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Cambridge City Council Budget Debate 2011
Cambridge City Councillors in the Council Chamber During a Suspension in the 17th February 2011 Full Council Meeting. I observed Cambridge City Council’s full council meeting on Thursday the 17th of February. I have written a previous article about disruption at the meeting. The main item on the agenda was the approval of the council’s […]
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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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Cambridge Fire Station Redevelopment
Computer generated image showing the approved proposal for the redevelopment of Cambridge Fire Station. On the 22nd of September 2010 I observed Cambridge City Council’s planning committee approve a new planning application for the fire station site on Parkside. Councillors approved plans for an eight story residential tower on the corner of East Road and […]
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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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Inept Police Target Traffic Jams During Botched Attempt to Tackle Speeding
PC Julian Haynes and his Cambridgeshire Police colleagues have been out looking for speeding drivers in Cambridge’s traffic jams. Cambridge City Council’s East Area Committee will be meeting at 19.00 on Thursday the 3rd of September 2009. One of the things the city and county councillors for Romsey, Coleridge, Abbey and Petersfield will have on […]
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Members’ Inquiry into Folk Festival Approved
Cambridge City Council lost almost £650,000 of public money after the company it appointed to run the online ticket sales for the 2008 Folk Festival failed to hand over any money. I have written a number of articles following the council’s attempts to understand what went wrong so that similar disasters can be avoided in […]
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Liberal Democrat Inconsistency in Cambridge
Only a mile or so separates Cambridge’s Guildhall where Cambridge City Council sits and Cambridgeshire County Council’s Shire Hall however the gulf between what the Liberal Democrats are saying in the two chambers is enormous. The Liberal Democrat groups in each council appear almost entirely at odds with each other when it comes to the […]
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Budget Cuts Without Service Cuts – Too Good to be True?
I observed a meeting of Cambridge City Council’s executive on the 29th of January 2009 at which a report on proposed savings required to balance the 2008/9 budget in light of strains (which I have detailed in a separate article) was presented. Council Leader, Ian Nimmo-Smith described the situation as a “perfect storm”, factors contributing […]