Questionable conduct

Update: this story has been covered by the Oxford Mail today

Ruth

I referred to a question I was going to put at Full Council tonight in an earlier post. Here is the text:

I note the reference to the working up of area forums.

Can the Leader give an assurance to the residents of Barton, Sandhills,  Headington Hill, Headington Quarry and Risinghurst that area forums won’t be cancelled at short notice by Labour councillors when failed ex-Prime Ministers attend constituency dinners?

The reply was that each member would take responsibility for their own decisions.

I make no further comment in writing.

The Council and You: the future

Some of you may have heard that the City Council is consulting on how to make decisions. Ruth and I both have strong opinions on this issue — and I’ll speak my mind at another point — but what matters now is that you let your voice be heard. The deadline for consultation is next month but decision are being made right now about the budget which will cut the present arrangements for civic engagement. No wonder the consultation itself is not well publicised. But that makes it all the more important that you do make sure you give your views. Here’s the webpage to go to:

http://consultation.oxford.gov.uk/consult.ti/Decision_making/consultationHome

Remember: the deadline is Friday, 25th March. And we would be very interested to hear what you have to say so do also drop us an e-mail or comment on this site. Thanks!

Tuesday’s NE Area Committee meeting

I wish to correct the post given below. It now appears that the inquoracy of councillors at Tuesday’s meeting was not due to the lateness of the county council budget-setting meeting

Apologies were sent by seven out of twelve councillors for NEAC so it was cancelled. No apologies were sent by Liberal Democrat councillors, and I was standing by to chair as required.

I shall be asking a question in full Council on Monday to find out why so many apologies were sent by councillors from neighbouring wards

Ironically one of the topics up for discussion was the paper on changes to democratic processes proposed by the Labour administration

Tuesday’s NE Area Committee cancelled

Sadly our area committee meeting for Tuesday 15 February has been cancelled. This is not through lack of business, but because a number of councillors are likely still to be at County Hall for the budget meeting. Today’s Oxford Mail piece is not correct – NEAC is definitely cancelled. Next meetings will be on 15 March (ordinary business) and 17 March (Planning)

Community action on urban clutter

 Headington SignWatch

Headington SignWatch was set up as a result of a large number of Let and Let and Managed boards cluttering the environment in and around Headington early in 2010. As a result of that campaign, 37 of 52 such boards were removed within two weeks, with the remainder eventually being taken down.

If you spot signs that should no longer be there, either contact the number on the sign and request its removal, or email  headingtonsignwatch@yahoo.com

Contact details re the public forest consultation

David and I have had enquiries from residents about how to lodge comments in the public consultation on the ownership and management of land managed by the Forestry Commission.

This public consultation will run for 12 weeks until 21st April 2011.

You can see and fill in the consultation document on the Forestry Commission website  or on the website run by DEFRA. 

Or telephone 0845 3673787 to request a hard copy which you can complete and return to the address below.

Bury Knowle Library talks

A meeting was held this afternoon at County Hall with Cllr Judith Heathcoat, Cabinet Member for Libraries, John Jackson, Director of Social and Community Services, Jillian Southwell from the County Library Service, and Claire Phillips from the Policy Directorate. Representatives from Headington were:

  • Tanya Field (Headington Action)
  • Tony Joyce (CCOHRA)
  • Sarah Eddie and Lynda Hayward (Save Headington Library)
  • Cllr Roy Darke
  • Cllr Ruth Wilkinson
  • Fiona Mackenzie ACA (accountant)

A huge amount of information has been released by the County recently including:

The Director confirmed that a 23% reduction needed to be made from the Library Service budget, a reduction of £2m from the current total of £8.7m, by 2014/15.

The implementation of any discontinuation of funding to libraries would take place at the end of December 2011.

The request for a meeting with the Director and Cabinet Member by the above group would be considered by the County Council as an expression of interest in looking at all options in keeping library services going in Headington, in their current or an alternative form.

The decision of whether to approve bids for transition funding for community library projects is likely to slip to the end of June or beginning of July, details will follow.

The County had considered other options, including a reduction across the board for all county libraries (which would result in a reduction of opening hours and staff costs by 30%) and had discussed the possibility of outsourcing all its services with a UK provider, but neither had proved viable. Discussions on outsourcing are currently underway with a US provider.

The County has not yet released its guidance to community groups on what service level agreements can be offered by the County Library Service as buy-ins by community libraries. Professional services might include access to the library management system and bookstock, infrastructure support and training of volunteer staff. This will be released by the end of this month.

It is likely that bids for transition funding from Big Society libraries would include the cost of installing self-issue systems but criteria are to be decided.

Financial questions are being sent to the Director by our accountant and he will respond as soon as he can.

There was an emphasis by County on ensuring that the funded library hubs would be spread geographically. One of the most significant factors taken into account when selecting which libraries would be retained or cut appeared to be travel time. Another was the proximity of libraries to shopping areas. There was also a mention of “community drop off points” which are under consideration to those areas where library services would be cut.

The County is preparing a local needs analysis for each area and this will give us more information about what each area is like in terms of nos. children on free school meals, nos. people not in employment, education or training etc. etc.

Significant points that were raised included:

  • ·         The possibility of employing volunteers alongside library staff
  • ·         The need to examine current book provision in school libraries
  • ·         The need to take into account the value of early years reading support
  • ·         The level of educational attainment in library catchment areas

Most importantly, it was emphasised that the timescales were unattainable for an effective business case to be built up for the biggest libraries in the existing schedule. This point was understood and taken away for further consideration.

A meeting is being scheduled for the end of March. This will allow the County time to send out guidance and local needs assessments, and will give the group more time to analyse the information, learn about different types of social enterprises and how community libraries can be run, and work out alternative ways in which the County can make the savings without closing libraries.