January 5th, 2009
Two planning applications have been approved by officers in the last two weeks, they are in Headley Way and Woodlands Road. Please click on Planning decisions on centre toolbar for details
January 5th, 2009
We’re often asked questions about the way in which trees are managed in our ward, and particularly in Bury Knowle Park, so I have asked for a copy of the City’s operational policy on managing trees under City control and posted it onto a page called Tree policy in the centre toolbar for your information. Hope you find it useful!
January 3rd, 2009
An interesting question! And we’d be curious to hear your answers!
Every four months, David and I analyse all the casework we have been doing in the ward, and we check off the work we have done against the roads in our ‘patch’. This confirms to us whether or not the work we do on your behalf is carried out principally in some areas of Headington, rather than in others.
When we analysed our casework for the months from May to August, we found that few residents from one area of the ward had contacted us for help or advice. We prioritised that area of the ward for an early street surgery which was very successful and led to a second walkabout in the locality. We are delighted that many of the people we spoke to in the St. Anne’s Road/Margaret Road/Rock Edge/Gathorne Road area have now volunteered to start up a new residents’ group, and we are helping them set this up.
In the last four months we have noticed an upturn in workload from the areas where we held street surgeries, so these events have been successful in raising people’s awareness of who we are and what we do. We intend to continue with these, and one area we would like to focus on in the forthcoming four months is New Headington.
If you would like a copy of our workload breakdown by roads in the ward, please contact us and we will send you a copy
January 1st, 2009
A number of people have asked questions about the surveillance that is carried out by City Council Officers on members of the public under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, and our Lib Dem colleague representing Barton, Chris Scanlan, has been pressing for a statement on this. I thought you might be interested in this response from the appropriate officer in the Legal and Democratic Services department:
For your information the Council has authorised directed surveillance on 24 occasions since the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) came into force. The Act came into force in October 2000. Of those 24 authorisations 6 related to benefit fraud investigations, 13 related to anti-social behaviour/crime & disorder investigations and 5 related to internal disciplinary investigations.
None of the above include investigations into littering, dog fouling or any of the other minor offences, which have made the press in recent months. Over a period of 8 years I think it is fair to say that the Council has used these powers very sparingly.
Under the Council’s current RIPA policy and procedure (which is available on the Council’s website) I receive a copy of each authorisation. If I felt that the Act was being used inappropriately or that the ‘necessity and proportionality’ test had not been applied then I would intervene and require the investigating officer and the authorising officer to justify their actions.
If you have any queries or concerns about this, just hit the Comment? button or email David or me directly (see Contact us in left hand tool bar for details).
January 1st, 2009
These Estimates present the City Council’s proposed programme of works for carrying out in the year 2009-2010.The threshold for Assessed Maintenance schemes has been set at £6,000 by the County Council, so all complete schemes below this figure are funded from the General Maintenance estimates. The aggregate value of work within a street on the Named Schemes list will exceed £6,000 even if the value of any type of work in a street is less. The Estimates are prioritized according to need. Priorities are based on the following parameters:-
Urgent work required to carry out structural repairs to eliminate an existing hazard.
Medium priority structural repairs to prevent the occurrence of hazards
Lower priority schemes to protect the structure from deterioration
Highways Act, 1990, Part IV, Section 42, Schedule 7 estimate Named Schemes (sorted by priority) Priorities 1,2 and 3 are collected and presented as named schemesPriority 9 is applied to works not achieving the £6,000 threshold.
Street (Section) Description of work Value of work (£)
Priority 1
Priority 2
Priority 3
Priority 9
December 31st, 2008
Oxford City Homes Tenants and Leaseholders may be interested to click on this link to find out about the progress of the homes improvement work plan. Click on the link to the Homes Improvement Works Plan edition 2 December 2008 to access a document which tells you what work will be carried out in OCH homes in different areas of Oxford. In our ward, properties in the following roads are included:
If you think your property should have been included in this work list, then telephone 0800 227676 to ask why it’s been missed out.
December 29th, 2008
Lib Dems believe that planning decisions should be made as close as possible to the people affected |
An inadequately argued proposal from the Labour administration on Oxford City Council, to remove the right of area committees to make decisions on planning applications in their areas, and to return to centralised decision-making, was so fundamentally amended at the last full council meeting that the council is now in limbo.
Since 2002, when a Lib Dem-led administration set up six area committees to make decisions affecting their own communities - including deciding key planning applications - people in Oxford have found that they can get much more involved with matters which concern them, and can influence their councillors much more effectively. Attendance at area committee meetings is regularly many times higher than was the case with centralised planning committees.
But the current Labour administration has vowed to change this, and return to a system of decision-making in the Town Hall by councillors who often know very little about the likely effect of their decisions on the people living closest. Said Lib Dem group leader Cllr David Rundle: “We have protested loudly that there has been very little consultation about this change with the communities affected. Representatives of many groups in the city have come forward in recent days to object, but they have been ignored by the Labour group. This flies in the face of their own Government’s claims to want to increase the powers of communities to decide things which affect them.”
Added Cllr Rundle: “Labour claim that the change will save the council money, but their financial case is so full of holes that they dare not let the scrutiny committee, or area committees, check it out. We have heard a succession of contradictory and false statements by the portfolio holder, and it is clear that the whole idea is being pursued for reasons which have nothing to do with community empowerment or improving quality of decisions.”
As a result of amendments agreed in council, the council may now allow area committees to decide for themselves whether they want to retain planning powers. People in those areas of the city with Labour-dominated area committees would find their planning decisions being made centrally, with limited opportunities to hold their councillors to account.
December 24th, 2008
David and I would like to send everyone in our ward our warmest good wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We thank you for giving us the opportunity of serving you in 2008 and we look forward to working with you throughout the coming year.
December 23rd, 2008
Four planning applications have been lodged in our ward during the week 15-22 December, there are two in Sandfield Road, one in Stapleton Road and there is the proposed redevelopment of Windmill House in Windmill Road.
If you want to see these in full, please click on Planning applications in the centre tool bar. Please note: the first three are delegated to planning officers, the Windmill House application will be decided at North East Area Committee.
Last date for comments/objections is 23 January
December 21st, 2008
David and I have been informed by Thames Water that the cleaning out of the sewers has now been completed in Old Headington. The extent of the operation had to be extended as they found the line was heavily fatted and greased, and was heavily scaled
This should have sorted out the problems. Please let us know if anything else needs to be done
