Lights out in Headington!

Scottish and Southern Electric have confirmed that the recent spate of power blackouts in Osler Road/London Road, Headington have definitely been caused by a fault with an underground cable and have had nothing to do with the Christmas lights.

SSE explained further blackouts have occurred because a fuse has been blown associated with the load being too high; this is likely to have occurred due to a particular business tripping the power with a new piece of equipment. SSE Engineers are currently onsite trying to trace the exact source of the problem.

Should any of the businesses in Headington want to contact SSE directly, they need to ring 0800 072 7282 (emergency number if another power blackout occurs) or 01865 845 800 (for general information). The caller will need to give SSE their address details including postcode so they can track the job and provide the most up to date information

Stephen Road planning decision called in

Those who attended the planning meeting of the North East Area Committee last Thursday will remember that the planning application relating to 10/12 Stephen Road was discussed.  The decision of the area committee has now been called in by the Strategic Development Control Committee for further consideration.  There are two ways that decisions by area committees can be called in – either by the most senior officer in charge of planning at the Council (Michael Crofton-Briggs) or by four councillors.  This decision has been called in by the portfolio holder for planning, Cllr Colin Cook, and three other councillors. 

The membership of that committee is: Councillors Abbasi, Altaf Khan, Benjamin (Vice-Chair), Brundin, Christian (Chair), Cook, Goddard, Gotch, Khan, Keen, Timbs and Young. The Committee has a meeting scheduled for today but it is too late to include this item within the agenda.  The next date scheduled for the committee to meet is the 18 December and I have asked one of the officers to double check that date for us as it’s so near Christmas. A number of meeting dates have been changed at short notice recently so I will post this up when it has been confirmed.

Applications for small grants

This is a reminder to anyone involved in voluntary and community groups that there is still time to bid for grants of up to and including £15,000 from Oxford City Council. The closing date for grant applications is 21 November

There is a lengthy form to fill in if your group wishes to apply for a grant. Please contact Oxfordshire Community Voluntary Action (OCVA) for details on 01865 251946 or email info@ocva.org

Bidding is open for the following projects so long as they are not the primary responsibility of another statutory agency, not provided by another agency, and not funded significantly by another agency:

  • local cultural, recreational and sporting projects, particularly for disadvantaged groups
  • projects which protect and enhance Oxford’s built and natural environment
  • training and skills projects aimed at areas of deprivation
  • projects supporting people living on low incomes

The criteria under which you can apply for grants are really tightly set. I’ve been to a training workshop on how these grants are allocated and have used the criteria to assess an application. If you want advice or guidance on filling in the form, please don’t hesitate to contact me! (click on contact us in the left hand menu bar for my contact details)

Design of bus shelters

We have had some enquiries about the new bus shelters. These are normally a standard size.
The new bus shelters in London Road in the area around Latimer Road are both
“Mark 1” shelters, which makes them more solid than many other shelters
across the city (i.e. offering more protection than more basic shelters
which are open on 3 sides).

Officers advise us that rain generally comes from a south-west direction. So if a shelter faces south west, it is possible that when it rains, people will get wet even if they’re standing in a shelter. If you think any of the new shelters are letting in the rain, rather than offering protection against the elements, please let us know!

Oxford City Centre plans

We know there is a lot of interest and speculation about the County Council’s ideas to pedestrianise the centre of Oxford, and there have been a lot of hits on our previous post which summarises a briefing given to City Councillors by the County Leader and his Cabinet member for Transport

There’s been nothing tangible to report on this since then, but there is a lot of political to-ing and fro-ing behind the scenes. The chief concerns reported to us from our residents are that the east of the City would effectively be cut off from the rest under the Tory plans, and people who live in Headington and commute regularly to London are extremely concerned about the implications of the scheme for the Oxford-London bus route. David and I are speaking to the top people at both major bus companies and to bus users but cannot report back at present until more details are known.

There are also big concerns about the lack of identified cycle routes in the new scheme, but it would be fair to say that most people would ideally like to see the middle of Oxford pedestrianised, and this is something that Lib Dems would be keen to look at (and have done so many times over recent years).

Like most new ideas, some of what is suggested is worth consideration, and other parts of it appear to be unworkable. Please do contact David and me with your views; we would be interested in any alternative suggestions residents may have for maintaining the current quality of bus services between London, Headington and Oxford whilst reducing the number of buses passing through the City Centre itself.

Please press the comment button above to record your views, or by all means email David or me at:

david.rundle@oxfordlibdems.org.uk

ruth.wilkinson@oxfordlibdems.org.uk

FAQ: do builders need RPZ permits?

We have been asked several times about whether or not builders are allowed to park their vans in areas controlled by Residents’ Parking Zones without permits.  I had always assumed that everyone needed a permit but this is not so – here’s a response I’ve just received from the County Highways Dept.

There is a possibility for construction firms to be able to park against the regulations in some areas and for certain reasons. They must show a need for their vehicle to be parked there and not just used for bringing tools and equipment to the site, working and then loading the tools and equipment and going home. If a vehicle is not seen to be required apart from travel to and from, the permission would be revoked. We have to consider the area and the residents. Eventually there will be a Traders Permit that will come into place which will be chargeable and can be used for such instances as above.

So now we know!

Consultation meeting on Windmill House

There will be a Consultation Event on the re-development of Windmill House, 157a Windmill Road, Oxford at 6.30 pm on Tuesday 28th October at the Seminar Room, Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital, Windmill Road

Stonham is Home Group’s care and support business which operates the support service at the above property. Jointly, they are working with Oxford City Council to re-develop the above site. The proposal is to demolish the existing building and construct a new one to provide supported accommodation for young people and supported living units for individuals with learning difficulties.

Representatives from Home Group Development Team, Stonham and Oxford City Council will be in attendance to answer questions and listen to the views of invited local residents to ensure the development has minimal impact on the area. David and I will be there too.

 


Parcel delivery and collection

Residents have asked David and me to pursue some issues about the collection and delivery of parcels and about the service provision at Ledgers’ Close in Littlemore.  I met two Royal Mail managers this morning and this I what I learned.

The delivery centre in Ledgers’ Close deals with parcels/packets with OX3 and OX4 postcodes. Anything for East Oxford without a postcode will go by default to the delivery centre for OX1 and OX2 in the City Centre. 

Royal Mail agree that there have been resourcing issues and there are still 13 vacancies.

Processing the packets/parcels for delivery takes staff up until 09.30 each morning, so deliveries take place from 09.45-14.00. This of course means that those in full-time employment are unlikely to be in to accept deliveries.

Requests for re-instatement of undelivered parcel collection point in Headington

There are no plans to do this at present.  There are however a range of options open to people who aren’t in when the postal worker calls, these include:

  • request an alternative delivery day (but this will again be from 09.45-14.00)
  • request redelivery c/o a neighbour
  • request redelivery at a safe place (e.g. shed, garage)
  • request redelivery to your place of work
  • ask to collect it from Headington PO for 50p

The 50p is to cover the cost of re-routing the parcel from Royal Mail to Post Office Counters Ltd or their franchisee. Delivery cannot be made to local newsagents as Royal Mail has to discharge its responsibility for the safety of parcels.

Regarding the dificulty in parking in Ledgers’ Close, I am assured that Royal Mail employees are required to park their cars elsewhere (at the bowling club round the corner).  They cannot see an easy way to resolve the parking issues nearby

Inefficiency of online redelivery service

Emails are now cleared throughout the morning.  If an email is received in the afternoon, it will be processed next morning.  So if you email on Monday, the earliest you can be sure of getting the parcel redelivered will be Wednesday

Delay in answering the phones at the Delivery Centre

There are 4 people working in the Callers’ Office in the mornings and 2 in the afternoons. If staffing levels are down, they call people in to cover.  There is no “The phone must be answered inside three rings” type procedure.  They are installing an answerphone so that callers won’t have to hang on the line, this will happen very soon

Under-resourcing of the Delivery Centre

They have 13 vacancies currently.  They are filling in with staff opting to do voluntary overtime, and with agency temps on a casual contract.  They are desperate to recruit and are keen for parents of school age children to consider applying for delivery jobs, they offer 09.00-15.00 contracts but would welcome offers of working from 09.30-14.30 if more appropriate

Suggestions to take forward

They welcomed the suggestions made by Headington residents to improve services.  They will investigate:

  1. Improvements to missed Saturday delivery service: at present items undelivered on Saturdays are stored at Headington PO over the weekend and transferred to the Delivery Centre on Mondays for re-processing
  2. Direction to postal staff that initials as well as surnames should be put on undelivered cards so that family members know who the parcel is for!

David and I are contacting the Area Manager for Post Office Counters Ltd to explore other issues and are continuing this liaison work with Royal Mail

Taking up complaints with Thames Water

Thanks to everyone who attended the area committee meeting tonight, it was good to see so many residents willing to ask questions of the representatives from Thames Water, and I am really pleased we were able to discuss our issues with them.

I mentioned the complaints procedure to follow if you feel that an issue you have reported has not been dealt with appropriately or there has been a service failure. The first thing to do is to use Thames Water’s own formal complaints procedure – click here for details

If you are unable to resolve it, you can contact the Consumer Council for Water Thames – for consumers of Thames Water, Three Valleys Water, Sutton and East Surrey. Their address is

Fourth Floor (South), High Holborn House, 52/54 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6RL

Click here for details – their services are free