More on the Headington Plan

HNF 130521

A meeting was held yesterday evening by the Headington Neighbourhood Forum to hear an update on the work the Interim Steering Group has been doing:

  • Held 3 meetings
  • Set up working groups on constitution, maps, website/social media  and on a public consultation exercise at the Headington Festival 2/6/13
  • Held meetings with City officers, and established links with Rachel Williams (Headington’s Planning Policy link officer), and Luke Nipen who will set up and monitor the City’s contract with  OCVA and ORCC for advice and guidance on public consultation and funding sources
  • Compiled a database of people who attended the first public meeting, wrote to the Neighbourhood Forum and expressed interest, and those who came to the last Forum meeting

A lively debate focused on a draft constitution, the proposed map and boundaries, and the relationship between the major institutions, employers, students, employees and residents on the proposed Neighbourhood Forum and Steering Committee. For progress with the Headington Plan, click here (links to the Headington Neighbourhood Plan website)

 

At last! Franklin Rd gets resurfaced!

The work to be done  is to plane off the remains of the old macadam overlay on the concrete section of road from Headley way to the school entrance and down towards Woodlands Road and to lay a new overlay.  This overlay will extend slightly beyond the ends of the concrete road.

Work will commence on Tuesday 28th May 2013 and most of the work will be completed by the end of the week.

The extent of the work will largely be to resurface the areas of concrete carriageway. This is between Headley Way and the school entrance, and along towards Woodlands Road.

In order to facilitate the works and to ensure the safety of workers and members of the public, a Road Closure order has been provided which prohibits use of the road except by residents and frontagers gaining access to premises within the closure area and for emergency services. This is all subject to the progress of the works.

Most of the road will be available for access out of working hours; parking will necessarily be displaced as the area of work passes along the street.

No other work is intended to be carried out as part of this surfacing contract but the existing parking restrictions will be resinstated at the conclusion of the work.

As part of City Works’ Quality Programme a questionaire will be sent after the work is completed to residents and occupiers immediately affected by the repairs.

If you have any comments on the proposals or require further information please contact the City Council on  (01865)249811

 

Tories Lose Overall Control in Oxfordshire

Tories have lost overall control of Oxfordshire County Council after 8 years, at the elections held last Thursday 2nd May. Liberal Democrats have gained 1 seat overall taking the number of Lib Dems on the council from 10 up to 11. The County Council has reduced the number of seats from 74 to 63 after boundary changes, however, Liberal Democrats have held on to all of their Liberal Democrat councillors who were re-standing and gained 3 new ones.

All the County results can be found at this link 

Liberal Democrat Leader Zoé Patrick who retained her seat in the 2-member division of Grove and Wantage said:

We are delighted that we have fought a hard campaign which has resulted in more Liberal Democrats at County Hall. We have shown that hard-working councillors with a long track record have been re-elected and will continue to represent their communities. The Tories have now lost their grip and our voices will have to be heard. Things are going to be a lot different now and we look forward to making sure we do our best for the residents of Oxfordshire.

Thank you for electing Roz Smith as our Headington and Quarry County Councillor!

Roz Smith, your new county councillor

Roz Smith, your new county councillor

The County Council elections were held yesterday and there was a 35% turnout in our Headington and Quarry division

The voting figures for our division can be seen in the graph at the right hand corner of this screen.  (the Green party polled 172 as well)

In a shock result, the Conservatives lost overall control of the County Council.

32 seats are needed for control of the council. Final results were:

Con: 31, Lab: 15, Lib Dem: 11, Independent: 4, Green: 2.

David, Ruth and Roz are your local Headington councillors. The hard work starts now!

Tomorrow is Election Day: why we are backing Roz

How electing Roz will help us achieve more for Headington — a open message from City Cllrs David Rundle and Ruth Wilkinson

Tomorrow (Thursday 2nd May), you will have your chance to decide who will be our next County Councillor. We are supporting Roz because we know we can work with her and, together, get the action our area deserves.

People in Headington often tell us they are impressed with our track record of success. And there are a few more achievements under our belt in the last twelve months. To name just a few:
* Saving Ruskin Fields — working with local residents, we made our presence felt at the Planning Inspections, helping to make sure that this valuable green space was saved from unwanted development.
* Getting more social housing built here in Headington — it was a scandal how long part of the Manor Ground site lay barren. We have striven for years to ensure flats were built there and just this month the residents have moved in to their new homes.
* Keeping you informed — few councillors take as seriously the importance of keeping you informed of what’s going on and giving you the chance to tell us what you think. That’s why we don’t just send you leaflets, street letters and surveys but also organise our Ward Focus Meetings, to which all residents are invited.

Of course, alongside all of this, there have been the everyday issues that you have raised with us and which we have continued to work to get resolved. And there are many more issues which we still need to see to a conclusion: our work is not done yet!

There are two points that are worth emphasising. First of all, we could not have done all this without the support and assistance of many people. That includes all of you in the community who have raised an issue with us, signed one of our petitions or come to one of our meetings: thank you. It also includes our colleagues: Altaf Khan, who has been your County Councillor and is now standing down, and Roz Smith, who has been County Councillor for the neighbouring area and is now standing for Headington in Thursday’s election.

The second point is about the future: we are committed to working hard and continuing to win successes for our area. But we can only be at our most effective if we have as strong a team as possible. That’s why both of us urge you to cast your vote for Roz — she has the experience and enthusiasm to make us confident that together we can achieve even more for Headington.

With thanks and best wishes,

David & Ruth

PS If you have any doubts about where your polling station is or need a lift to the polls, do drop us a line!

Planned works in London Road 18 March-15 April

This mysterious post was posted on the roadworks database yesterday which surprised your local Councillors. We are trying to find out whether it’s factually correct as we had been advised there would be a public consultation in April. More later!

London Road, Headington South Oxfordshire, Oxford, Oxfordshire
18 March — 15 April
Delays possible
Works location: London Road
Works description: Widening The Existing Footway, Converting To A Cycle Track, Tactiles & Coloured Surface Treatment To Access Roads, Improvements To Lighting, Replacement Bus Shelter, New Road Signs, New Road Markings, Bollard Replacement And Tree Trimming. (Nb: No Works To The A40 Carriageway).
Responsibility for works: Oxfordshire County Council
Current status: Planned work about to start

Highway Drainage Works – Quarry Hollow and Beaumont Road

Oxford City Council in partnership with Oxfordshire County Council will be undertaking works to alleviate problems with the highway drainage and surface water flooding issues in Quarry School Place and Quarry Hollow.

This work is due to start the week commencing  4 March 2013 for up to 5 weeks. The work will comprise installing a pumping station underground and also a rising main from Quarry Hollow along Beaumont Road up to the existing highway drain in the Easter By-pass Road.

The road here is too narrow to accommodate both site works and traffic and a closure is necessary for safe working both for the workforce and the public.

Advance signage will be erected prior to the closure coming into force to inform traffic. A diversion via Quarry High Street will be sign-posted for traffic

to use during the duration of the closure but non-local traffic will be encouraged to avoid this route with additional signing on the approaches to Headington Quarry.

A twenty four hour closure will be in place continuously for the duration of the works.

 

Good debate at Headington Ward Focus meeting last night

Another good turnout last night and lots of issues were hotly debated!

After informal surgery time, Ben Simpson spoke about the Neighbourhood Return scheme. This is a free service, using local volunteer searchers to help find people with memory problems, including dementia, who have gone missing or are ‘wandering’. He invited us to join a  database of local volunteers who are prepared to help find someone. If you would like to know more about the scheme, either to join as a volunteer or to register someone you know who has memory problems, please register on the website or get in touch with Ruth or David.

Robin Gill from our own Headington Cyclists’ Group explained the work that’s been done on signage for cyclists in Old Headington and we discussed wider cycling-related issues. Residents have asked us to invite back officers from the County and the City to a future Ward Focus Meeting to seek  to  establish a common plan for the next five years. Ten per cent of all those working in Oxford City are based in Headington. People felt strongly that cycle routes need to be identified to and from employment sites and the district centre, as well as routes from Thornhill to Oxford.

Mary Hope spoke about the annual OxClean event that is happening in New Headington on 2 March and various residents volunteered dates and times of oxClean events across the area. If you would like to know what OxClean events are happening in YOUR area, please click one the OxClean website here.

We found out the difficulty people had had in reporting an out-of-hours incident in the Park, and we found out there is inconsistency over what organisations and groups are statutory consultees and who are not in terms of planning applications. We’ll look into all that and report back next time.

Pete West alerted everyone to next week’s meeting to be held by Headington Action at St Andrew’s School next Tuesday at 7pm and this sparked off a lively debate – please do come along to that meeting and tell Headington Action what you want (and what you don’t want!) for Headington.

We gave a potholes update and discussed the possibility of investigating 7 years’ latent defects clauses in contracts – open sessions are great because your local councillors benefit from the knowledge and experience of our residents to get things done

Jill Cummings told us all about the exciting activities being organised by the Friends of Bury Knowle Park, and that in turn sparked off some views on current planning applications.

Lots to think about! And a well-attended and topical evening. Thanks to all who came along!