All Saints/Lime Walk junction – is it working?

David and Ruth have been surveying some of the local residents in Stapleton Road, Lime Walk, All Saints Road and Nursery Close about the ‘new look’ junction. We have also consulted New Headington Residents’ Association exec and have emailed out a short survey to residents in Bateman St, Kennett Rd., Piper St., Perrin St., Windsor Street and Gardiner Street to get a balanced view of people’s concerns, and are aware that Highfield Residents’ Association is also in contact with the traffic planners on this issue.

We shall continue to survey residents about the junction over the weekend, and have raised a number of initial concerns with the County Transport Planning team who are looking into them and getting back to us.

The issues we have brought to their attention  already include: 

  • drainage after heavy rain,
  • the need for a kerbed edging at the corners of the junction (concerns for safety of young children scooting into the road without realising etc. and vehicles mounting pavements via dropped kerbs),
  • lighting,
  • signage (including priority arrows), 
  • inadequate lines of sight past parked cars – cars getting ‘boxed in’ behind parked cars and being unable to re-emerge safely, as well as how the junction is likely to be ‘finished off’.It’s important to remember that the scheme is not yet fully implemented as there is more work starting on raised entry treatments and works to Stapleton, Bickerton and Latimer Roads. It is too early to decide whether the scheme  has achieved a reduction in volume and speed of traffic.

 Some pedestrians have told us they are finding it easier to cross Lime Walk, and we have had some positive emails and responses from cyclists. There is some anecdotal evidence that the volume and speed of motor vehicles has lessened, but the worry is that this may have displaced to neighbouring residential streets, specifically Stapleton Road – we won’t be able to gauge the full extent of that properly until the rest of the works are finished.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us with your views on this issue. It’s important that your ward councillors have an overall balanced view of resident opinion so that we represent you effectively. You can find our contact details under the Contact Us tab on this page. We will update this page when county officers respond

Manor Ground development: work starts next Monday

Ruth joined around 20 local residents at the meeting held by Green Square and Feltham Construction on 12 January. We discussed the new development of 27 flats, and more specifically how much extra construction traffic will be in and out of the site, at what times, and how noise and disruption can be minimised

Andy will be the site manager, and his name and mobile phone number will be displayed on the signage at the junction of London Road and the Manor Hospital delivery road from Monday 16 January.

The duration of the works will be 43 weeks. The schedule for works is still being finalised. Next Monday there will be one delivery from two different lorries with essential workplace units and groundworks will start next Wednesday. A crane will be located on site for some of the works. Timber frames will start to go up in late April/early May and the outside of the building is scheduled to take five weeks.

Construction will take place between 07.30 and 17.00 Monday to Friday with no weekend working (except in emergency) but vans will arrive on site from 07.00. Contractors have been advised to avoid delivering to the site between 08.00-09.00 and after 15.00

Access to and from the site

The private road from London Rd (next to Shell garage) will be made two way -access will be supervised by a Feltham employee.  It will be used by hospital delivery vehicles IN as normal,  by all construction vehicles IN and will be used OUT by any construction vehicle that cannot exit the site via Osler Rd. Special procedures will be put in place when very large vehicles enter the site, and the route for incoming works traffic will be from the Green Road roundabout down London Road.

Concerns raised by residents are being addressed. If any resident believes that sub-contractors are parking outside the site in their residential street they should report this to Andy in the first instance. If these issues are not resolved, or if vehicles are continuing to park illegally in neighbouring roads such as Beech Road or Osler Road, please inform Ruth and David and we will press for further action.

Ruth queried the egress of construction traffic (white vans) from the Osler Road exit as there is already traffic congestion and a history of near misses. Green Square are asking Feltham to come up with a scheme that restricts egress of construction traffic out of this exit – one possible solution is for all site traffic to exit the site between certain times via the private road, supervised by the site manager. We will keep you updated on this.

We have ensured the police, County Parking, Highways, the JR, and the bus services have been informed. If you would like further notes of the meeting please let us know, we will be contacting neighbours shortly to make sure everyone knows what’s going on.

Adult social care emergency service

The Crisis Response Service aims to help people who are in urgent need of care and support in a crisis or when something has gone wrong.  If you think that a person you are dealing with is experiencing a crisis and needs immediate help from Adult Social Care, you can contact Oxfordshire County Council on:

0845 050 7666 – daytime weekdays

0800 833 408 – evenings, weekends and bank holidays

The team that receives your call will ask for more information about the person’s situation, including what the problem is and how we can gain access to the home. The team will decide whether the person is eligible to receive the Crisis Response Service.  Subject to eligibility, the Service Provider will attend the person’s home within four hours of the referrer’s first contact with the Council.

Lib Dem success: flats get recycling boost

Following lobbying from the City Lib Dem Group, officers have decided that tenants in flats can now have a bin or an eco-sack as long as they do the following:

–          Purchase a bin for a yearly subscription charge of £35 or Eco Sacks for £25/£35 depending on how many they would like.

–          Take responsibility for the bin

–          Present garden waste on the same day as their recycling by 7am.

–          Place the bin or eco-sack at the kerbside

The property will need to be on the Council’s round sheets. Please email recycling@oxford.gov.uk if you live in a flat and want to register for this service.  And do contact us if there are any problems…

Ever thought of adopting a tree?

Why adopt a tree?

Trees actively improve and enhance our lives and now you have the opportunity to help the Council look after a tree.

Your adopted tree can:

  • help tackle climate change and reduce CO2 levels
  • improve the quality of your local community
  • absorb air pollutants
  • attract birds and wildlife to the area
  • help reduce flooding
  • be purchased as a gift or in remembrance
  • become a project for whole family or group

For more information, click here

What is a Town Green?

….and why are they so important?

This is a question that residents are asking us more and more frequently.

Town Greens are significant because designation effectively ends any development potential of the land in question.

In essence, anyone can apply to the Registration Authority (in this case the County Council) for permission to have an area of land designated as a Town Green.  In order be successful they will need to show that a significant number of local people have indulged in lawful sports or pastimes “as of right” (i.e. without permission, force or secrecy) on the land for at least 20 years, rather than “by right” (i.e. in exercise of a legal right to do so).  These requirements reflect the ancient law of custom, whereby long use “as of right” created a presumption that local inhabitants had established recreational rights over the land. The applicant(s) need to submit all of the evidence required to prove this, which may include witness statements, witness forms of evidence and photographs.  But of course the difficulty lies in the interpretation of what constitutes a significant number of people, what they were doing on the land and when, etc.  Town Greens have therefore become a complex area of law and a contentious issue in planning, because they are increasingly being used to thwart proposed development rather than for their original purpose – which was to protect genuine Town and Village greens!

For more information, click here

Assistance for the disabled in H Car Park

Handrails will be installed shortly at Headington Car Park to assist mobility impaired shoppers to access Waitrose from the disabled car parking spaces. We are grateful to the City Council and the Waitrose store for jointly funding this access initiative, following our intervention on behalf of a shopper who finds the existing slopes too much for her without extra support.

Illegal parking in Kennett Road

Kennett Road residents have told us that they are fed up with the amount of illegal parking on double yellow lines at the top of their road. This frequently makes difficulties for Iceland lorries turning in and out of their delivery area, and this stretch of road is proving perilous for cyclists.

We have made complaints to the County Council ontheir behalf and lobbied County officers.  The officer in charge of parking enforcement has agreed that the kerb markings will be renewed and that patrols in the area are increased

This of course is stage 1 in the battle. Stage 2 will be to make sure it happens! Re-painting works are often agreed but  implementation is delayed, we are  pressing for a date for this to be completed