County council underspend

How much of your money is being underspent by Oxfordshire County Council?

Over eight million pounds!

Last week, Liberal Democrat Opposition Councillor Roz Smith, Spokesperson for Finance, raised questions about the huge amount of under spent monies at County Hall.

She said:

 “We all knew that that there would be an underspend on budgets this year, but the figure of £8.41million needs to be questioned.

Oxfordshire taxpayers will surely want to know why, especially in these times of austerity, budgets are not beiing fully spent on children & young peoples services, adult care services and highway engineering.”

In their alternative budget proposals at the February council meeting, Liberal Democrats in Opposition planned to spend more in all of these areas, however, the reality is that cuts in these services continue to bring pressure on the organisation as they struggle to deliver vital services to the public.

Cllr. Roz Smith continued

“I will continue to monitor progress of these underspends and make sure that I bring them to the attention of the Conservative Cabinet members.”

Residents Name That Street!

After some discussion by residents at yesterday evening’s Ward Focus meeting, the suggestion of Blackburn Close for the new development was unanimously agreed. Congratulations to Gill Clarke for suggesting the new name.  Residents wished to honour Mrs Blackburn who had lived and owned a house on nearby land for a great many years, “she was a good person and took in all stray animals.”

Nuffield Health, Green Square and Oxford City Council planners have already endorsed the suggestion and the naming will go ahead.
  
Feltham Construction got a favourable mention by residents,  the development has gone very well and community relations throughout the project has been very positive. The construction firm has received a good report from the  Considerate Constructors’ site visit too. The building work is currently on schedule and should be completed in December ready for people to move in next January

Licensing application at Headington Co-op

Application 12/02373/PREM has been made by Headington Co-op to extend the hours for the sale of alcohol from 06.00 hrs to 23.00 hrs on a Sunday from Sunday 22 July in line with the Government’s decision to relax Sunday trading hours for an 8 week period from that date

This application falls outside our ward but we are sure it will be of interest to our residents

The closing date for representation from the public is 10 July

Controversial appeal result

An appeal decision has been published by the Planning Inspectorate on land to the rear of 42 Windmill Road, and reads as follows:

The appeal is allowed and planning permission is granted for a single storey dwelling at land to the rear of 42 Windmill Road, Headington, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX3 7BX in accordance with the terms of the application Ref 11/02147/FUL, dated 16 May 2011, subject to the conditions in the schedule included at the end of this decision.

Schedule of Conditions

1. The development hereby permitted shall begin not later than three years from the date of this decision.

2. The development hereby permitted shall be carried out in accordance with the following approved plans: Drawing No. S1.02 existing block plan, P1.01 location plan, P1.02 proposed block plan, P2.01 proposed plans and elevations, P2.03 proposed bin store, P2.04 proposed cycle store

3. Samples of the exterior materials to be used shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority before the start of work on site and only the approved materials shall be used.

4. Notwithstanding the provisions of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2008 (or any other Order revoking or enacting that Order) no structure, including additions to the dwelling house as defined in Classes A, B, C, D and E of Schedule 2, Part 1 of the Order shall be erected or undertaken without the prior written consent of the local planning authority.

5. The refuse bin and cycle storage facilities as shown on drawing No.P2.01 shall be provided prior to the first occupation of the dwelling hereby permitted and shall thereafter be retained.

6. Before the development hereby permitted begins, arrangements shall be agreed in writing with the local planning authority, and be put in place, to ensure that, with the exception of disabled persons, no resident of the development shall obtain a resident’s parking permit within the controlled parking zone which is in force in the area including the development hereby approved, at any time. Development shall be carried out in accordance with the approved details.

Many residents are disappointed by this decision, and it is one that has surprised the ward councillors.

Name that street!

Residents will have the opportunity to suggest a name for a new road next Tuesday.

This is just one of the topics up for discussion at our next ward focus meeting!

HEADINGTON WARD FOCUS MEETING TUESDAY 16 JUNE
Come to our Ward Focus Meeting and find out what’s going on in your area!
Enjoy and take part in the open session – take the opportunity to air your views and call your councillors to account!
Tuesday 16 June, 6pm – 8pm,
Headington School Hall, London Road
with guest contributions from the University of Oxford (on its Park Hospital plans) and the Oxford University Hospitals Trust (re the JR)
No need to book.                                                                                   All very welcome!

Update on the Headington floods

Thanks to Headington News for this photo from Monday pm

The Highways team has been out to pump water away in the centre of Headington, and officers are doing a great job.

In view of the persistent flooding during bad weather, David and I are asking for an investigation by the County Council into whether the drainage is adequate – best to get any problems identified now before the new phase of London Road works is planned and scheduled!

Headington floods

Flooding in the district centre

David and I contacted the County about the flooding problems last week and the situation is even worse today (see @HeadingtonNews for latest photos)

We have reported this again today but we do acknowledge the fact that the county highways team are being called out to tackle similar situations right across the county. 

Please take care when crossing London Road.

Will our road be mended soon? Don’t bet on it!

Altaf, Ruth and David are still fighting for improvements to Franklin Road

David and I have been pestering for repairs and improvements to Franklin Road. The road itself looks dreadful, and residents quite reasonably feel that the County Council should be doing something about it. Franklin Road and New High Street are both in dire need of resurfacing but never quite rise to the top of the council’s priority list.

I thought I would share with you the latest information we have on the likelihood of repairs to Franklin Road as it gives an insight into the way in which priorities are calculated.

The bids made to Oxfordshire County Council for the overlay of concrete section was assessed as Priority 3 while the macadam road for plane and resurface was given priority 2.  There is also a bid for footway overlay at priority 3.

The priorities are established against the priorities in the table below

j Urgent work required to carry out structural repairs to eliminate an existing hazard.
k Medium priority structural repairs to prevent the occurrence of hazards
l Lower priority schemes to protect the structure from deterioration

Oxfordshire County Council carry out an objective assessment using the HAMP system and the footway has scored 314 points.  This ranks it 63rd in the footway schemes throughout the City.  Currently the budgets run to less than 10 schemes a year.  The carriageway proposals do not have a current rating, they may have had in the past but ratings are removed from the list when they have become outdated.

The number of outstanding repairs to roads and pavements is becoming a huge issue for Headington as our ward bears such a heavy volume of traffic.

David and I will keep fighting on your behalf, and Altaf is giving us as much help as he can as our county councillor. I’m afraid it will be a lengthy battle. The good news is that the road is deemed to be safe, however unsightly it looks.