County council underspend

How much of your money is being underspent by Oxfordshire County Council?

Over eight million pounds!

Last week, Liberal Democrat Opposition Councillor Roz Smith, Spokesperson for Finance, raised questions about the huge amount of under spent monies at County Hall.

She said:

 “We all knew that that there would be an underspend on budgets this year, but the figure of £8.41million needs to be questioned.

Oxfordshire taxpayers will surely want to know why, especially in these times of austerity, budgets are not beiing fully spent on children & young peoples services, adult care services and highway engineering.”

In their alternative budget proposals at the February council meeting, Liberal Democrats in Opposition planned to spend more in all of these areas, however, the reality is that cuts in these services continue to bring pressure on the organisation as they struggle to deliver vital services to the public.

Cllr. Roz Smith continued

“I will continue to monitor progress of these underspends and make sure that I bring them to the attention of the Conservative Cabinet members.”

Residents Name That Street!

After some discussion by residents at yesterday evening’s Ward Focus meeting, the suggestion of Blackburn Close for the new development was unanimously agreed. Congratulations to Gill Clarke for suggesting the new name.  Residents wished to honour Mrs Blackburn who had lived and owned a house on nearby land for a great many years, “she was a good person and took in all stray animals.”

Nuffield Health, Green Square and Oxford City Council planners have already endorsed the suggestion and the naming will go ahead.
  
Feltham Construction got a favourable mention by residents,  the development has gone very well and community relations throughout the project has been very positive. The construction firm has received a good report from the  Considerate Constructors’ site visit too. The building work is currently on schedule and should be completed in December ready for people to move in next January

Licensing application at Headington Co-op

Application 12/02373/PREM has been made by Headington Co-op to extend the hours for the sale of alcohol from 06.00 hrs to 23.00 hrs on a Sunday from Sunday 22 July in line with the Government’s decision to relax Sunday trading hours for an 8 week period from that date

This application falls outside our ward but we are sure it will be of interest to our residents

The closing date for representation from the public is 10 July

Will our road be mended soon? Don’t bet on it!

Altaf, Ruth and David are still fighting for improvements to Franklin Road

David and I have been pestering for repairs and improvements to Franklin Road. The road itself looks dreadful, and residents quite reasonably feel that the County Council should be doing something about it. Franklin Road and New High Street are both in dire need of resurfacing but never quite rise to the top of the council’s priority list.

I thought I would share with you the latest information we have on the likelihood of repairs to Franklin Road as it gives an insight into the way in which priorities are calculated.

The bids made to Oxfordshire County Council for the overlay of concrete section was assessed as Priority 3 while the macadam road for plane and resurface was given priority 2.  There is also a bid for footway overlay at priority 3.

The priorities are established against the priorities in the table below

j Urgent work required to carry out structural repairs to eliminate an existing hazard.
k Medium priority structural repairs to prevent the occurrence of hazards
l Lower priority schemes to protect the structure from deterioration

Oxfordshire County Council carry out an objective assessment using the HAMP system and the footway has scored 314 points.  This ranks it 63rd in the footway schemes throughout the City.  Currently the budgets run to less than 10 schemes a year.  The carriageway proposals do not have a current rating, they may have had in the past but ratings are removed from the list when they have become outdated.

The number of outstanding repairs to roads and pavements is becoming a huge issue for Headington as our ward bears such a heavy volume of traffic.

David and I will keep fighting on your behalf, and Altaf is giving us as much help as he can as our county councillor. I’m afraid it will be a lengthy battle. The good news is that the road is deemed to be safe, however unsightly it looks.

Domestic abuse campaign – Speak out today

Since becoming a councillor, Ruth has been alerted to two instances of domestic abuse in Headington Ward, but this situation is believed to be widely under-reported in the City.

A campaign to raise awareness of domestic abuse is being launched today by Thames Valley Police in partnership with Domestic Abuse Co-ordinators and Crimestoppers.

The aim of the campaign is to increase awareness and promote early intervention in an attempt to break the cycle of abuse.

The majority of domestic abuse still goes unreported and the focus of the campaign is to encourage people to contact either the police, Crimestoppers or specialist support agencies.

The campaign is urging family, friends, neighbours and colleagues to come forward and let the police or other agencies know if they suspect someone is being abused.

A dedicated website speakouttoday.co.uk and video has been launched to provide practical information for victims and those supporting them, and includes vital links to national and local support services.

Further information on domestic abuse can be found on the Thames Valley Police website

That absent zebra again!

As you will know, there’s been some confusion about whether Old Road has a zebra or not… Beacons are in place but no striped markings on the road.

We have pursued the County Council on this. They have confirmed what we have already advised residents: the crossing is not yet in use. They have accepted that the situation is confusing and will put up signs to warn people of the fact.

Why, you might ask, haven’t they finished the work? Because, we understand, some tree work needs to be done to make sure there are clear sightlines for the beacons.

When, you might ask, will that be done and the zebra finally painted on the road? That’s such a good question we’ve asked it ourselves! We’ll let you know when we are given a clear answer.