Yesterday afternoon, the count for the local elections was held and I was delighted and honoured to be re-elected as your City Councillor. Here is the Headington result in full:

I am grateful to all of you who voted for me. To those who did not, I must emphasise that I am here to represent all of Headington and I will work hard to deal with any issues you may wish to raise with me.

This success is, of course, tinged with disappointment as I will not be working alongside a Liberal Democrat MP, which would have been a great boon to our community, having at last someone who was willing to stand up for our area in Parliament. I would personally like to thank all of you who did support Steve in this election and I can assure everyone that Altaf, Ruth and myself will continue to work hard, despite the setback of still not having a good constituency MP.

I am already clear about the immediate priorities for my work in my ward. They include dealing with the bus situation down Osler Road and Headley Way, getting empty properties into use, and working with residents to find workable solutions to the traffic issues in our area.

The work has already started: Ruth and I were both at the AGM of the Friends of Old Headington last evening. It may take a couple of days to shake off the effects of the sleep deprivation that is a consequence of the final days of a General Election campaign. But I will look forward to dealing with any issues you may have to raise with me — I relish the challenge of the next four years! Once again, thank you.

Bank Holiday morning. My fiancée is having a well-earnt lie-in, my ward colleague is putting in another’s day hard campaigning and I’m off to work, ahead of another evening on the doorstep. Why do we do this?

I’ve been one of the city councillors for Headington for eight years. In that time, I’ve also been Deputy Leader of the Council for two years, and more recently Leader of the Opposition. Through it all, though, it’s been the ward work, talking to local people and getting things done for them, that has been what I’ve enjoyed most. I’ve enjoyed it but at times shared frustration with residents about how slow the cogs in the machine work — the machine being the whole apparatus of businesses, quangos and Councils that make the decisions, often far detached from local people but which affect our everyday lives.

There have been little victories on the way, from working with Sybil and other residents of Staunton Road to get a crossing on Headley Way, through to encouraging a Farmers’ Market to become a feature of our local life, and down getting the damned bins in the Old High Street car-park put back where there should be, or helping residents of Brookside get both the sewage in the brook sorted and the fence put up that they needed. Then there’s been the issues with the local pubs, such a key part of our community but sometimes also a source of pain for their neighbours — but now the Black Boy is an excellent restaurant, and the White Horse is less noisy.

There have been battles that have been lost. My then ward colleague, Stephen Tall, and I pressed Royal Mail hard to keep their sorting office on Lime Walk — sometimes ‘market interests’ are hard to match with common sense. More topically, there’s the issue of the underpass on London Road — I’ve said for a long time that it’s a waste of money to fill in a well-used facility and that a crossing should be added at the end of Osler Road, on a line of travel and where the bus gate now is. But the Conservative County Council has acted like the not-so-wise monkey that covers it ears and just won’t listen. It’ll be a sad day when they fill in the subway at a cost of £45,000.

But more numerous are the battles that have not yet been won. High on that list is getting a more sensible bus system in our area — it’s madness that buses go down Osler Road, where residents don’t want them, and don’t go down Headley Way, where residents do. Ruth and I have talked to the bus companies and to the County, repeatedly. We’ve petitioned them too, with sterling help from residents like Robert on Franklin Road. And, slowly, slowly, maybe they’re getting the message. Don’t hold your breath, but I want to continue to press that cause.

And then there are grot-spots around Headington — be it smoking just outside the JR, or run-down properties. In these cases, the law and big institutions both move at a glacial pace — I want to be there to see the ice melt and action finally taken.

That’s one of the two big reasons why I am so keen to serve another term as councillor for this great part of our city. The other is that I’m looking forward to the opportunity to be a councillor, working alongside an MP who appreciates the local situation and who work in Parliament to deal with some of the nonsense that has come through over-legislating. I have known Steve Goddard for over a decade and seen him fight two previous general elections. He is more than ready to represent us all as MP for Oxford East and he’d be a darn sight better than what we have at present — though that’s not saying much.

This set of elections, City and General, are the most exciting we have had in my lifetime. If I were to be re-elected your councillor, I would relish the opportunity to continue the battles and score some more successes. The decision is yours.

Follow this link to the Lib Dem manifesto.

4 steps to a fairer Britain

fair taxes that put money back in your pocket

a fair chance for every child

a fair future, creating jobs by making Britain greener

a fair deal by cleaning up politics

The Liberal Democrats have come out top in a poll for Times Higher Education, the leading weekly publication for workers in higher education . The poll asked respondents their voting intention and who had the best policies on higher education. The Lib Dems topped the voting intention poll with 40%, with Labour on 33% and the Conservatives on 15%. Even more respondents felt that the Liberal Democrats had the best policies on higher education with 49% choosing the Lib Dem policies over 26% for Labour and 14% for Conservative.

For more information, and a link to the Times Higher Education poll results, click here.

Meet your local neighbourhood officers and have your say on policing priorities and concerns in your local area.

Type: Police Surgery
Date: Thursday, 01 April 2010
Time: 5pm – 6pm
Venue: Baptist Church, Old High Street
Contact: PC Chris Miles

Record suspicious behaviour on 0845 850 5505