Felling licence consultation – 24 trees in Christ Church meadow

Oxford City Council is being consulted by the Forestry Commission on an application for a Felling Licence that has been made by Christ Church. The Forestry Commission deadline for comments is 1st September 2017.

The application is to fell 24 trees (mixed species; predominantly hornbeam, but also including ash, hawthorn and sycamore) and replant with 22 lime trees (Tillia x europea ‘Pallida’) at Rose Lane Walk, Christ Church Meadow.

In response to the Forestry Commission consultation, officers recommend under delegated powers

  • to raise no objection to the grant of a Felling Licence;
  • to ask the Forestry Commission to impose a condition on any Felling Licence requiring 22 heavy standard common lime trees to be planted before the end of the first planting season in the year that the trees are felled; and,
  •  to ask the Forestry Commission to impose a condition requiring tree felling not to take place during the ecologically sensitive time of the year between 1st April and 1st October unless there is a clear over-riding justification.

Full details can be viewed on the Council’s website

Although this application does not affect Headington Ward, we appreciate that many of our residents will want to know about this consultation.

Better broadband in Headington Ward

The County Council has sent us the following information.

Superfast broadband coverage in Headington

The majority of coverage in Headington has been delivered commercially with the Better Broadband programme having enabled superfast broadband already to most of the areas not covered commercially.

There is a small element of commercial coverage remaining for completion, specifically covering premises in OX3 9BQ, OX3 9DZ and OX3 9FR. There is also some additional work under the programme due for completion by the end of 2017. There are very few postcodes where there is no (or minimal) superfast coverage. Therefore, if there are premises not able to order superfast broadband, we would direct residents to our website and in particular, the final 4% page for further information on options available. The Better Broadband programme has also launched the co-funding scheme, which is detailed on the website.

Within a postcode, there are instances where some premises may not be able to order a superfast broadband product due to distance from a fibre enabled cabinet.

What if my property is still unable to get superfast broadband?

Further information is available on the Better Broadband website, specifically in the section titled Final 4%. In summary, the options are:

  • self-funding
  • co-funding (with help from OCC)
  • wireless broadband (subsidy vouchers available, subject to eligibility)
  • satellite broadband (subsidy vouchers available, subject to eligibility)
  • 3G/4G mobile broadband
 You can check whether or not your property has access to super fast broadband on the Better Broadband website

Adopt a piece of Oxford’s history!

Oxford residents are being invited to adopt a piece of Oxford’s history to help fund the £2.8m redevelopment of the Museum of Oxford.

People will be able to adopt 60 objects from the Museum of Oxford’s collection, ranging from a Saxon arrowhead to a Morris Minor badge.

Adopters will get an adoption certificate, a digital image of the object, their name in the museum’s online gallery and an invite to the new museum’s opening in 2020.

You can adopt an object for yourself or as a gift, with adoptions starting at £25.

Objects available for adoption included:

  • A bone ice skate from the Saxon period
  • Lewis Carroll’spocket watch
  • A pavement made of animal knuckle bones
  • A 400-year-old tennis ball
  • Rainsley model of a St Giles attraction

All money raised through the adopt an object scheme will go towards the development of the Museum of Oxford. If all 60 objects are adopted, it will raise £5,000.

Oxfordshire County Council’s Museum Service, which owns many of the objects, has kindly allowed them to be adopted.

The £2.8m project to transform the Museum of Oxford, called Oxford’s Hidden Histories, will tell the story of Oxford, its people and its communities. It has been dubbed the “people’s museum”.

The City Council hopes to raise £1.6m through a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and has set aside a further £315,000 for the project. It is hoped that the remaining funds will be raised through private donations.

The development trust, which will raise funds for the project, has been granted charity status by the Charities Commission. This allows the project to receive gift aid, and to apply to more trusts and foundations for funds.

The hope is to start building work in 2018 and open the new Museum of Oxford in 2020.

To find out more about the Museum of Oxford redevelopment project – please visit www.oxfordhiddenhistories.org

Click here for the link to the objects up for adoption

Disruption in London over the weekend of 29 and 30 July

This weekend, Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 July, there will be significant impact to travel as a result of the weekend of Prudential RideLondon cycling events. Certain roads and river crossings in east, central and southwest London and Surrey will be closed to traffic.
Roads

There will be extensive road closures on and around the routes; roads will be closed from early morning and will re-open when it is safe to do so. Pedestrian access to properties will not be affected. A number of bridges in London and Surrey will be closed at times over the weekend. Road users are advised to avoid areas near the event route wherever possible.
Public transport

Most of the network will be open with services running as normal, but please check before you travel as some essential upgrade works are taking place. While we will try to maintain a good service, many buses will be on diversion or will stop short of their destination, and some may be affected by traffic displaced by road closures.

For more information about the event please see https://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/about/faqs/  and the Transport for London website

 

 

Construction work for new Barton Park junction

Construction work began this week at the junction of Barton Village Road and Fettiplace Road to create a new access junction to Barton Park off Barton Village Road.

Barton Park is a new residential development to the north east of Oxford led by Barton Oxford LLP, a partnership between Oxford City Council and property company Grosvenor Britain & Ireland. The development will provide up to 885 new homes, 40 per cent of which will be “affordable” although the price for a three-bedroomed property has been given as £595,000.

Construction of the first 237 homes in Phase One of the development is already underway.

The project, which includes drainage, services and some landscape modifications, will take up to six weeks to complete. Local residents have been informed of the works and told to expect minor traffic restrictions during construction as well as the use of temporary three-way traffic signals. However, the disruption will be limited to Barton Village Road and Fettiplace Road.

CA Blackwell Contracts Ltd, who are responsible for delivering the infrastructure works for the Barton Park development, will notify residents of any temporary re-routing of traffic to accommodate the construction work.

Philip Koen, CA Blackwell Contracts Ltd’s Project Manager at Barton Park, said:

We’re advising motorists to use extra caution when driving through the area. Pedestrian access and public rights of way will be maintained during construction, and works are scheduled to take place between 7:30am and 6pm from Monday to Friday. However, some work may need to take place outside of these hours, but this work will be coordinated with Oxford City Council and notice will be provided to residents.

Local Plans – Cherwell District Council plans for Oxford’s unmet housing needs

The consultation period for the Partial Review of the Cherwell Local Plan (Oxford’s Unmet Housing Needs) will run from 17th July to 29th August, so runs concurrently with Oxford’s Local Plan Options Review consultation period.

The following public exhibitions will be held during the consultation period:

Wednesday 19 July 2017 – 4pm to 8pm

Shipton-on-Cherwell Village Hall, Shipton-on-Cherwell, Kidlington, OX5 1JP

Friday 21 July 2017 – 4pm to 8pm

Yarnton Village Hall, The Paddocks, Yarnton, Kidlington, OX5 1TE

Thursday 27 July 2017 – 4pm to 8pm

Woodstock Community Centre, 32 New Road, Woodstock, OX20 1PB

Tuesday 1 August 2017 – 3.30pm to 7.30pm

Cutteslowe Pavillion (next to the café), Cutteslowe Park, Oxford

Wednesday 2 August 2017 – 4pm to 8pm

Begbroke Village Hall, 3 Begbroke Lane, Begbroke, Kidlington OX5 1RN

Thursday 17 August 2017 – 4pm to 8pm

Exeter Hall, Oxford Road, Kidlington, OX5 1AB

 

Obstruction caused by deliveries to Tesco

Residents in Stephen Road have understandably complained that lines of sight to London Road are sometimes obstructed by lorries delivering to Tesco and that this is a safety hazard. Sometimes the lorries park on double yellow lines or cross-hatching.

Lorry delivering to Tesco

Tesco Customer Services have sent the following reply to councillors:

I have been chasing this up with the store and Muller. Shift leader (redacted) has been helping us with this. It was explained to the driver a lot of times not to park where he was parking, but with no avail. [The shift leader] (redacted) contacted Muller and everything was explained. The drivers manager is now being spoken to and this problem is being dealt with. You should see the difference in the parking. 

Please let us know if you see this happening again as we now have a contact at Tesco to get this resolved.

Access to Headington works

Following Ruth’s email sent to the new Cabinet Member for the Environment, things seem to be moving really quickly on the Access to Headington front.

We have received updates from the County Council which show an imminent closure of the junction between Headley Way and the lower section of Staunton Road/Jack Straws Lane while works are carried out in and around the JR roundabout.

Temporary Traffic Regulation Order – S14 Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984

Temporary Road Closure – at Headington, Staunton Road

In the interests of public safety it will be necessary for Oxfordshire County Council to close a section of Staunton Road (at its junction with B4495 Headley Way, whilst essential major road improvements works are carried out

A Temporary Traffic Regulation Order (TTRO) is being made to implement the temporary closure and will operate from 19 June 2017 till the anticipated completion date of 30 October 2017.

(The maximum duration of a TTRO on a road is 18 months, or until completion of the works, whichever is the earlier.)

Notice of intention to make the Order will be published in the local press.

Access will be maintained for emergency service vehicles and for those frontages within the closure area, subject to the progress of the works and liaison with the works supervisor.

A copy of the drawing showing the extent of the closure and the alternative routes for traffic is shown below.

 

Plan showing temp closure site

 

Latimer Grange bin collections

We’ve acted on complaints from residents that the waste collection was missed on Wednesday 17th May – the bins have now been emptied today.

It seems that the initial complaint by the estates officer on Mon 22nd was not logged and another resident complained on Wednesday. We asked the council to make an extra visit today before the weekend and this was done this morning.