Charity and volunteer awards

OCVA is co-ordinating the Oxfordshire Charity and Volunteer Awards and there will be an event on May 11th in the Town Hall, Oxford to present the awards. This is an annual event to celebrate the great work that charities, non-profit groups and volunteers do across Oxfordshire. The link to the website is http://ocva.org.uk/awards/

 

There are awards for charities/non-profit groups in the following categories:

  • Best new group (less than 2 years old)
  • Charity of the year
  • Lifetime achievement
  • Collaboration
  • Environmental
  • Management of Volunteers
  • Working together
  • Best promotional campaign
  • Best community action
  • Best team of volunteers

 

and also for volunteers:

  • Under 25’s
  • Length of volunteering service
  • Individual volunteer

 

You can use the online forms to nominate and the deadline for nominations is noon, 31st March 2016.

Latest planning decision

This one has been approved.

203 Headley Way

Demolition of existing front dormer window. Erection of front porch extension. Formation of gablette to side roofslope, 1 dormer window to front and 2 dormer windows to rear roofslope with insertion of 2 front rooflights and 1 rear rooflight in association with loft conversion.

15/03203/FUL PERMITTED

Revised Access to Headington plans

Latest plans affecting traffic and roads in Headington have been published by the County Council. You can find them by clicking here

The Access to Headington plans have changed since the first consultation in response to comments from residents and councillors.

A critical issue for us is the adequacy of provision of additional parking spaces in side roads off Windmill Road and Headley Way. These are listed on the above website link and will impact on parking by residents in side roads too. Baseline data used by the County Council to come up with these suggestions can be made available but not on the website

We shall be attending all exhibitions held in relation to Access to Headington to listen to residents’ views before submitting a formal response. We want to consider the scheme from all perspectives – pedestrians, bus users, cyclists and motorists.  Our early reactions are:

  • we are pleased that trees will be replaced with no nett loss
  • we are delighted to see plans for a new pedestrian crossing point across London Road bus gate at the junction with Osler Road, for which we have been campaigning for a long time
  • we are concerned that no improvements can be made to the central crossroads but understand that this was not technically possible
  • we are disappointed that there will not be an additional pedestrian crossing point in Windmill Road near Bateman Street
  • we are concerned that the removal of on street parking in Windmill Road and Headley Way may lead to more speeding
  • we believe that affected house owners may decide to take down walls and concrete over gardens to maintain parking close to home
  • we welcome the news that Osler Road changes have been dropped
  • we note the proposed relocation of one of the pedestrian crossings in Old Road and need to consult neighbours on parking access
  • changes for cyclists look promising but we need to study how this would work in practice

We don’t want to comment further till we have consulted with residents.

The County Council consultation ends on 23 March and you can fill in either an online form or send in comments separately to

Access to Headington Project,
Infrastructure Development
Oxfordshire County Council,
Speedwell House (3rd Floor),
Speedwell Street,
Oxford,
OX1 1NE.

The contact email address is Traffic.Consult@oxfordshire.gov.uk

You can see the plans and talk to County Council officers about them on the following dates and times.

Saturday 27 February, 10am – 4pm
St Anthony’s of Padua, 115 Headley Way, Oxford OX3 7SS

Wednesday 2 March, 2 – 8pm
Wood Farm School, Titup Hall Drive, Oxford OX3 8QQ

Thursday 3 March, 11am – 6pm
Old Road Campus Research Building, Oxford, OX3 7DQ

Saturday 5 March, 10am – 4pm
St. Andrew’s Primary School, London Road, Oxford OX3 9ED

 

 

 

 

Planning matters

The application for works at the Black Boy 15/03259/FUL has been withdrawn:

Change of use of first floor to provide 5 en-suite guest bedrooms and a studio flat. New external door to replace existing window and new external fire escape.

You can find the latest planning applications by clicking on the Planning apps tab at the top of our home page.

Altaf and I have initiated a call in for the two planning applications relating to Wingfield House at 2A Gathorne Road, these will be determined almost certainly by East Area Planning Committee

 

What next for the energy pipe?

The planning officer has now rendered the energy pipe application invalid.

Why is this?

It’s because the applicant hasn’t sent in enough information.

  • There still isn’t enough information in the Construction Traffic Management Plan
  • A few small changes will need to be made to the route following further investigations
  • There are questions about the ownership of the land – it may be that the County Council does not own all of the land in the affected roads

So what needs to be done?

The applicant needs to send in all the missing information and provide evidence that either the County Council owns all the land or that it has served notice on all owners of the land.(this might be done by publishing a notice in the local press, for example).

Where do we go from here?

We recognise that everyone is getting frustrated with the current situation, and the sooner it is resolved, the better.

Once the above information has been submitted and accepted, the eight week determination period will start again. Fresh notices will be put up, and a full three week consultation period will start.

The planning officer will take into account all comments submitted to date. However if you have already submitted comments, and want to make further comments after you have seen the fresh information, you may do so, and those comments will be taken into consideration too.

Once the neighbourhood consultation date has closed, the officer will compile his report ready to go to the next meeting of the planning committee.

Given that essential information has not yet been submitted, it is looking more likely that the application may miss the April meeting, but it’s difficult to say for sure until the rest of the information comes in from the applicant.

If you have any more questions on process please contact Ruth or Altaf.

Ruth and Roz are planning to speak at tomorrow’s County Performance Scrutiny Committee meeting at County Hall, and we shall attend the Trust’s stakeholder liaison committee meeting tomorrow evening.

Planning enforcement – how the process works

An enforcement notice has been issued and served on the owner of 14 Sandfield Road following refusal of their retrospective planning application. They have until 12/6/16 to lower the fence/gates to no more than 1.00m in height and until 12/7/16 to remove all excess materials from the site, although there is right of appeal.

There is an 8 week period in which appeals can be made against planning refusals. Officers will seek the immediate removal of 3 signs on hoardings at 42 London Road (corner plot next door to Dorset House) following the refusal of a retrospective planning application, but an appeal can still be submitted.  If the posters are not removed, the City Council may consider prosecution.

Comments on heat pipe must be in by Friday 12 February

Vital Energi’s retrospective planning application for the energy pipe has been registered by the Planning Authority and is available on Oxford City Council’s website. Its reference number is 16/00101/FUL and related documents will be uploaded during the course of the day.

Comments from residents about the application can be sent to the City’s Planning Dept up until Friday 12 February.

You can see the application here