Ruth Wilkinson and David Rundle

Residents are very worried about the safety of pedestrians (and particularly the elderly folk from London Court, Albany Court and Victoria Court) on the stretch of London Road between Sandfield Road and Horwood Close and beyond. I have been out to look at this and am concerned about the safety of pedestrians coming out of the Dial House and other B&B establishments as there is no obvious means of crossing the London Road to a place of safety.

I reported this last week to the officer managing the London Road redevelopment project and here is his response:

All these works are being carried out as part of the London Road
Corridor scheme.
Most of the construction work is located in and around the footway /
kerbline area and impacts on the carriageway and footway areas.
As you will appreciate we need to consider all safety issues when
carrying out the works and protect the public by setting up and signing
safe routes to follow. Where possible we will try and maintain a through
route on the side where the work is being undertaken but in this instant
the work involves the refurbishment of a gas main in the footway area
from Headley Way to Osler Road followed by changes to the kerbline and
resurfacing of the footway.
The safest way to carry out this work and provide a safe route for
pedestrians was to close the footway and provide temporary pedestrian
crossings at each end to allow safe crossing of the main road.
Signs have been erected informing pedestrians that the footway is closed
and directing them across the crossing as the route to follow.

I can not physically force a member of the public to follow the route
but hopefully common sense will prevail and they will refrain from
walking in the road.

If you have concerns about this, and we know many of you do, please contact David or me, or ring the County Council on 01865 792422 and ask for Mike Collins!

Residents have reported a breakdown in the crossing lights at the end of Osler Road and a presence of live cables. We have investigated this, and are assured that the cables are safe. The officer in charge of the London Road redevelopment has been informed.

One delegated planning decisions have been made by officers this week at the NOC.

Please click on Planning decisions on left hand menu bar for more details

David and I get lots of emails and phone calls from residents concerned about safety issues:

• cyclists don’t feel safe because of buses
• pedestrians say cyclists on pavements are a nuisance
• elderly residents have “near misses” with cyclists
• cyclists say Osler Road and the Windmill Road junctions are death traps
• why do cyclists jump lights?
• why don’t cyclists get fined for riding on pavements?
• why do motorists cut up cyclists?
• why aren’t there more ‘joined up’ cycle lanes?
• Why isn’t there more training for cyclists?

If these questions and issues are of concern to you, then PLEASE come along to the North East Area Committee meeting on Tuesday 18 November at 6 p.m.   The venue is Sandhills School, Terret Avenue.  David and I have specifically requested that this item is debated openly. If you have a question you want to put to the County Council and City Council traffic planners, please please PLEASE come along to NEAC and tell us what you think!

     NEWS OF OUR CAMPAIGN!

Brookside 

David is attending a meeting with local residents and representatives of Thames Water and the Environment Agency to exchange information and monitor action taken in regard to the pollution of Boundary Brook by sewage flows.

Stoke Place / St Andrew’s Road 

Thames Water sent out their  network engineer to Stoke Place and St Andrews Road on Monday, he lifted the manhole covers and checked the flows in both the surface water and foul water sewers. There were no problems with blockages on Monday which was a wet day. He couldn’t find any definite evidence of a misconnection of foul water into the surface water sewer. The foul water sewer is a lot deeper than the surface water sewer. Thames Water will be cleaning the foul and surface water sewers in Stoke Place, St Andrews Road and Old High Street to try to prevent further blockages which caused the flooding in this area. This is scheduled to be done within the next month.

Stockleys Road and Saxon Way, Northway

I shall contact Thames Water further about the smells coming up from sinks in these areas, once I have authorisation from the tenants to disclose their contact details

Manhole covers in Old High St and Laurel Farm Place

It would appear that these can only be looked at when referred on from the Highways Dept so I shall contact them again with details and ask them to pass these on to Thames Water, this is an indirect route but it appears to be the correct way to get things done

Peter Claridge from Thames Water writes:

I would encourage the residents to call in to us when they have problems or
to contact our customer relations department if they want to write to us.
This will make sure that all the issues are recorded properly on our
systems and we can investigate fully.  Also, if the customers write to us
we are obliged under by OFWAT to reply to them within 10 days.

I am grateful to Peter for his help thus far

Residents have been asking David and me about the Lib Dems’ economic recovery plan. 

We intend to help families by cutting taxes for low and middle income households, stopping unnecessary repossessions, and taking action to cut energy bills. Click this link for more details Lib Dems’ economic recovery plan 

The Labour City Council has produced a Talkback Survey, being sent to about 1,000 residents, in which it is proposed:

• to charge for collecting bulky waste collections up to a rate of £20 for 1 – 3 items
• to charge £35 every year for renting a wheelie bin for garden waste

Not content with a hike in the unfair Council Tax, they are thinking up new taxes to impose on the residents of Oxford.

We know that, what with cuts in government funding to local councils and a miserly settlement from Labour for OAP bus passes, finances are chronically stretched at the City Council. But that shouldn’t be taken as a licence to hit residents with new taxes. They should sort out the back office before they start cutting front-line services.

Oxford City Council is now offering an online reporting service to further speed up the reporting of abandoned trolleys.

An online  form can be used to report abandoned trolleys within the city 24 hours a day at a time that is convenient to residents.  The forms go directly to Trolley Collection Services Ltd who are funded by local supermarkets to collect trolleys on their behalf.

Here is a link to the new reporting form 

This is a reminder to anyone involved in voluntary and community groups that there is still time to bid for grants of up to and including £15,000 from Oxford City Council. The closing date for grant applications is 21 November

There is a lengthy form to fill in if your group wishes to apply for a grant. Please contact Oxfordshire Community Voluntary Action (OCVA) for details on 01865 251946 or email info@ocva.org

Bidding is open for the following projects so long as they are not the primary responsibility of another statutory agency, not provided by another agency, and not funded significantly by another agency:

• local cultural, recreational and sporting projects, particularly for disadvantaged groups
• projects which protect and enhance Oxford’s built and natural environment
• training and skills projects aimed at areas of deprivation
• projects supporting people living on low incomes

The criteria under which you can apply for grants are really tightly set. I’ve been to a training workshop on how these grants are allocated and have used the criteria to assess an application. If you want advice or guidance on filling in the form, please don’t hesitate to contact me! (click on contact us in the left hand menu bar for my contact details)

A festival of remembrance will be held tomorrow in St Giles at 10.45 am. This is a very important day for so many who lost members of their families in action and it will be a very moving ceremony. There will be a march past the War memorial by units from the armed forces, by scouts and guides, by the Red Cross and St John Ambulance Society and the Royal British Legion among others.

I have a real personal dilemma at this time of the year. I am profoundly saddened by the loss of life suffered in battle to preserve the freedoms of our country, and I want to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to help others.

But I fundamentally believe that security can be achieved without violence, and that all human life is of equal worth. There are many alternative ways to resolve conflicting interests, and we need to educate our generation in the ways of peace. The Lib Dems opposed the war in Iraq, and let us hope that the troops are recalled home as quickly as possible

So should I wear a white poppy or a red one? Or both? I have one of each, and I have been wearing a white poppy at work this week to support the Peace Pledge Union Yet I know that some people would be very offended if I were to attend tomorrow’s Remembrance Day service wearing a white poppy as well as a red one to commemorate those who died.

I would be interested to hear your views.