Date published: 2010/02/10
The Cambridge City Council is holding a consultation on "River Frontage Management". Unbelievably the questionnaire is only available online as a Microsoft Word document. The questionnaire is very short (seven questions) and there is no reason it could not have been done using standard HTML form technology, instead of an awful proprietary technology.
Consultations generally are a complete waste of time and money. The main problem is that special interest pressure groups can easily hijack the debate (as the cycling lobby always does when it comes to transport in Cambridge). So these consultations do not result in a reasonable sampling of public opinion. There is no reason to believe this consultation will be any different.
Question 1 on this particular questionnaire asks what your status is, so "an existing mooring license holder", "on the waiting list for a mooring license", "thinking of joining the waiting list", "a rower, or associated with rowing", "a resident living close to the river", "a representative of an organisation or group", or "interested in this in some other way". Needless to say, the vast majority of Cambridge residents fall into the latter category, but that category will be vastly unrepresented in the responses.
Question 2 asks if one of the mooring areas along the river, at the so-called Jubilee Gardens, should be removed. This is an area just upstream of Jesus Lock so is not frequented by rowers or even punters. There is no reason given why this question is even being asked. (This is another problem with consultations. The bureaucrats never given any rhyme or reason for what they are asking.) Possibly someone with enough power in the city bureaucracy objects to houseboats, it's hard to know. Houseboats add a very nice flavour to the river scenery, and it would be unfortunate if some vested interest manages to get them removed.
Questions 3 and 4 are about possible bollards that could be installed at mooring locations.
Questions 5, 6, and 7 are about the mooring license fee, in particular whether discounts should continue to be made available to single mooring license holders, to students and people over 60, and whether larger boats should pay more. Evidently the city wants to sting the houseboat occupants for more money.
_________________________________________________________
All material not included from other sources is copyright cambridge2000.com.
For further information or questions email: info [at] cambridge2000 [dot] com
(replace "[at]" with "@" and "[dot]" with ".").