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Planning Application for Sainsbury’s On Mill Road Rejected
The proposed loading bay for Sainsbury’s on Mill Road (Source p40 of the officer report to the meeting) On the evening of the 25th of October 2011 I observed Cambridge City Council’s East Area Committee reject an application for a Sainsbury’s Local supermarket in the pool hall building at 103 Mill Road. Key Points The […]
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Three Damaged Cars an Allegation of Misogyny and Clare Blair
On Friday the 9th of July 2011 Ex Cllr Clare Blair and her neighbours suffered damage to the their cars from kids throwing rocks at them. Clare Blair reported on twitter: Wonderful evening. Some boys tried to see if they cld throw rocks over our garage. They could. 2 cars damaged – 1 windscreen smashed. […]
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Policing East Cambridge April 2011
Policing East Cambridge April 2011 I spent the evening of the 14th of April 2011 observing Cambridge City Council’s East Area Committee meeting. City and county councillors were to hold the police to account for their performance against priorities they’d set previously and to set new priorities for the forthcoming period. Key Points Councillors set […]
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Mass Ejection from Public Gallery at Cambridge City Council Meeting
On Thursday the 17th of February I went to the Guildhall in Cambridge to observe a full meeting of Cambridge City Council. On arrival I found the main doors to the building closed and locked. This isn’t usually the case when there is a full council meeting. There was no indication anything was going on […]
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Full Cambridgeshire County Council Meeting February 2011
On Tuesday the 15th of February 2011 I observed the full meeting of Cambridgeshire County Council at which the council’s budget was debated. The ruling Conservative group proposed a budget involving cuts to the council’s spending totalling £160m over the next five years. The reasoning for this was they wanted to produce a balanced budget […]
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Liberal Democrats to Privatise Cambridge Council House Maintenance
At a meeting of Cambridge City Council on the 21st of October 2010 the Liberal Democrat ruling group’s plan to privatise council house maintenance was debated. I filmed the debate and have made it available on YouTube as well as embedded within this article; the debate is presented as a “Playlist” with one video per […]
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Untouchable York Street Drug Dealers Bantering With Police
Contents of a needle exchange kit. Image: Todd Huffman (licence) Cambridge City Council’s East Area Committee on the 19th of August 2010 was told of problems of drug use and drug dealing in the area around the York Street playground. Police Sergent Kay Stevens painted a picture of dealers running rings around the police and […]
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Electronic Advertising Screens and CCTV in Cambridge Taxis
Cambridge Taxi Cambridge City Council’s standard conditions on “Advertising and Livery on Licensed Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicles” were amended at a licensing committee meeting on the 25th of January 2010. The item had been placed on the councillors’ agenda following a letter from Alex Sharifi who is promoting a system called Cabcast; a […]
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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 […]