The latest planning permissions made by officers under delegated powers – there are three from last week – are now on our Planning Decisions page.
News just in: the decision to give planning permission for two new university buildings on Old Road is going to be subject to review. Over twelve councillors have supported a move to call in the decision to the new Planning Review Committee. The application will therefore be debated by a different set of councillors on 31st August.
This does not mean that the decision is bound to be over-turned. It is even possible for the Planning Review Committee to revise the decision of East Area Planning Committee to make the conditions imposed less stringent. As I have mentioned before, I pushed successfully for the Committee to call for an increase in developer contributions — it would now be within the Planning Review Committee’s powers to reverse that decision and return the money paid by the developer for initiatives like Controlled Parking Zones to the figure originally suggested.
That said, this call-in does give your local councillors and the local community to put pressure on the applicant and the Council to reach a more reasonable decision — one, we would hope, that would be fully informed and carefully considered in a way that I, sitting on East Area Planning Committee, did not feel happened last time. Ruth and I will, of course, be working hard to make sure residents’ legitimate concerns are taken into account this time.
Following the last very popular Ward Focus meeting, we have arranged another on
Tuesday 16 August
at Headington School
from 6.00-8.00 pm (formal meeting starts at 6.30)
There will be timed items as before so you can come and go as you please. The agenda is as follows:
6.00-6.30 Surgery time & informal chat with councillors
6.30-7.10 Open debate, current planning applications, reports from Central and North Headington Residents’ Association & from Headington School
7.10-7.30 Tell us how we should spend our ward budgets!
7.30-7.50 Old Headington conservation area – what next?
7.50-8.00 Your ideas about issues to be covered next time
8.00-9.00 Close. Ruth and David will be in the pub afterwards if you want to bend their ears further!
There will be invited speakers from Headington School, CNHRA and Oxford City Council to let you know what’s going on, and to respond to your issues.
As always, we are looking forward to hearing YOUR views about the area in which you live.
We are grateful to Headington School for providing this venue.
We are posting up the action points from Tuesday’s Headington Ward Focus meeting today
You can see them by clicking on the Meetings/surgeries tab at the top of the page
Feltham Construction has announced the following on its website:
New Project Awarded: 27 Flats, Old Manor Ground, Headington. Works due to commence end of September 2011
Thanks @TonyOX3 for this information
A big thank you from both of us to everyone who made last evening’s first Headington Ward Focus Meeting such a success: the Baptist Church for letting us hire their excellent hall and being so helpful (thanks, John, Barbara and Paul!), the city council officers and representatives of institutions who attended, and, of course, the over 80 people who made the occasion so lively and engaging.
As we explained at the beginning, we hope these meetings will, for our patch of Headington Ward, fill the gap left by the demise of Area Committees — and, in time, so something more than them. We start with one arm tied behind our backs: we don’t have formal support from the Council or powers to demand people attend but what yesterday proved is that there is goodwill and thirst for these sorts of meetings.
Of course, the real test doesn’t come with the meeting itself but with the follow-up: Ruth, Altaf and myself all went away with action points and we’ll report back on them here on this website and also at our next meeting.
We do intend the Ward Focus Meetings to be a regular event in the calendar, taking place regularly in between the more diffuse Area Forums. So, do put in your diary the next meeting: 16th August at Headington School, surgery time starting at 6pm and more structured items at 6:30pm. As last night, we’ll strive to be done by 8pm. It’s only your presence and your engagement that will make these events work!
The Oxford Mail is supporting the City Lib Dems’ campaign to demand a refund from the County Council for residents who have bought parking permits between April 2010 and March 2011.
Although this is meant to be a not for profit scheme, the Tory County Council has pocketed £110,442.76 of Oxford City taxpayers’ money
The Oxford Mail is publishing a letter today that you can cut out, complete and send to the County Council asking for your money back. It applies for a £10 rebate. Please support this Lib Dem/Oxford Mail campaign and buy today’s Oxford Mail!
Lib Dems put forward a motion in Council on Monday night that was passed unanimously. It said the surplus came
despite repeated assurances from representatives of the county council that residents were only being asked to ensure that residents’ parking zone administration costs were recovered.
Council condemns this duplicity and asks the Chief Executive to write to the County Council to demand that a rebate is paid to residents who have been forced to pay excessively high charges for the privilege of parking near their own homes”.
The UK Payments Council today [Tuesday] announced that they are to reverse their decision to scrap cheques by 2018 and continue their use for as long as customers need them.
Ruth and David set up a Save Our Cheque petition earlier this year with the support of Headington residents
For small businesses, charities and sole traders cheques are a crucial form of payment and many were concerned that their removal would drive up their costs. For customers, especially the elderly, cheques are reliable, safe and not too technological.
Last year alone there were over one billion cheque transactions which shows just how widely used this form of payment still is.
Today’s announcement means that those who rely on cheque payments can now be sure of their future.
Saving the cheque is a Lib Dem victory for common sense!
We promise to listen!
Ruth and David will be holding our first Headington Ward Focus meeting on Tuesday 19 July at the Headington Baptist Church Hall at 6.00-8.00 pm
What’s it all about?
We want to find out your views on what you think are the best and worst aspects of living in our ward, and what suggestions and ideas you have for the future.
Here is the agenda for the meeting (please note, items are timed, no waiting about!)
6.00-6.30 Surgery time. Informal conversation with councillors
6.30-7.10 Raise your issues in open debate. We’ll discuss current planning applications and hear reports from community groups about their projects
7.10-7.30 Headington car park, and the consultation on building development in our area
7.30-7.50 Old Headington Conservation Area – what next? – in which we shall start making an action plan using the latest Conservation Area appraisal as a starting point
7.50-8.00 We’ll note down your ideas for future meetings and discuss what date and time these should be held
8.00 We’re off to the pub – come and join us if you want to bend our ear even further!
The next Focus meeting will provisi0nally take place on Tuesday 16 August and is likely to be in the New Headington Area
See you soon!
PS we have invited some special guests too, along with the county councillors, to help us take the most effective courses of action to address your issues!