What happens at Ward Focus Meetings?

Over 40 residents attended our monthly meeting on Tuesday. Here are some notes to give a flavour.

​Anna Clews came to talk to us about the Albany care home and said she was hoping to organise some community events which will include:

  • A champagne reception on National Care Homes open day on Sat 19 June
  • ​​Teapot Tuesdays from ​2-4 pm from 7 July

She also hopes to transport some of the Albany’s residents to future Ward Focus meetings. The Albany Care Home is located behind London Court at 7 London Road.

County Cllr Roz Smith reminded us about National Carers’ Week from 8-14 June and gave us web links to various websites relating to carers:

Care Matters Summer 2015

Partner Organisation Directory 2015

Further information for carers and updates on Carers Week can be found on the County website or on Face Book or by telephoning 0845 050 7666.

Anthony​ Frankland gave us a presentation on the work of the County Council’s Learning Disabilities Daytime Support Service. This includes helping people into education and employment and equipping them with social and everyday living skills. Ruskin College and the Co-op help with this too.
If you want to know more about the services provided in Headington, please check out their website

We reported back on the actions we had taken following last month’s meeting. And here are some further issues that residents raised with us:

  • Granite fletts in North Place need pointing as cycle wheels get stuck in them 
  • ​The Plain ‘improvements’ – more use to pedestrians than cyclists? Is it a waste of money? We discussed the County Council’s proposed measures of success
  • Problem with taxi parking on the corner of Latimer Road
  • ​Headington Car Park – dangerous driving and a need for a half hour tariff?
  • Ingle Close open space – can this be used for allotments?
  • Road sweeping needed in 6 roads in Highfield and New Headington
  • Pavement cycling by Cheney School pupils at the  London Rd bus stop
  • Osler Rd parking outside the designated areas
  • ​Trimming of trees outside the NOC
  • Digital citizenship survey – is too much council money being spent on digital delivery of services?
  • ​Bus stops and through routes
  • Parking in St Andrew’s Road – it’s going to be surfaced on 24th June

Last but not least – we all plan to go along to the Headington Festival this coming weekend 30/31 May, and invite you to check out the Neighbourhood Forum stall in the Park on Sunday where copies of the character assessments of different parts of the area will be available for you to see, as well as draft policies for comment into the Headington Neighbourhood Plan.

Headington is the only City ward where councillors hold open monthly public meetings and invite residents to raise issues of local concern.

Headington Lake update

There has been concerted action to address the Headington Lake problem within the last 48 hours.

Thames Water drawings show that there is only one surface water sewer on the other side of London Road outside Greggs, and this is being re-checked.

Oxford City Council’s jetting crew attended yesterday. They emptied the gullies and jetted the connections. There was a blockage between the lowest gulley and the main which runs up the centre of London Road. Following the jetting, they flooded the area and it all drained quite rapidly. They went back and checked at around noon yesterday while it was raining. The lake did not reappear so they are hopeful that the issue is now resolved.

If the gulley connection blocks again, County Drainage will have to consider replacing the gully connection across the road, which would mean closing London Road  in sections to carry out the works. This would be done as a last resort, but in the meantime the situation is being monitored by Highways.

Please let us know straightaway if the Lake reappears.

Headington Lake

There were repeated calls for action to tackle the Headington Lake at yesterday’s Ward Focus Meeting. The puddle outside Barclays Bank at the weekend was deeper and wider than ever.

Councillors have sent in a whole catalogue of complaints about this for a long period of time. We discussed it at length with the team leader of the County’s Drainage team today to try and agree a course of action.

There is an underlying problem to which officers refer as “deformation of the carriageway”. That would require significant expenditure on the road surface to resolve.

But the second problem centres on the gulleys and the sewer beneath, responsibility for which is shared by the Council and Thames Water.  Questions that need answering are:

 “Are the gulleys in good working order?”

“Are there sufficient gulleys?”

The City’s Highways Dept has checked out the gulley situation for the County Council, and have confirmed that the gulleys have been jetted out twice and are in good working order. There are sufficient gulleys there for surface water to run off.

So this now brings us to another question.

“If the gulleys are working fine, is there some sort of fracture in the pipe between the gulleys and the sewer?”

The City is currently investigating this for the County Council but it doesn’t look as though this is the case.

So now to the final question:

“Is the underground system so overloaded that surface water floods from the sewer back into the road?”

If that is found to be the case, then Thames Water must be brought in to make an assessment and come up with a plan to increase the capacity.

We are on the case and are ensuring that all parties are communicating effectively with each other. Meanwhile, if YOU have any photos of the Headington Lake, please send them through to us as these will give more clues as to whether the system, rather than the gulleys, is overloaded.

 

Join us in the Headington Public Walk of Protest

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What’s happened?

 The surface of the London Road has been allowed to deteriorate by Oxfordshire County Council over a number of years. Since the protest was called, the County Council has suddenly promised to resurface the road in September but it’s now become so bad that a resurface will not be enough – it needs a full re-build and residents think it’s dangerous NOW.
Who is organising the Walk of Protest?
City Cllr Ruth Wilkinson, Headington Ward
County Cllr Roz Smith, Headington and Quarry Division
City Cllr Altaf-Khan, Headington Hill and Northway Ward
City Cllr David Rundle, Headington Ward
 
Where will the walk take place?
Meeting point is Green Road Roundabout on the pavement of the London Road (South side). Pedestrians with banners and placards will walk down London Road south side to Bury Knowle Park
When will this happen?
Date: Sat 1 March
Time: 11.00-12.00
Why is this happening?
Buses are swerving out of bus lanes into vehicle lanes to avoid ruts, and tourists and commuters from London are shocked at their ‘third world’ introduction to what is meant to be a world class city. Drivers are sending in complaints about damage to their vehicles. The shocking condition of London Road is the single biggest concern expressed by residents across our wards.
What can the Walk of Protest achieve?
  • The County Council says it has been putting off resurfacing the road till other projects are in place, but residents say it’s unsafe NOW
  • Residents want a re-build: they fear a quick-fix resurface will not last
  • We need to heighten awareness of county councillors about the importance of London Road to the economic well-being of the City
  • A re-build now would be value for money – the County Council will save money by not shelling out to residents for damage done to cars by the poor road surface, and won’t have to pay out again in the medium-term to repair the new surface  (look at past history)

Click Walk of protest flier for more details

Stansfeld – let’s save it!

Stansfeld Outdoor Education Centre on Quarry Road is owned by Birmingham City Council which is looking to make savings on the running costs of its outdoor centres.  But the facility is used by many pupils from Oxfordshire including Quarry Nursery and Windmill Schools.

They enjoy learning about nature and the environment in the 17 acres of private grounds by the Shotover Country Park, situated on the outskirts of Oxford.
As well as providing desperately needed access to a unique learning opportunity the centre also offers  residential courses to all schools  and groups for up to 64 children.

The landscape at the site results from the quarrying of limestone used to build many of Oxford’s colleges, churches and civic buildings.  It now houses a variety of habitats including limestone grassland, ash and hazel woodland, dense hawthorn scrub, ponds and wetland.

Headington County Councillor Roz Smith says:

If you would like to help support my campaign to save the centre please sign my petition and it will help bolster my argument when I go and address Birmingham City Council about the proposals.

 

Red phone box saved!

Thanks to your tremendous support, the future of the red telephone box outside Headington Baptist Church is secure!
The spirited way in which Headington folk defended the kiosk featured in the Conservation Area Appraisal was tremendous, and helped us hugely in our negotiations with BT. Especial thanks go to Mark, Stella, Stephanie, Sr Marie Ann, Kathleen, Peter, Adrian and others for their sterling support.
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Despite an initially unfavourable response from the front line BT staff, the Payphones Manager was enthusiastic that the kiosk should be adopted by local residents: he was prepared to go ahead with this on payment of a nominal sum (£1.00) by the local authority, and for the box to be cared for and used in any way the residents wished by a local charity registered with the Charities Commission.
David and Ruth will pay the nominal sum from the Councillors’ Headington Ward Budget. The registered charity which will look after it and maintain it will be Headington Action (HCDA). For your information, the Friends of Old Headington group is not (yet) a registered charity so was ineligible on this occasion.
We have received a contract from BT and the box’s removal has been cancelled. BT will continue powering the light in the box but have specified that no other electrical equipment can be connected to their power supply, nor can any comms equipment from BT’s competitors be installed in the kiosk.
We shall need to check the small print in the next few days, and an application for the £1.00 ward spend will need to go through a call-in process before it can be authorised.
The Payphones Manager at BT mentioned that these boxes have been used in a number of ways by communities, including: nativity boxes at Christmas, book return and exchange boxes for rural libraries, story boxes, local history boxes, and defibrillator boxes. BT has teamed up with the Community Heartbeat Trust and will install a secure defibrillator in a kiosk if the community raises £2,000.
See here for an example
This is a remarkable victory won with very short deadlines and a great deal of work. At one stage we thought it would all hinge on whether the distance of the kiosk from the nearest payphone outside Barclays Bank was greater or less than 400 metres – we can now reveal that the City Council officer’s considered view was that:
Measuring as walking along the footway and cutting the corner at Barclays Bank the distance comes to 406 metres.  Even crossing the road twice is 403 metres.  Only as the crow flies does it come down to 392 metres.
What a privilege it was to be part of a magnificent team effort! Thanks everyone for your help.
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Outdoor Education Centre faces closure

Stansfeld Outdoor Education Centre on Quarry Road is an outstanding resource right on our doorstep.  Cllr Roz Smith believes we should do everything we can to preserve it so that our local children can learn about the environment.
Earlier this year Roz became aware that Birmingham City Council was considering making savings by closing their outdoor education centres.  As soon as the consultation opened Roz alerted local residents and started a petition to save the centre; if you would like to help support her campaign please contact Roz or fill in the petition on the latest Focus leaflet that is being distributed in Quarry now.
Roz says,
I am concerned that Birmingham council has opened their consultation just as the Christmas celebration are starting and many people are concentrating on families and friends and many will be away on holiday.  I will be taking a petition to Birmingham City Council and the more local support we can demonstrate the better.
If you would like to sign the petition to save Stansfeld, please contact:
County Cllr Roz Smith

Liberal Democrat Councillor for the new Headington & Quarry County Division
& a Parish Cllr for Risinghurst & Sandhills
m. 07584 257 156
home tel. 01865 750 731
12 Weyland Road, Headington Quarry, Oxford

Another loss to Headington’s heritage – the Old High Street telephone box

old_high_street_telephone_box

 

 

We were alerted today that BT is removing the lovely old red telephone box from Old High Street. Residents contacted us to ask if we could try a last ditch attempt to save it.

We have contacted BT. They say that a notice was put up inside the phone box facing out on 28/10/12 saying it hadn’t taken any money, it wasn’t being used, and it would be taken out unless someone sent in an objection.

There are apparently several ways to ‘save’ a phone box:
  • objections can be sent in by local residents and the decision can be appealed
  • if it’s the only phone box within 400m, it can be adopted for £1 by the community
  • residents can ask the City Council to recommend that it’s listed
Sadly, the deadline for this has now expired, no objections were sent in by anyone, and the electricity has now been cut off.  The box is set to be be removed in the next week or so.
There is no appeals process at this late stage and BT have followed  the correct procedures.  Thank you to Stephanie Jenkins for taking this last photo.
UPDATE
The planning laws relating to Conservation Area Consent  changed recently so it is just possible that the planned removal of the phone box may have required consent – we have asked the officers to check.

Ruth has been out and put up a notice on the kiosk requesting BT engineers not to remove the phone box till further notice