A new chart has been published comparing data on population, economic, housing and quality of life in Oxford with that in the rest of the country. It makes interesting reading! Click Nov2011-1 to view it. GCSE attainment is still a huge concern.
Roadshow for Council Tenants and Leaseholders
Oxford City Council is holding roadshows across the City for tenants and leaseholders. Come along and meet the teams that provide services to you, your home and your community. Share your ideas on how services can work even better and enjoy some family-friendly fun.
• Wood Farm Children’s Centre,
Thursday 17th November, 2–6pm
Titup Hall Drive, Wood Farm,
Oxford, OX3 8QQ
• Oxford Town Hall,
Tuesday 22th November, 5–8pm
St Aldate’s, Oxford, OX1 1DS
• Barton Neighbourhood Centre,
Thursday 24th November, 2–6pm
Underhill Circus, Oxford, OX3 9LS
Building to start in the New Year on the Manor Ground site
You will recall that the planning application by Green Square for the erection of two three storey buildings to provide 27 flats (12×1 and 15×2), and provision of 20 car parking spaces and bin/ cycle storage on part of the old Manor Ground was permitted earlier this year
The site was acquired on 19 October 2011 and that date was entered into the building contract between OCHA and Feltham Construction. The date in the building contract is to give Feltham Construction immediate possession/ responsibility for the site.
OCHA/Green Square confirms that
There is a 7 week lead-in which takes us to 7 December. Subject to agreement Feltham have suggested that it is more realistic that work on site will commence in January 2012 to minimise disruption to the community prior to the traditional 2 week Christmas/New Year shut-down.
OCHA and Feltham are keen to arrange a meeting as soon as possible with ward councillors and residents to discuss construction access, times of working etc. once details are finalised with the County Council. As soon as a date can be fixed, we will let local residents know
Home loans from the Council
Oxford City Council has the facility to offer home loans to owners out of a funding pot shared by 13 other authorities. To date they have provided 2 loans.If you would like more details please contact David or Ruth
Barton Area Action Plan
Officers have sent us an update on the Barton Area Action Plan.
The key thing to note is that the next stage of public consultation (on the AAP Proposed Submission – the document that sets out the Council’s draft planning policies) will take place early in 2012, rather than between early November and mid-December 2011. The reason for this is that there is still some important technical work on transport and drainage to complete.
A meeting of the Barton and Northway Working Group will be arranged soon when council officers can feed back the results from the latest public consultation.
Manor Ground development has the all clear!
Planning permission for the 27 affordable housing units at the Manor Ground has now finally been issued today. This means that all necessary paperwork has been completed, and construction can now go ahead
Construction traffic will enter the site from London Road and exit the site via Osler Road, As soon as we have the start date confirmed by Green Square, we’ll let you know
Outcome of hearing on 29 Old High Street
The appeal hearing requested by the owner of property at 29 Old High Street took place last Friday. An earlier ruling by the Magistrates Court upheld the Council’s decision to serve a section 215 notice on the owner to ‘tidy up’ the property.
The owner appealed against the decision of the Magistrates Court but the Judge upheld the ruling that the notice should be served. She also ordered the owner to pay £2,000 costs in addition to the £1,600 awarded to the Council in the earlier case. The owner now has 6 months to tidy up the property in the way the Notice sets out.
This comes as a great relief to those living in the neighbourhood of what must have been at one time a most attractive house in the Old Headington conservation area. We hope that the necessary repairs will be effected as soon as possible now that the court case has been resolved.
Council website changes
There are now two separate web addresses for Building Control and Licensing (including Houses in Multiple Occupation) find below the relevant urls directly into Public Access.
There is another for Planning, but we have tested this and don’t think it’s working properly yet, we will let you have details shortly – it is envisaged that PlanningFinder will link to the new planning website week beginning 5/9/11
Click on the relevant topic to initiate your search
Do let us have feedback on whether you think this is an improvement!
Oxford’s population to rise
We know that Oxford’s population has grown over the last decade and will continue to grow into the future. Based on current trends in births, deaths and migration, the Office for National Statistics projects that Oxford’s population will reach 165,000 over the next 20 years – an increase of around 15,000 on today’s population.
Leaving the communal establishment population to one side as those figures are not yet known, it is forecast that the number of households in Oxford will rise from 54,000 in 2008 to 61,000 in 2033. The increases will not be in all households types. The projection suggests that growth will occur by way of 7,000 additional one person households and 3,000 additional lone parent households. This clearly has implications for housing development in the city.
Please contact us if you would like a copy of the relevant chart from the City Council’s Social Research Officer
Manor Ground – breaking news
Feltham Construction has announced the following on its website:
New Project Awarded: 27 Flats, Old Manor Ground, Headington. Works due to commence end of September 2011
Thanks @TonyOX3 for this information