A completely different vision for the centre of Cambridge

The Daily Telegraph has run a piece on the redevelopment plans in Cambridge. The PR campaign for this development is in full swing, right down to taxpayer-funded shills taking up the usual stations that charity muggers do in supermarkets, handing out leaflets and engaging with the public.

Now the centre of Cambridge is a deeply repellent place. Down my way the locals call it "Devil's Ballsack" and avoid going into town any more.

But I, for one, do not welcome the council's plans to redevelop it.

The Telegraph piece mentions the tat-and-trinkets shops and predatory tourism. It's also quite explicit in mentioning that there are only about two streets worth seeing in the entire city of over a hundred thousand inhabitants.

Cambridge has dozens of beautiful buildings, but unlike Oxford they're mostly inaccessible to the general public.

When I spoke to one of the city council's tourism promotion people a few years ago, it became clear that they only do economic modelling on the upside of tourism and not the downsides. Imagine doing an environmental impact of anything else on such a basis!

I just don't think tourism (either day trippers or language/finishing schools) makes a positive impact on the city in terms of Gross Value Add, and the burden on those who think otherwise is very much to explain why the authorities avoid collecting the statistics that would prove me wrong. But even if it *did*, why should residents and other businesses have to suffer so much of it? The city should focus strongly on the most productive industries, and on the people who live here (regardless of what industry they work in, if they work at all). Cambridge has lots of software and biotech (not so much aviation and motors any more); do we really need to devote so many decibels and acres to tourism, festivals and the now-much-less-relevant retail sector?

Even small businesses in the mediaeval core complain about the tourism *decreasing* footfall by crowding out. Independent cafes report that trade is down while footfall is up; the proportion of passing trade that spends money is therefore through the floor.

The city council already regulates the language summer schools and punts. They could go much further. Except of course, the council is completely failing in its actual statutory regarding its actual *duties* to regulate things like Anti-Social Behaviour, so maybe it should stick to the basics first.

What is to be done?

My plan would look like this:

• leave the Market Square as it has been since it was turned back into an open-air market by Baroness Trumpington (better known for other work)
• knock down the Guildhall and turn it into green open space
• leave the Corn Exchange as it is
• allow cycling along some of the pedestrianised streets in the centre
• remove the eyesore "barrier" outside Kings College, which sends an intolerant message
• remove the eyesore Snowy Farr memorial, possibly replacing it with a memorial to those of his neighbours whose house prices were damaged by his eyesore residence in Oakington, or replace it with a plaque setting out industry norms for charity fundraising overheads
• prevent the use of amplifiers for busking
• enforce the laws against Anti-Social Behaviour and drug misuse at bus stops, possibly financed by collecting the scrap metal left behind in the form of bottle tops
• stop rebuilding stuff and changing the road layout - give people a chance to adapt to the constant changes
• encourage the "night time economy" outside University term time in the obvious area, and discourage it elsewhere
• discourage or ban various forms of tourism, particuarly day-tripping
• let retail fend for itself
• use the compulsory licensing powers in the Levelling Up Act to encourage the use of void premises for productive for-profit businesses (or for non-profit / community use)
• discourage the "school run" by stigmatising parents who engage in it

In passing I'd also note that the plans for the new "Civic Quarter" have no democratic legitimacy whatsoever. No-one is asking for this stuff. It just gets done to us.