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Funding A14 Upgrade
Upgrading the A14 was debated at Cambridgeshire County Council on the 16th of July 2013. The A14, particularly between Cambridge and the A1(M) is a highly congested and dangerous stretch of road. Incidents, which occur almost every day, result in unreliable journey times as well as injuries and deaths. Addressing the problem is crucial to […]
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Lack of Local Police Priority Setting in Huntingdonshire
Prior to Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright attending Huntingdonshire District council on the 26th of June 2013 I suggested the lack of arrangements for local police priority setting, and holding the police to account for their performance against local priorities in Huntingdonshire was an important issue that I would like to see raised. In […]
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Battle to Film at Huntingdonshire District Council
I decided to observe Huntingdonshire District Council’s full council on Wednesday the 26th of June 2013. I was particularly interested in hearing the debate to be led by Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright who was scheduled to speak to the council and take questions from councillors. Prior to attending I looked up the council’s […]
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Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright Announces ALERT
Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright used the June 2013 Police and Crime Panel meeting to announce a new technology system for Cambridgeshire Police, called: “ALERT”. Commissioner Bright told the panel that the system would enable neighbourhood watch groups to: know the very next morning whether there’s been a burglary, whether there’s been some […]
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Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel Annual Meeting 12 June 2013
On the 12th of July 2013 I observed Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel’s annual meeting. The only substantive item of business was a review of decisions made by the Police and Crime Commissioner. The meeting turned into a total farce as it emerged the panel was under the impression it was to scrutinise the decisions […]
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Cambs Police and Crime Panel Unaware of Internet
In advance of the Annual Meeting of Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Panel, which is to be held at 14.00 on the 12th of June 2013 in the Civic Suite at Huntingdonshire District Council I’ve been taking a look at the panel’s recently published Rules of Procedure (PDF). I observed the rules being debated at the […]
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City Council To Launch Cambridge Hyperlocal Website
Soon (mid-June 2013) a Cambridge ShapeYourPlace website will be launched for a trial period, presumably at cambridge.shapeyourplace.org. Shape Your Place websites are run by Cambridgeshire County Council, at taxpayers’ expense. Such websites already exist covering various parts of the county (eg. Ely, Wisbech). The websites aim to enable people to “discuss local issues with their […]
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Rewards for Anti-Social Behaviour in Cambridge
A meeting of Cambridge’s Community Safety Partnership held on the 30th of April 2013 decided to spend £5,000 on rewards for people, primarily teenagers, responsible for “anti-social behaviour” in the city. The rewards may include boat trips and trips to residential activity centres. One of the stated aims of the project is: Decrease in offending […]
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Council Spooks Deployed Against Boaters
Cambridge City Council has reportedly used tactics one might expect to see in an episode of Spooks, or used in serious criminal investigations, to probe the living arrangements of those living on boats moored in the city. Amy Tillson, who lives on a boat on the river, and who represents boaters at meetings with the […]
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101 Now Answered Within Thirty Seconds Says Police and Crime Commissioner
There has been a longstanding problem with Cambridgeshire Police not answering non-emergency calls in a reasonable amount of time. During 2012 a wait of 45 minutes for a non-emergency call to be answered was reported with further waits of a similar time occurring when callers were then transferred to someone to take details. At Cambridge’s […]