Category: council

Serving the people of Cambridge

Yesterday I was elected as Leader of the Cambridge City Labour Group, and Councillor Rosy Moore (Coleridge) was elected as Deputy Leader. In a post on the Cambridge Labour website I said:

‘As Leader I am here to serve our community and ensure that every resident’s voice is heard as we work to make Cambridge a great place to live for all. I’m proud that under Labour Cambridge City Council has worked to tackle inequality and reduced our carbon emissions by 50%. I will ensure we continue to prioritise the climate and biodiversity crises, protect the environment, and support residents through the cost of living crisis we are facing.

‘I am very grateful to Cameron Holloway and Rachel Wade for their leadership of the council last year. We will continue to work hard to build more council homes, tackle homelessness, and provide high quality services for Cambridge residents.’

On Thursday 21st May Cambridge City Council will hold its AGM and the Leader and Cabinet will be chosen by councillors. I’ll write more after that meeting.

Details of the Council AGM, and how to watch it online, are on the City Council website.

Let’s talk about the Beehive Centre

In mid 2023 Railpen submitted an outline planning application for the redevelopment of the Beehive Centre, which backs onto several streets in Petersfield Ward.  The proposed remodelling of the retail centre as a life sciences facility with offices and some retail was not well-received, particularly by residents of the streets affected.  

Petersfield ward city councillors were also highly critical of the scheme. Mike Davey and Richard Robertson  were especially concerned about the scale of the buildings, their height and the proportions, and particularly the impact on the view from the rear gardens of York Street.

There was a formal consultation to which many of you contributed, and Mike Davey and Richard Robertson continued to speak out and met representatives of Railpen.  

Following the public response, Railpen is working on a revised scheme which they will then submit for planning approval.  They have prepared one version of this, and they are now carrying out their own, private, pre-submission consultation as part of their community engagement.

We expect them to make a formal submission the council based on the results of the consultation, but what they submit could well be different from what is in the leaflets and presentations.

Until that happens your ward councillors are monitoring things, talking to residents and will meet the developers of they feel it’s necessary. I am a member of the planning committee and I can’t pre-judge applications which I then decide on, not because I don’t care but because there is a later stage where I need to be able to act in accordance with planning law and in the best interests of Cambridge.

The discussion about the future of the Beehive has been heated and sometimes angry. It is understandable that feelings run high over  a major development like this, and as a City Council we are working hard to make sure that we listen to concerns and that the process for doing that is open and honest. 

In March the Council published its statement of community engagement which includes how we will run planning consultations. At the time I said ‘it’s through a concerted effort by everyone involved in planning that we can work towards improved transparency and arrive at a place of mutual trust’. I still hold to these principles

It is vitally important that everyone knows how to influence development in our area and make their voice heard. That remains a central principle, when it comes to the Beehive or any other planning application.

If you want to know more, please get in touch.

Working to Improve the Cam

We all care about the Cam and the chalk streams that supply it, and we all know that no plan for the future of Cambridge or the greater Cambridge area can go ahead without some solution to the water crisis that we face – itself just one aspect of the much wider climate crisis.

This is something I’ve been arguing for years, and in 2019 I organised the first major meeting about water in the region. Since then, it has been acknowledged by all the local councils and MPs from every party, and widely reported (as here in the Cambridge Independent).
 
So it’s a real pity when we see members of one party misrepresent the steps that we are taking as a City Council to do something positive to improve the quality of the Cam, put pressure on the water companies and the Environment Agency to take action, and raise awareness of the importance of our water supply.

Continue reading “Working to Improve the Cam”

Cambridge Needs More Than Content-Free Headlines

The Sunday Times (9 July) has a breathless report that Michael Gove is thinking of building a quarter of a million new homes in Cambridge, in order to turn the city into a ‘tech leader’, and that he will send a planning ‘hit squad’ over to ensure that annoying irritations like ‘eco rules’ don’t get in the way of his brilliant plan.

Apparently this will help to ‘fix England’s housing crisis and unleash growth in the life sciences and technology sectors’.

Let’s ignore for the moment that the chances of Gove still being Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities after next summer are very slim – indeed it is unlikely that his band of failed Tories will be anywhere near ministerial office.

And let’s ignore for the moment that the ‘tightly guarded’ plan, which goes under the mysterious code name ‘Cambridge 2040’ (I wonder what it could be about…) seems to consist of some under-researched aspirations and a briefing to a friendly newspaper in a desperate search for positive headlines.

What would it take to actually deliver such a plan, assuming we wanted it?

Continue reading “Cambridge Needs More Than Content-Free Headlines”

Thank you, Petersfield

Petersfield Results Katie Thornburrow 1302 votes 50 per cent Emmanuel Carraud 509 votes 19 per cent Joshua Morris-Blake 449 votes 17 per cent Paul Roper 370 votes 14 per cent

Thank you to everyone who voted in Petersfield on 4th May. Thanks to the other candidates Emmanuel Carraud, Joshua Morris-Blake and Paul Roper, who also stood in our democratic election for a seat on Cambridge City Council.

I’m grateful to have been returned as your councillor. Thank you for every vote. Thank you for telling me about your lives and issues over the last few weeks. Thanks for listening to me and reading my leaflets.

Continue reading “Thank you, Petersfield”

I’m your candidate for Petersfield

I’m pleased to say that the Petersfield ward has chosen me to seek re-election as the city councillor, and I’m standing in the local elections on Thursday May 4.

Katie’s Leafleft

When I was first elected to Cambridge City Council in 2018 I promised people three things: that I would fight fairly for my arguments and always listen to and work with people from all sides of the political arena; that I’d stay in touch, even when I couldn’t sort a problem; and that I’d be here all year round, not just at election times. I believe I’ve fulfilled these promises, and if re-elected in May I will continue to live up to them.

Within the ward that means representing residents when a much-loved tree was threatened, finding funds for benches, bee banks and hedge replacement, and listening carefully to all sides on controversial issues like Mill Road bridge.

I’ve helped limit the number of builders’ lorries moving through our streets, and even got a major planning application near the station revised because it didn’t allow for walking or cycling.

And I’ve worked across the region to highlight the water crisis, helped develop the emerging local plan, and supported the consultation on the sustainable travel zone.

I hope that you’ll support me on May 4, so that I can continue to work with my fellow councillors for everyone in Petersfield, as Labour delivers One Cambridge Fair for All.

Ironworks Time Capsule

[Image shows Gerri Bird, Richard Robertson and Katie Thornburrow with the steel time capsule]

The Ironworks development on the old council depot site off Mill Road has brought 182 new homes, half of them new council homes, as well as the much-needed community centre.

On Thursday 26th Cllr Gerri Bird, our executive councillor for housing, helped to bury a stainless steel time capsule in the Ironworks community garden, accompanied by council officers and representatives of Hills, the contractors.

The capsule contains material commemorating the area’s time as a main depot for council vehicles, as well as memories of those who worked there and local residents, and its location is marked with a plaque.

I cycle through the Ironworks on my way to and from Mill Road, and it’s a lovely development with a growing community. It’s nice to know its history hasn’t been forgotten.

Welcome to 2023

As we look forward to the year ahead, the challenges facing us may feel enormous, but as ward councillor for Petersfield and executive for planning and infrastructure on Cambridge City Council, I can promise that I will be working hard with my fellow Labour city councillors, colleagues on Cambridgeshire County Council, our Labour mayor of the Combined Authority, and Labour MP Daniel Zeichner to do everything in our power to deliver our promise of one Cambridge, fair for all.

For me, I’ll be focused on developing the new local plan, dealing with the consultation around the sustainable travel zone, continuing to raise awareness of the need to balance development goals with preservation of the environment and water supply, and dealing with the many issues that come as a ward councillor. But I’m sure that other things will come up.. they always do.

So here’s to 2023 and all that it offers.

The Equiano Bridge

This morning I joined hundreds of other people at the official ceremony to name the Equiano Bridge on Riverside. Along with other councillors including Gerri Bird, Hilary Cox Condron, and Neil Shailer, Cambridge Mayor Jenny Gawthrop Wood, and combined authority mayor Nik Johnson, we heard speeches from those involved in the campaign, and saw the plaque unveiled.

This marks the end of a successful campaign started by Cambridge African Network and Circles of Change, Cambridge and supported by The Equiano Society, London, and was a wonderful way to celebrate the last day of Black History Month.

The crowd gathers for the plaque unveiling

The bridge is named for Oluadah Equiano, born in Essaka – modern day Nigeria – who was enslaved at the age of 11 but eventually bought his own freedom and settled in London in later life. He was a powerful advocate for abolition, and wrote an autobiography. He is generally acknowledged as the first political activist within Britain’s African community in the 18th century.

Oluadah Equiano had several ties to Cambridge through his work with Cambridge-based abolitionists. He married Cambridgeshire woman called Susannah Cullen and one of their daughters, Anna Maria Vassa, is buried in St Andrews Church in Chesterton.

Find out more at the Equiano Bridge website
http://equianobridge.org.uk/ and at the Equiano Society website at https://equiano.uk/