What do you want to spend your money on?

At our Ward Focus meeting next Tuesday 18 October at the JR Hospital, we shall be asking your views on how your money should be spent.

Many ideas have come forward from previous Ward Focus meetings and from email correspondence, and we have started to give each idea an approximate ballpark costing to help us all make the final decision on Tuesday. There is still time for you to come up with last minute ideas until then – please email them to us in advance of the meeting

Here is the amount we have available to spend in Headington ward:

Ward Budget for Councillors from City Council: £1500 p.a.

David + Ruth = (£1500+£1500) = £3,000

Localities Budget from County Council: £100,000 p.a.

Allocation for 6 months: £50,000

Number of County divisions: 8

Allocation for Headington and Marston division = (£50,000 divided by 8 ) = £6,250

Headington and Marston division comprises 3 wards: Headington, Marston, HH & Northway

Allocation to Headington if divided equally = (£6,250 divided by 3 )  = £2,083.33

So the total spend overall = £5083.33 though our County Councillors need to agree what is spent from the Localities Budget.  We can make the money stretch further if we can negotiate match funding with other groups and organisations in Headington.

Ward spend ideas Oct 11

Spend item Approx Cost £ Notes
Ramp access to All Saints Church Hall 1200
Painting of lamp posts in Old Headington Already in process
More 20 MPH roundels painted on main roads and side roads. 75 Each
Grant towards heating system in All Saints Church This may be funded from alternative sources
Education for cyclists More details needed
Watering of small trees in London Road
Equipment for youth and community groups More details needed
Grit bins inc St Andrew’s Lane 450 Each
More bins 500 Each
Road sign for approach road to JR 1000 this may be funded from alternative sources
Christmas lights Funded by businesses, underwritten by HA
Community skip for bulky waste £123.72

£171.01

£255.28

 3 cubic yards

10 cubic yards

12 cubic yards
Paint nos. on dustbins to save muddle in e.g. Horwood Close Could be done by Community Payback if there is a day’s work for 10 people!
Extra bollard in Beech Rd to stop parking abuse 450
Promo board for businesses/noticeboard in HCP 1000 City Works to do transparencies, businesses or match funding to provide graphics
Repair roof to shelter and improve pedestrian access to HCP 750
Improve lighting to BK Library
General road and pavement maintenance More details needed
Yellow boxes on roads 750 Per location, excludes Traffic Regulation Order costs
Spend item Approx Cost £ Notes
Illuminated speed sign to be shared on a rota basis across Headington. DIY traffic calming and speed indication devices 3000 Unipar are county suppliers. Another Ward also wants one
Maybe Business Headington needs some financial help to get properly up and running
Osler Rd bollards and signs 1000
Line painting 450 Min charge per visit for half days work
Re-locate notice board near Iceland, to inside edge of pavement. Surely only one side of the board is needed for display purposes, and the pavement space is needed! 450 Assume no underground obstructions
Meeting to instruct people on how the planning process operates, and review strengths and weaknesses of current format 0
London Rd cycle lane approx by Headington School to White Horse east-bound, then by bus stops near Dial House. Not clear at times what cyclists are meant to do. Signage More details needed
Monaco puddle In process
Improvements to Cuckoo Lane More details needed
Make the zebra near the Co-op more visible, either re-painting the lines on the road or making the beacons more visible. That zebra was a great idea, but there have been lots of near-misses 900 Outside the wardRepaint
London Rd cycle path between Bury Knowle surgery and Green Rd, east-bound:  increase the frequency of the cycle symbols. People joining part-way along are quite justified in not being aware there is a cycle path. 500 Outside the ward

Pupil premium figures for our constituency

Today the Government released the final Pupil Premium figures for every English local authority, constituency and school. Everyschool this year will receive an extra £488 for each child on free school meals they have on their roll. 

Schools in Oxford East are getting an extra £1,247,000 from the Pupil Premium to improve the education of the most disadvantaged children. You can find out what each school in our council area is getting by clicking here.

The Pupil Premium is a policy we devised and campaigned for, and put at the heart of our Coalition negotiations. Now it is more than good policy, it is a reality making a difference to schools in our area. It goes directly into classrooms and will benefit all pupils.

It is also a milestone in breaking the link between poverty and achievement.

Liberal Democrats have always believed that education is the engine of social mobility, now we are making it happen.

Libraries – where do we go from here?

The consultation on the County’s Library services       has now finished, thanks everyone for sending in your responses.

Oxfordshire County Council has received around 3,500 feedback forms to date, in addition to the detailed submissions from a number of Library Groups, Town and Parish Councils and other organisations.

What happens next?

All these responses will now be evaluated and drawn together into a report by an independent organisation.  A reference copy will be available in each library and a copy will be published online at http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/libraryserviceconsultation in advance of the County Council’s Cabinet meeting at 1pm on Monday 12 December 2011.  The Cabinet will consider the report on the outcomes of the consultation and will agree the way forward for the library service and its savings targets for 2012/13 to 2014/15.

Information about Cabinet meetings including agendas, minutes and reports is available here

Information about how you can address this Cabinet meeting is available here

Business Headington wins well-deserved award!

Congratulations to Business Headington and partners for winning a bronze award  in the Best Small Commercial Display section of Oxford in Bloom.

This is a great achievement, and we’re grateful to those who have contributed and also to Headington Action for being prepared to underwrite any shortfall of funding (not required in the end!) Many Headington residents have told David and me how much they enjoy the wonderful hanging basket displays. Thanks everyone!

Your views count! PCSO patrol patterns

A resident asked why PCSOs patrol in pairs at our last Headington Ward Focus meeting, and Ruth agreed to find out from our Neighbourhood Sergeant.

Sergeant Claire Grant has discussed this with Neighbourhood Inspector Marc Tarbit and they have made the decision that until 2100hrs the PCSOs should be single crewed (unless an operational reason necessitates them working together) as it makes sense to increase the visibility on the area as much as they can.

It’s good to know that our Neighbourhood team is responsive to the questions you ask. Don’t forget that you are always welcome to make suggestions for service improvements at our ward meetings; we promise to listen to what you tell us, and we do our best to take forward and resolve the issues you raise.

Manor Ground development has the all clear!

Planning permission for the 27 affordable housing units at the Manor Ground has now finally been issued today. This means that all necessary paperwork has been completed, and construction can now go ahead

Construction traffic will enter the site from London Road and exit the site via Osler Road, As soon as we have the start date confirmed by Green Square, we’ll let you know

Outcome of hearing on 29 Old High Street

The appeal hearing requested by the owner of property at 29 Old High Street took place last Friday. An earlier ruling by the Magistrates Court upheld the Council’s decision to serve a section 215 notice on the owner to ‘tidy up’ the property.

The owner appealed against the decision of the Magistrates Court but the Judge upheld the ruling that the notice should be served. She also ordered the owner to pay £2,000 costs in addition to the £1,600 awarded to the Council in the earlier case. The owner now has  6 months to tidy up the property in the way the Notice sets out.

This comes as a great relief to those living in the neighbourhood of what must have been at one time a most attractive house in the Old Headington conservation area. We hope that the necessary repairs will be effected as soon as possible now that the court case has been resolved.


Notes/Action Points from Ward Focus Meeting

64 residents attended as well as City Cllrs Ruth Wilkinson and David Rundle, and County Councillor Altaf Khan and (from 7:15pm) Roy Darke.

The Bursar from Headington School gave a short welcome and presentation on the School’s plans

Reports back from our last meeting:

  • David‘s meeting with the Director of Estates at the JR will be scheduled on the latter’s return  from holiday
  • The permission for the Manor Ground development is nearing completion
  • Altaf has ensured that a county officer makes a site visit to the bus gate on 17 August  to make safety recommendations
  • Ruth has investigated issues relating to bus passes and language school students; she has contacted bus companies, language schools and the City officers and is pooling her list of language school contacts with other agencies. Several residents made informed contributions re the lapsed Language Schools Forum

The new system of Ward Member Budgets was introduced. It was explained that David and Ruth would be pooling their budgets (ie £3,000 in total) to use on improvements in Headington. Residents suggested small projects on which David and Ruth’s ward budget could be spent:

  • Ramp access to All Saints Church Hall
  • DIY traffic calming and speed indication devices
  • Painting of lamp posts in Old Headington (NB this is in hand)
  • More 20 MPH roundels painted on roads
  • Grant towards heating system in All Saints Church
  • Education for cyclists
  • Watering of small trees in London Road
  • Equipment for youth and community groups
  • Grit bin for St Andrew’s Lane in conservation area-friendly colour
  • More bins
  • Road sign for approach road to JR (NB this may be funded from alternative sources)
  • Christmas lights (NB this will be funded by Headington Business Association this year)

David and Ruth invite more suggestions and ideas – it was explained that decisions on what will be proposed will be made at the next Ward Focus meeting on 18 October

Rob Lloyd-Sweet clarified the status of the Old Headington Conservation Area appraisal. Decisions on whether to permit planning applications in the conservation area will be made with reference to this document. It was made clear that any Action Plan developing from the Conservation Area Appraisal could be led by the community but would be best done through partnership working. Continuing concern over Ruskin’s proposals for the Fields was expressed.

ACTION POINTS FROM THE MEETING:

  • David: to discuss with Headington School traffic issues including parking on Latimer Rd, the development of buses from Thornhill and the lack of buses on Headley Way
  • Roy: next area forum on public transport should include issues related to cycling
  • Ruth: to check which emergency and non-emergency vehicles are allowed to access the JR via the Osler Road gate with the Transport Manager
  • Ruth, David and Altaf: committed to continue to campaign against the development of Headington Car Park
  • David: to investigate with Building Control the issue of utilities failing to tidy up properly after their works
  • Ruth: to attend a multi-agency meeting between city officers, TV Police, bus companies and language schools in September on behalf of Headington Neighbourhood Action Group
  • Altaf: to continue to pursue the issue of the bus gate at Osler Rd / London Rd
  • Ruth: to clarify at the next Neighbourhood Action Group why PCSOs patrol in pairs

Future Issues: community-led planning ; Old Road Campus (including Park Hospital development)

Date of next Ward Focus meeting: Tuesday 18 October 6.00-8.00 pm (venue to be arranged, discussions on-going with the NOC)

What matters to you at the JR

There is an open meeting on 19 October to give members of the public an opportunity to comment on hospital services

Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals: tell us what matters to you
Wednesday 19 October 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Tea and coffee available from 6.00pm
Lecture Room, George Pickering Education Centre
Level 3, John Radcliffe Hospital
Following a very successful engagement event on 11 April 2011 to discuss the quality of our service, the Trust is holding a follow up event for patients, clinicians and other people who kindly gave us their time to give us their views. We would like to invite you to come and help us make sure that your experiences in our hospitals are even better.
Please contact Laura Carpenter to register. Limited places available.
Email: laura.carpenter@orh.nhs.uk