councillors have been so impressed by the launch of the iPad, the latest desirable consumer electronics gadget from Apple, last week that they’re […]
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Where Council Tax Goes
Cambridge City Council Keeps 11.6% of the Council Tax It Collects I have just written to Cambridge City Council’s web-team and the major party leaders on the City Council: Dear Cambridge City Council Web Team, I would like to suggest that Cambridge City Council does more to make the 2009/10 “Council Tax Leaflet”, which is […]