We have been trying to sort out the problem of litter in the area next to the bus stop in Windmill Road.
Here is an update on progress. The environmental development officer has written to the owners of the land and discussed the siting of the bus stop and the height of the retaining wall and advised them who to contact regarding this.
As the problem is continuing, he will seek to serve a litter clearing notice on the owner of the land and arrange for concentrated litter enforcement in the area
We have been contacted by a resident who cycles along Pullens Lane who is concerned about the London Road improvements. He contacted us to say that the junction with Pullens Lane has an obstructively high kerbstone and this is dangerous to those riding bikes, and particularly so for those riding trailer-bikes as the cyclist has to dismount to negotiate the junction between London Road and Pullens Lane safely. We have contacted the County Officer concerned and here is his reply:
In the short term a fillet will be placed on the road to remove the vertical face on the kerb.
A change will be made to the kerb line but the inclined face was a requirement of the scheme.
We are discussing what further action we can press for with County Councillor Altaf Khan
The two Lib Dem candidates for Headington and Marston Division are Cllr Mohammed Altaf-Khan and Barry Crossman.
Altaf has been your local County Councillor since 2005. He has lived and
worked locally with his family for more many years and is currently
finishing a course in labour economics and law at Ruskin College in
Headington.
Altaf has always been at the heart of our community and led the campaign to
retain the IT hub at Northway community Centre.
As a City Councillor, Altaf is also a member of the local neighbourhood
action group and is a trustee of the charitable trust of Old Marston.
Barry works in Headington as a Clinical Trials Co-ordinator for the
University of Oxford – making life saving medicines available to the wider
public.
He has been actively involved in campaigning to retain and improve sports centre facilities and he helps to represent leaseholders in the City. He is keen to involve Headington and Marston residents in developing local plans and amenities
David and I are re-starting our popular open air street surgeries in June, and look forward to meeting you in a place near where you live
9 June 18.30 – 20.00 Informal street surgery outside St Andrew’s Church, St. Andrew’s Road. All residents in Old Headington are welcome to come and share their views and concerns with David and Ruth.
30 June 18.30 – 20.00 Informal street surgery in All Saints Road by the community noticeboard. All residents in Highfield and New Headington are welcome to come and share their views and concerns with David and Ruth.
There is no need to book in advance, just come along, we’d love to see you!
If you need to speak to us about any issue, our contact details are at “Contact us” on the central orange toolbar
2.0 Summary of Advice to public
If a member of the public has recently visited one of the countries or areas where human cases of influenza have been identified, and are well, there is no need for them to isolate themselves from other people as long as they remain well.If during the first 7 days of return from aboard, they develop a feverish illness accompanied by one or more of cough, sore throat, headache and muscle aches, they should follow the advice below:
· stay at home and
· contact their GP by phone or
· seek advice from NHS Direct (0845 4647) or
· Ring the Influenza Information Line: 0800 151 3513 (pre-recorded information and advice – this line is not manned by staff)Those with symptoms should avoid attending their local GP practice or hospital emergency department, where possible. The individual should make sure that they tell those from whom they are seeking advice about their recent travel to an area affected. Depending on their symptoms they may be advised that further investigations may be necessary.
General infection control practices and good respiratory hand hygiene can help to reduce transmission of all viruses, including the human swine influenza. This includes:
It is important to stress that swine influenza virus is not transmitted by food. There is no risk of catching the illness from eating properly handled and cooked pork or pork products.
Lib Dems believe removing bus stops from Queen Street without reducing buses makes no sense |
Liberal Democrats have “called in” a decision by the county council cabinet member for transport to initiate an expensive short-term programme of changes to Queen Street in central Oxford. Said Lib Dem shadow cabinet member for transport Cllr Roz Smith: “Moving the bus stops out of Queen Street, without reducing the number of buses, will increase congestion on St Aldates and the High Street. It will also severely worsen the air quality in St Aldates, High Street and surrounding streets where there are many residents and even more full-time workers.”
Cllr Smith added: “Pedestrians in Queen Street will still have all the disadvantages of having buses in the street, but without the advantage of being able to actually get on them. An interim surfacing scheme, to be replaced with a new surface when Queen Street is fully pedestrianised, is a waste of taxpayers’ money.”
The matter will now be considered by the Environment & Economy Scrutiny committee of the county council at a meeting on Tuesday 5th May, starting at 2.00 p.m. in county hall. This meeting is open to the public, and members of the public may ask to address the committee.
In theory, members of scrutiny committees exercise their analytical skills impartially, in the interests of all the citizens of Oxfordshire, including those living in and visiting Oxford City. As with Select Committees in the Houses of Parliament, Party considerations are not supposed to determine the recommendations of scrutiny committees. It will be interesting to see whether any Conservative members of the committee break ranks and respond to the outcry among many groups, and vote to alter the decision of their cabinet member.
The licensing application submitted by Waitrose has been approved.
Please click on Licensing applications in the central orange toolbar for details
Residents in Franklin Road have contacted David and me about the unexpected appearance of bus shelters in their road, despite the fact that they no longer have access to public transport themselves since the no.10 bus route was pulled from Headley Way
I made a site visit this morning, and David and I will investigate this today with Rye St Antony School and the county council. We shall keep residents informed of developments
UPDATE 23 April
David is arranging to meet the Bursar of Rye St Antony School to discuss this and other issues early next week
We have been informed that the developers have allocated an area for
disabled parking and can also confirm that they have cross hatched four
bays, allowing traffic to flow more freely around the car park.
We are waiting for an instruction to confirm that it is possible to remove a
section of the car park wall to allow access onto the footpath.
The disabled parking could then be relocated
over to that area so customers with walking difficulties will have a
shorter distance to walk to gain access to Headington.
Over the last couple of days council officers have indicated that the general
situation does seem to be improving. This seems to be confirmed by a
reduction in complaints. Officers will be visiting the site again next
week to check on the progress made, and update us on developments
After a considerable period of time, and a great deal of inconvenience to those who live alongside Boundary Brook, we have received this promising message from Thames Water:
In terms of progress, the whole house misconnection in New High Street
consisting of 13 separate misconnected appliances has now been dye tested
to confirm correct rectification to foul. More significantly, further
investigations have taken place at Manor Hospital and the flow monitoring
has confirmed that the surface water discharges from their storage tank do
correspond to the high flows experienced in the open culvert in Brookside.
However, whilst the connection of this tank to the surface water system is
in accordance with normal practice, our further investigative survey work
has lead us to believe that some of the flats behind the hospital are
misconnected into this tank rather than the foul sewer. A meeting with the
Hospital has taken place to explain our findings and appraise them of their
responsibilities for the private drainage on their site. As the flats
drain to the sites private sewer it is the Hospital’s responsibility to
ensure the appropriate Housing Association rectify the misconnections. This
is now being pursued by the Hospital who are thus far cooperating fully. I
would just add that whilst our investigations to date have found evidence
of domestic sewage misconnection from the flats, we have not found any
evidence of misconnection at the hospital itself .
We are delighted that the hospital is giving full co-operation in trying to ensure the housing association sorts out the problems in the flats. We shall keep you posted of further developments and continue to press hard for as speedy a resolution as possible