Blog Posts

  • Economic Growth

    And then there were two. Northstowe and Alconbury both development sites, meeting a need and yet complimentary. Northstowe will provide much needed housing relief for Cambridge to help stimulate research within Cambridge and now Alconbury leading as an enterprise zone. This could be a match made in heaven if Alconbury could pick up the Development Read more

  • Meeting with leader of Lincolnshire County Council

    On Thursday 25th August I had the pleasure to meet with Cllr Martin Hill. He is my opposite number in Lincolnshire County Council. As you would expect we have a number of similar concerns and issues to deal with. Of course, at the top of our list was the challenge of providing effective services against Read more

  • Super fast broadband

    Building on my Cabinets recent decision to press ahead with super fast broadband for the county yesterday I chaired the first meeting of the delivery group. Note the name of the group DELIVERY, not steering, planning, review, or consultation. This is so important we all need to get on with it. The group included county Read more

  • Arbury – how can we help?

    A few weeks ago, after a visit to the excellent Manor school, I asked officers some searching questions about Arbury. I want to know why the reputation is poor, yet when I walk through the area it feels like a great place, lots of open space, clean and non of the obvious signs of deprivation Read more

  • Relative poverty

    Comparing ourselves with others seems to be a human trait. We compare wealth, what sort of cars we have, how we look and where we live. We use relative judgement rather than absolute. Often we use this relative judgement to make ourselves feel more successful even though it makes others feel bad about themselves. Not Read more

  • Vice Chancellor shares vision for Cambridgeshire

    For some time I have wondered why the county council and the university don’t work closer together. In particular, I am keen to develop and share a common vision for Cambridgeshire so we are all pulling together. The university is a significant organisation with an extremely strong brand internationally. Yesterday I had a meeting with Read more