Richard Taylor

Tag: Openness

  • Cambridgeshire Police vs Jazz

    The Cambridge building where a licence for a jazz club is being opposed by Cambridgeshire Police On Monday the 27th of June 2011 I went to Cambridge Guildhall to observe a licensing hearing consider an application for The Jam House, 21 Hobson Street, Cambridge. The Jam House is a chain of jazz venues. The Jam […]

  • Cambridgeshire County Council Not Building Their Own WhatDoTheyKnow

    On Thursday the 19th of May 2011 I visited Cambridgeshire County Council’s offices with Kings Hedges councillor Andy Pellew. Cllr Pellew had heard that the council were developing their own version of mySociety’s freedom of information website, WhatDoTheyKnow.com and on asking what was going on had been offered a meeting with the relevant officers. Cllr […]

  • Antidemocratic Changes Proposed to Cambridgeshire County Council Constitution

    Proposed amendments to Cambridgeshire County Council’s constitution have been published today, just one day before they are to go before a meeting of the full council on the 17th of May 2011. The amendments have been put forward by Councillor Nick Clarke, who was recently elected leader of the ruling Conservative group on the council, […]

  • Cambridge City Council Consultation Consultation

    Cambridge City Council Consultation Consultation On April Fools Day Cambridge City Council launched a Consultation on Consultation. As it was announced at a few minutes past midday it appears not to be a joke. The proposed code of practice on consultation and community engagement contains the following statement prominently positioned at the start of the […]

  • Citizen Journalist Banned from Taking Notes in Court

    Belinda Brooks-Gordon, Liberal Democrat County Councillor for Castle ward in Cambridge, and feminist activist, has been acting as a citizen journalist over the last two days reporting via Twitter on the progress of a court case from Guildford Crown Court. According to a local radio station’s summary of what’s going on 28-year-old, Hannah Morris of […]

  • 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 […]

  • Cambridge City Council Complaints Investigator Reports on Filming Protocol

    Image from Video from Cambridge City Council North Area Committee September 2010 On Tuesday the 23rd of November 2010 I was sent a copy of a report into Cambridge City Council’s Protocol on Filming Committee meetings which has been produced by the council’s Independent Complaints Investigator Corinne Hibbert. The report was the outcome of an […]

  • Cambridge City Council Bans Filming Meetings

    Cambridge City Council has banned all videoing, photography, and recording of its meetings just a few weeks after it allowed the practice for the first time. The first deliberations of the council ever to have been recorded on film were at a planning committee meeting on the 22nd of September 2010, by the 21st of […]

  • Cambridgeshire County Council – October 2010 Full Council

    Lunch menu from the Cambridgeshire County Council meeting on the 19th of October 2010. (I did not have permission to photograph the meeting itsself) On the 19th of October 2010 my local County Councillor, Rupert Moss-Eccardt, invited me to observe a full meeting of Cambridgeshire County Council from the floor of the chamber and to […]

  • Holy Trinity Church War Memorial Trees

    On the 22nd of September 2010 I observed, and filmed, Cambridge City Council’s planning committee as they discussed the proposed felling of a healthy western red cedar tree and two holly trees in Holy Trinity Churchyard in the City Centre. This was the first City Council deliberation ever to have been filmed, the council only […]