Just a quick note to say please do not be tempted to cement in a DIY drop kerb outside your house and hope that nobody notices! Our attention has been drawn to a couple of these within the last month.

Council planners do become involved when consent is required for crossings
to commercial premises or properties fronting to classified roads. Applications are dealt with by the County Council from their Kidlington Office.

If a cemented in drop kerb results in clear ‘interference with the Highway’ then it is a criminal offence, and will be investigated promptly.

This afternoon, I walked round the social housing areas in the ward with officers from Oxford City Homes, City Works and the Area Co-ordinator to identify areas that need maintenance or upgrading. Here is one area we found in Mattocks Close, and we have asked the Works Dept to submit quotes for levelling this pavement to City Homes so that it can be upgraded. If you would like more details of this site inspection, please hit the comment button or contact us for more information.

Below is a picture of North Place, David and I have asked OCH to tell us when the properties will be double glazed, and we have asked them to investigate internal noise reduction too

Public consultation on Oxford’s CORE STRATEGY (2026)

Last Wednesday and Friday mornings, I took the opportunity to work shadow our local estates manager, Adrian Stone, accompany him on a walkabout in the ward, and go with him on a series of visits to Oxford City Homes tenants and leaseholders.

He showed me how he runs off reports from his database to produce visit lists - the software automatically prioritises the frequency of visits needed to different tenants, and produces a list of the next 60 properties for him to visit. It’s important to make these visits as the information kept about tenants and leaseholders, like mobile phone nos. etc and personal circumstances, can change frequently, and it’s also a good opportunity for residents to tell him what needs repairing or updating in the property. If an elderly person is living on his/her own, then s/he will be allocated a higher priority for visits.

Councillors deal with similar types of issues so Adrian and I learned a lot from each other, things like liaising with Oxford City Works and the Crime and Nuisance Action Team. Adrian’s job includes notifying surveyors of work that needs doing like insulation and arranging for visits and quotes to be made, and ensuring that repairs are done.

David and I will be going on another walkabout in the ward at 2 p.m. on 18 September and are keen to identify areas near Oxford City Homes properties that require ’sprucing up’ - we shall be accompanied by the officer with the appropriate budget for this. One area I’d like him to look at is an area in Mattocks Close where we’d like to have shrubs planted, and there is a stretch of uneven pavement there that needs attention. If you are an OCH tenant or leaseholder, and know of similar situations, please let us know and we’ll make sure we ‘walk about’ in a useful direction! If you see us about, stop and say hello!

Those brave enough to stay till the end of the North East Area Committee meeting on Tuesday will have noted that David and I pushed hard for action on the Manor Ground development scheme.  Beech Road residents have made it clear to us that they are disappointed that the promised affordable housing units have not yet been built and made available for use.

We have secured the Area Committee’s backing to call for a progress report from the Head of City Development.  Our Area Co-ordinator Angela Cristofoli is arranging a meeting between officers in Planning and City Housing/Development and David and myself to agree an action plan.  We will post up more news when we have it..watch this space!

At our recent street surgery, David and I were asked a very good question by a ward resident: does the Council know how many flats above shops in Headington are empty, and what steps are being taken to offer them to homeless people?

I have asked officers to investigate this, and this is underway. In the meantime, I have been sent a briefing note on empty dwellings across the City that contains some interesting figures that I thought you might like to see.

Unoccupied and Council Tax Exempt as from 1.07.08

Class Description No.
A Recently built or uninhabitable due to work (time limit of 12 months) 218
B Empty and owned by charities (up to 6 months) 122
C Vacant (empty and unfurnished) (up to 6 months) 434
D Left empty by persons in detention 1
E Left empty by patients in hospitals or care homes 61
F Left empty by deceased person (for up to 6 months after probate) 155
G Unfit for habitation (where occupation prohibited by law) 9
H Unoccupied pending use by a Minister of Religion 1
I Left empty by people receiving care 10
J Left empty by people providing care 6
K Left empty by students where the students remain liable 3
L Unoccupied where the mortgagee is in possession 16
Q Responsibility of a Bankrupt’s Trustees 0
R Unoccupied caravan pitch or house boat mooring 9
T Unoccupied Annexe not capable of separate occupation (e.g. ‘Granny Flat’) 2

All properties falling within the above Council Tax exemption classes would also be exempt from intervention by the Local Housing Authority under the Housing Act 2004 (empty dwellings)

Total empty dwellings 1724
Total exempt empty dwellings for purposes of empty dwelling legislation under Housing Act 2004 1047

Therefore, of the 1724 empty dwellings, 677 may not be exempt from intervention by the Local Housing Authority. However, that figure includes 44 dwellings owned by Oxford City Council which are empty pending demolition, disposal or refurbishment, at least 35 small Housing Association flats which are to be demolished and redeveloped as family accommodation, and numerous other properties which the owners intend to redevelop, remodel or re-let.

In a city of Oxford’s size, and with such a high proportion of transient residents (students, tourists, academics, medical personnel etc), it is inevitable that there will be a constantly shifting body of properties standing empty for various periods of time.

There is, however, a small number of properties (officers believe there are less than fifty) which are and have been empty for considerable periods of time, and where the owners, for one reason or another, have no intention of bringing the properties back into use. It is on these properties that the Council concentrates its efforts of persuasion & enforcement, through the work of the Empty Homes Officer, the Planning Enforcement Team, and officers of Environmental Development.

Here is a case study to show the sort of work that council officers undertake, acting on this data.

A landlord owned two properties in different parts of the city. Both were run down and in need of substantial works. One had suffered an arson attack. The owner had insufficient funds to commence work on either property, and could not sell either without making a substantial loss because of their condition. The Empty Homes Officer met the owner, and arranged for a Planning Officer to visit the burnt-out property. The Planning Officer gave the owner an informal view that the property was suitable for redevelopment into three flats. This enabled the owner to interest a developer, who eventually bought the property at a much better price than the owner had previously been able to ask. This, in turn allowed the owner to carry out remedial work on the second property. The redevelopment went ahead, and there are now four habitable properties where previously there were two pretty derelict buildings.

Many thanks to those who attended our street surgery this evening, we enjoyed meeting you and are taking up the issues you raised. Over 25 people attended and the event was very worth while. We shall be repeating our street surgeries in areas across the ward. Please watch out for details of our next surgery by clicking the box in the left hand margin

Some of the issues you raised included:  the future of the Dorset House site, uneven footpaths, the site of the old tree stump, the drains in Latimer Road, the delivery lorry at 4 am to St Luke’s Hospital, parking problems, rubbish problems at a site in Beech Road, RPZs for disabled constituents and their carers, green waste, replacement tree planting, cycling on pavements, affordable housing, and health and safety incidents involving buses in Osler Road

We are on the case!

Since becoming a Councillor, I have taken the opportunity to find out more about the services provided by Oxford City Homes: I have discussed the housing policy and services provided by the City Council and its partners with senior officers, learned about the work done to offer vacant properties to tenants and about the work that is needed to ‘turn round’ newly vacated properties to make them conform to ‘decent homes standard’, and I have also taken part in a tour of some of the Council’s properties with members of the Tenants’ Involvement Panel and other tenants in Barton, Wood Farm, Rose Hill and Donnington.

Oxford City Homes have invited me to work shadow Estate Managers in Headington and in Blackbird Leys, and this will give me the chance to find out and appreciate what work they do to help tenants around the City. Here are some of the things I shall be learning about:

• providing housing surgeries for general enquiries
• visiting all new tenants within 28 days of them moving in
• visiting all the tenants in the local area once a year
• organising walkabouts with residents and councillors to inspect the areas on a regular basis
• inspecting the communal areas to all the blocks of flats on a bi-monthly basis
• helping tenants with their individual enquiries
• dealing with reports of anti-social behaviour promptly and appropriately.
• working with other agencies to the benefit of residents

If you are a tenant or leaseholder, and you would like me to ask any particular questions when I meet the Estate Managers, do let me know! Our local Estate Manager is Adrian Stone, and I shall be spending at least half a day with him in August or September  in our ward. I will post up what I learn!