Old High Street car park latest

David and I are being updated several times a day on the situation with regard to the Old High Street (Waitrose) car park.

Signage is going up over the weekend which will help a great deal as motorists get to grips with the temporary relocation of disabled parking spaces and the recycling bins are moved to a temporary location. Officers have requested that Waitrose creates disabled access at the entrance to the car park, albeit temporarily until the usual disabled car park spaces are back in operation after the refit.

Many of the bulkiest delivery vehicles have now departed, the heaviest of these were delivering materials to construct and fill the compound near the store

A complaint was made by a resident that some of the contractors were parking in the car park spaces but were not displaying permits.  This was investigated and it was established that the builders doing this had paid by the Ring Go system, so payment for parking had indeed been made although a paper ticket was not displayed. We have requested that the number of car park spaces is monitored closely over the period of the refit; we are aware that three cars were queuing for places on Friday lunchtime at a busy period when some extra car park spaces were coned off temporarily to allow turning space for the larger lorries.

The City Officer responsible for liaising with Waitrose over the development is Andrew Bradfield-Barnes: he is away for a week’s holiday after Easter but if you have any concerns, please contact either David or myself, or Andrew’s deputy Jason Munro who is working on the Easter bank holiday weekend and all of next week. His office number is 01865 252489 and his email is jmunro@oxford.gov.uk.

Please copy David and myself into any emails you send Jason as we want to ensure that all complaints and concerns are receiving prompt attention, our email addresses are:

david.rundle@oxfordlibdems.org.uk

ruth.wilkinson@oxfordlibdems.org.uk

Speed restriction on the way

Please see information attached that relates to a Temporary Speed Restriction for the London Road, Headington, commencing 20 April 2009 and lasting for 5 weeks.  This will be introduced while carriageway resurfacing works take place.

Leon Jolly from Enterprise Mouchel confirmed the following locations and estimated timeframes for delivery.

Phase 1: 19 Apr – 30 April, Headington Campus to Gipsy Lane
Phase 2: 1 May – 12 May, Gipsy Lane to Headley Way
Phase 3: 13 May – 22 May, Headley Way – Osler Road

It’s not clear from the information that we have received what this temporary speed restriction will be in terms of miles per hour, but it’s pretty unlikely that it will be breached given our experiences of the last few weeks

Lib Dems set out position on Oxford buses

Red Bus (photography: John Vincent)

Oxford’s bus companies want to work together to eliminate the need for buses in Oxford’s Queen Street

Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council Lib Dems want plans to remove bus stops from Queen Street in central Oxford later in 2009, to be delayed, and bus company proposals to reduce the total number of buses in the centre of the city, to be brought in first.

Cllr Roz Smith, Shadow Cabinet member for Transport, said: “The Liberal Democrats have long been calling for improvements in Oxford city centre to help both pedestrians and bus users. But the Conservatives’ half-way house for Queen Street is just not the way to do it. The idea that the bus stops can be removed but not the buses doesn’t make sense. People will have all the disadvantages – and potential dangers – of having buses mingling with pedestrians, but none of the advantages of being able to actually get on a bus.

“Instead we will just get more congestion and air pollution in St Aldates immediately, and we know that the bus stops removed from Queen Street will eventually be moved again in later phases of the Transform Oxford scheme. In addition, re-surfacing Queen Street now, only to resurface it again in a year or two when the buses are finally relocated fully, is an outrageous waste of taxpayers’ money.”

Cllr Zoé Patrick, Leader of the county council Liberal Democrats added, “‘The Conservatives say they want to work with the bus companies but show little sign of rolling up their sleeves and getting on with it. Instead of complaining about the bus companies, they should be sitting down with them to create a proper partnership. This will enable joint timetabling and joint ticketing, and hopefully then reduce the number of half-empty buses coming into the centre. And this will then make room on the other roads to remove buses completely from Queen Street and allow it to be properly pedestrianised.

“This Partnership needs to be set up urgently now. The aims of ‘Transform Oxford’ cannot be delivered until the bus companies can work together. I am surprised at the slowness of the County Council in doing this.”

Note:

The 2008 Local Transport Act allows bus companies to discuss routes and introduce joint ticketing, without being accused of running a cartel, but only if the Transport Authority – in this case the County Council – is involved in the process, acting as “honest broker”, in what is called a Bus Quality Partnership.

What do you think of the London Rd plans?

It was good to see so many people at the exhibition on Saturday morning! If you haven’t yet seen the County Council’s plans for upgrading the London Road, please click on this link

If you haven’t yet submitted comments/feedback on the new scheme, please do so online here

Please note: you will need to click on Next to complete the feedback form.  David and I are very keen that everyone fills this in.  Among the concerns that were brought to my attention on Saturday were the lack of attention given to cyclists, the narrowing of Old High Street at its junction with London Road in respect of the advent of Waitrose, safety concerns about the London Road/Windmill Road junction, and the removal of the subway at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds.  People were also concerned about the lack of planting in London Road

Result! Headington Hill and Northway by-election

 Here is the full result for Thursday’s Headington Hill and Northway by-election,
with percentage vote shares and change in shares since last May:

Roy A. Darke (The Labour Party Candidate)               548  38.3%  +2.0
Marc Anthony Borja (The Conservative Party Candidate)   443  31.0%  -2.6
Ruth Margaret Beer (Liberal Democrat)                   378  26.4%  +2.4
Katherine May Wedell (Green Party)                      62   4.3%  -1.8

 thumbs-up.jpg

This is a good result for the Lib Dems, as we increased our percentage vote share by more than the other parties.  It is interesting to note that the total votes cast increased, yet the total number of Conservative Party votes went down from last year’s total.

London Road improvements – Headington Centre

  The county council is planning to make improvements to London Road through the centre of Headington during 2010.  The scheme will include enhancements to the shopping area.

You are warmly invited to a public exhibition in Headington, where you will be able to view the plans, talk to planners and designers, and tell us your views

 

Headington Baptist Church, Old High Street, Headington

Friday 27 March, 12 noon until 8 pm

Saturday 28 March, 10 am until 3 pm

Licensing applications in Headington

There are two licensing applications in process as follows, select licensing applications on the central orange toolbar for the website link

09/00227/PREM

Waitrose

9 – 11 Old High Street

Premises Licence for Waitrose supermarket, 9- 11 Old High Street, Headington. Licensable activities are recorded music and sale of alcohol.

Deadline for representations: 3/4/09

09/00223/PREM

Oxford Brookes University

Helena Kennedy Centre, Headington Hill, Oxford  OX3 0BT 

TIME LIMITED Premises Licence application for Oxford Brookes Student Union, Helena Kennedy Student Centre, Headington Hill Campus and Grounds, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0BT. Licence is for Student Union Ball on 23/05/09 19.00 hrs until 03.00 hrs on 24/05/09. Application contains the following activities: Films, live music

Deadline for representations: 31/3/09