Victory for Headington’s Save Our Cheque campaign!

The UK Payments Council today [Tuesday] announced that they are to reverse their decision to scrap cheques by 2018 and continue their use for as long as customers need them.

Ruth and David set up a Save Our Cheque petition earlier this year with the support of Headington residents

For small businesses, charities and sole traders cheques are a crucial form of payment and many were concerned that their removal would drive up their costs. For customers, especially the elderly, cheques are reliable, safe and not too technological.

Last year alone there were over one billion cheque transactions which shows just how widely used this form of payment still is.

Today’s announcement means that those who rely on cheque payments can now be sure of their future.

Saving the cheque is a Lib Dem victory for common sense!

County press release on Southern Cross

As many of you are aware, the Albany residential care home in London Road was owned by Southern Cross. Here is the latest press release dated 11 July  from the county council

Oxfordshire County Council has called for calm following the announcement by Southern Cross regarding the future of the care home provider.

Trading in the shares of Southern Cross, which operates six homes in Oxfordshire, was suspended today after its landlords said they wanted to leave the group.

However the company said that the continuation of care for all of its residents in its 752 homes nationwide was its top priority, a view echoed by the county council.

Southern Cross has 223 beds in its Oxfordshire homes, 115 of which are currently occupied by clients funded by Oxfordshire County Council.

The company plans to transfer the operation of its care homes to other providers, which could include current landlords taking over the operation of some homes. However it is not fully clear at this early stage when this may happen.

The council therefore expects that Southern Cross will stop running homes in the future – but this would not mean that homes would close. The company is working with other parties to ensure the continued operation of their homes by other providers.

Officers at Oxfordshire County Council have been in close contact with Southern Cross for a number of months and have been developing a contingency plan to identify sufficient capacity in other care homes, should those places be required.

Discussions have been and are being held by the council with a number of other organisations about the situation, including The Care Quality Commission, The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust and Age UK Oxfordshire.

Council officers have been in contact with the management of Southern Cross’ Oxfordshire care homes today about the company’s announcement.

Council staff  are on hand to answer questions about the current situation regarding Southern Cross. They can be reached on 0845 050 7666.

Bend our ear at our first Ward Focus meeting!

We promise to listen!

Ruth and David will be holding our first Headington Ward Focus meeting on Tuesday 19 July at the Headington Baptist Church Hall at 6.00-8.00 pm

What’s it all about?

We want to find out your views on what you think are the best and worst aspects of living in our ward, and what suggestions and ideas you have for the future.

Here is the agenda for the meeting (please note, items are timed, no waiting about!)

6.00-6.30 Surgery time. Informal conversation with councillors

6.30-7.10 Raise your issues in open debate. We’ll discuss current planning applications and hear reports from community groups about their projects

7.10-7.30 Headington car park, and the consultation on building development in our area

7.30-7.50 Old Headington Conservation Area – what next? – in which we shall start making an action plan using the latest Conservation Area appraisal as a starting point

7.50-8.00 We’ll note down your ideas for future meetings and discuss what date and time these should be held

8.00 We’re off to the pub – come and join us if you want to bend our ear even further!

The next Focus meeting will provisi0nally take place on Tuesday 16 August and is likely to be in the New Headington Area

See you soon!

PS we have invited some special guests too, along with the county councillors, to help us take the most effective courses of action to address your issues!

Alice’s Day events this Saturday 9 July

The Story Museum Courtyard
10.30am-3pm Theatre: Wonderland Adventures and Zany Tales
 
This event is in the courtyard of the future Story Museum.  The former GPO building was donated by a fairy godmother and in 2014 it will become a magical new museum where stories of all kinds will be celebrated: spoken and sung, danced and acted, written, drawn, painted and carved.
 
The Natural History Museum Lawn
11.00am -2pm Theatre: Queen of Hearts Unbirthday Party
 
Oxford Botanic Garden
1.00-4pm Family activities and Jabberwocky Performance
 
Oxford Castle
11.00-2am Promenade theatre, live white rabbits, art, craft
and late night frolics!
 
For more about what’s on in all the venues, please see here

Have your say on the phone hacking scandal

The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, has written to Lib Dem councillors to consult us on courses of action to take resulting from the shocking allegations of widespread phone hacking by the News of the World

There will be inquiries into both the original police investigation and also the behaviour of the British press, their practices and ethics – and the details of those inquiries will be agreed by the party leaders.

He will make it clear that the inquiries must be independent, open, able to access all information and call witnesses, and that crucially the inquiry dealing with legal issues (e.g. relationship between police and media) must be presided over by a judge.

David and I would be happy to feed back views from people in our ward – please let us have your comments by Friday 8 July and we will send them through to Nick’s phone hacking scandal team

Application for listing BK barn and stables

A planning application for development on the site of the barn and stable block associated with Bury Knowle House has been delayed pending the outcome of a report by a listing inspector from English Heritage.

How to request that a building is listed

A member of the public (as in this case), or a Council Officer, fills in the form or writes to the regional office of English Heritage requesting that a building is considered for listing.  Then the listing inspector visits and inspects and does some research on the building to provide an evidence base with reference to the criteria for listing, which include the two basic criteria of Special Historic and Architectural Interest, as well as a host of other criteria depending on the type of building.  The City Council is sent a copy of this evidence base to comment on if it wishes to.  A separate letter of recommendation is written by the inspector stating whether in their opinion the building merits listing or not.

The Secretary of State can then act on this – the decision is usually made within a couple of months.

Residents’ thumbs down to car park plans

Last night’s North East area forum was quite well attended, with a good turn out of residents from our ward, and the major issue of concern was most definitely the City Council’s preferred option of development on the Headington (Old High Street) car park site

Worries centred around:

  • any potential loss of parking spaces which are key to the vitality of the shopping centre (the ‘stilts’ holding up the accommodation are likely to take up approx 10% of current spaces)
  • safety and lighting issues and the general management of undercroft parking
  • the unlikelihood that the development would be cost-effective given the above
  • concerns about carbon emissions and noise and smell for occupiers of the accommodation overhead
  • the difficulty in designing the development to be in keeping with the conservation area and the park
  • the detrimental impact on views from the park
  • the lack of any alternative parking sites to mitigate the resulting loss of spaces

Residents asked the Planning Policy Officers to research into developments of this kind in other parts of the UK to inform their views, but at present virtually all spoke against the development and will send back comments saying they will not support this option

Parliamentary reception

Ruth was invited to the All Party Parliamentary Group reception at the House of Commons on Monday evening which was sponsored by the Local Government Information Unit, a prestigious non-party-aligned think tank in the local government sector. The Minister for Housing, Grant Shapps, addressed the meeting and held a Q&A session with MPs, council leaders and councillors from across the country. Andrew Stunell the local government minister also attended the reception.

The event was a great opportunity to network with councillors from other authorities and meet lawyers, journalists and specialists from local government organisations

Ruth and Deputy Leader of the Lib Dems Simon Hughes enjoy the introduction of Grant Shapps to the meeting as "the dynamite behind housing!"

FirstBuy scheme to help first time buyers

Government Launches FirstBuy Scheme

The Government has launched the new FirstBuy scheme, specifically designed to help those struggling to buy their first home due to the need for large deposits.

Through FirstBuy, the Government and housebuilders together will offer a 20 per cent equity loan, which alongside a five per cent deposit from the buyer will enable them to take out a 75 per cent mortgage on the rest of the property.

Loans will be repaid on resale of the property, with the Government’s share available for reinvestment in more affordable housing. The first homes are expected to come on stream in September this year.

Free bank shares scheme up for debate

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says it’s time the public benefited from the bailout of the banks.

The Lib Dem Leader is backing a scheme that will give shares in the nationally owned RBS and Lloyds banks to every adult in the UK.

Mr Clegg has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ask him to look at the shares plan which has been backed by several other senior politicians.
The blueprint to hand over shares to over 45million adults in the UK has been drawn up by a top city firm and was first launched by Lib Dem MP Stephen Williams in March.

The plans will ensure that the Treasury will get its money back from the banking bailout, but any profits will go directly to the 45million shareholders.

Mr Clegg added:

“The British people rightly feel let down by the past behaviour of the banks. With this plan they would own a piece of the banks, have a voice in how they were run and benefit from their future success.”