HMO licensing data on council website

One of the City Officers has sent us through instructions on how to tell whether properties in the City have HMO licences. This involves using “LocalView” on the City Council’s website.

To get to this page (which is surprisingly difficult if you use search terms like Local and View (!)) you can take one of two options:
either

1. Go to http:\\www. oxford.gov.uk
 Choose “About Oxford”
On the drop down menu, choose “Your neighbourhood”

Or

2. Make a bookmark to
http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decVanilla/LocalView.htm

You are prompted to type in the address of the property at this point. It then finds you lots of details on planning and building control history etc.

If there is an HMO licence attached to the property it will be shown as a box entitled  “Environmental Health” and will give a licence number.

Getting empty houses back into use

We are publicizing this exciting innovation from Oxford City Council.  It now offers home loans to owners of empty properties to enable them to return them to use.

The loan scheme is part of a multi-council initiative (administered by Windsor and Maidenhead) for private sector home owners to effect improvements, but which has recently been extended to empty properties.

The Council is notifying relevant owners of empty properties on their records of the scheme and is generating early interest.  Loans to in-situ owners are already being lent in Oxford via Environmental Development.

For more details click on Empty properties

Victory for our Save our Cheque campaign!

Great news for the supporters of our Save Our Cheque campaign in Old Headington!

We are delighted to tell you that on Thursday of last week the Treasury’s Select Committee agreed to re-open its enquiry on the future of cheques as a result of public concern, and you can find news of this  at:

new-inquiry-the-future-of-cheques

This news was also covered in this week’s  Moneybox programme on Radio 4 this week which you can hear at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/moneybox#playepisode1

This is great news for many people who choose to pay by cheque:

  • they may be housebound or have mobility problems
  • older people prefer to use this method rather than cash to settle bills with tradesmen e.g. plumbers (because of the security risk of having large amounts of cash in the home)
  • they may be partially sighted and need more time to make payments
  • they may have less motor control which makes card payment by PDQ machine difficult
  • charities rely on cheques from their individual donor base
  • small businesses and charities often send multi-signatory cheque payments with orders
  • many people still worry about the risks of fraud if they change to internet banking

It’s great to see that our lobbying has paid off!

Ruth has now withdrawn her motion on behalf of Headington residents to Monday’s Full  Council meeting which called on the Council to lobby our MPs for this review

News from Thames Valley Police

Here is the latest newsletter from our Headington Neighbourhood team.

Consultation

The neighbourhood team have now finished the consultation process for Headington. The Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) have now closed down the old priorities and set up three new ones. The new priorities are Parking, Littering and Anti Social Behaviour.

Cycle Operation

The Headington PCSOs recently set up a series of operations to tackle cycling on the pavement in Headington. The PCSOs issued tickets to those found offending. The roads targeted include London Road, Headley Way and Old High Street.

Robbery / Burglary

PCSO Steph Barras set up an operation in Headington along with PCSOs from other areas to provide high visibility and reassurance patrols.  The patrols focussed on burglaries, theft of lead and robberies. The operation proved very successful.

Arson

Since the 13th March we have had 9 offences of arsons along the London Road and into Risinghurst and Sandhills, the offenders are targeting sale signs. We are investigating these incidents at the moment and appealing for witnesses. PC Eele has now put out a press release. The neighbourhood team will be increasing their patrols over the next couple of weeks.

Cycle Theft

We would still like to remind people about the cycle thefts across Headington even though we have recently seen a reduction.     You can protect your bicycle with free postcode marking.

A postcode marked bicycle is more difficult for a thief to sell on and is much less likely to get stolen.   If it does get ‘nicked’ and we find it, we can get it returned to you much easier.   We provide tamperproof ‘postcoding kits’ or ‘bicycle passports’ free of charge.    The advice on the passport is demonstrated on a new crime prevention video. If you would like a cycle passport then please contact PCSO Dave Hession by email: david.hession@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk. You can view the video by using the two links below or by visiting the Thames Valley Police website. www.thamesvalley.police.uk

Post coding – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4FQrP3zdxg

Bike locks – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xzhsvT0mLw

Community Messaging

Community Messaging is a free service which provides information to subscribers about crime and police activity in their area via phone or email. It also includes information on what we and our partner services are doing to bring offenders to justice or combat anti-social behaviour.  More information can be obtained via our website, and you can sign up by following this link: http://www.tvpcommunitymessaging.org/rmwebportal/startup.aspx’

Contact us

If you want any advice or would like to contact the neighbourhood team you can call us on the police non emergency number 0845 8 505505 but if your call is an emergency then dial 999.   You can also contact us via email: headington@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk – please note this email address cannot be used to contact Thames Valley Police to report crimes or for any urgent matters.   If you have information about crime or Anti Social Behaviour in your area but you do not want to speak to the police, please call the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555111.   To view information on your neighbourhood team you can visit the force website at:

www.thamesvalley.police.uk

Easter activities at Barton Leisure Centre

All the City’s leisure centres, including Barton, are offering Junior Gym Sessions during the Easter holidays.

If you are aged between 12 and 15 years then you can take part in a supervised gym sessions.

Free swimming for the under 17s continues to be offered during certain times. Please ask at the pools or visit the website for more details.

To find out more information about these activities or book one of the sessions call 0844 8933 222.  You can take a look at the Easter timetable here (PDF).

And don’t forget there is free entry to open air Hinksey Park pool on 30 April!

Rats in Old Road area

David and I are aware that there are concerns about rats in the Old Road area. Please can kindly residents who leave food out for the birds  make sure none is left out overnight as this attracts the rats into neighbours’ gardens?

Thanks for your help with this!

Oxford residents slam undemocratic proposals

Excellent news! The comments from residents on the Labour administration’s proposals to abolish area committees, give local councillors £1500 budgets, take planning decisions away from councillors with local knowledge, and impose decision-making by single Board members has now been published by Oxford City Council and make exciting reading!

There is clearly no democratic mandate to proceed with these proposals, just as David and I predicted

Don’t be put off by the length of the document! The individual comments by citizens across Oxford are direct and take no prisoners! Click here and prepare for a thumping good read!

Garden waste subscription service

Oxford City Council is introducing the chargeable service in May which will replace the current green hessian sacks.

Residents will be able to choose the size of their brown wheelie bin or opt for biodegradable eco sacks as an alternative or to complement the bin.

The service will cost £35 a year for the brown wheelie bin.  Eco Sacks come in packs of 10 for £25 or 20 for £35.

Residents can keep their hessian sacks to use in the garden, or elsewhere. But these won’t be emptied after the end of April. The new scheme is entirely voluntary.

A card will be placed on people’s bins within the city in the next two weeks to inform them of the change.
If you would like more information about how to deal with recycling and waste click here, email recycling@oxford.gov.uk or telephone 01865 248911.

These changes were voted through as part of the Labour budget in February

Park and Ride survey

The Park & Ride bus service is a well-used facility and Oxford Bus Company need to ensure that the services they run are in line with customer needs and expectations.  

They would value feedback from customers in the Headington ward. If you would like to complete a short survey please click  here

This survey is designed to give customers the opportunity to give  their comments so that Oxford Bus can plan the next phase of service development.