There is one current licensing application in the Headington Ward being processed by the Licensing Authority week ending 29 August 2008
08/00734/PREM White Hart Public House, 12 St Andrew’s Rd.
Please click on Licensing applications on the left hand tool bar for details
David and I have received quite a few enquiries lately about licensing applications concerning premises in the Headington area. If you want to find out more, please click on the Council’s licensing application search link
I shall make a link to this search site from the left hand toolbar so that you can reach it quickly at any time
This is the title of an interesting article in this week’s “Total politics” magazine about the importance of the Green Belt. Some figures are quoted by the Chief Economist at Policy Exchange that are quite surprising.
Which of these would you agree with?
75% of England is developed
50% of England is developed
25% of England is developed
15% of England is developed
or less than the above?
The answer is that, although 54% of survey respondents thought half of England was developed, the real answer (including garden space in cities) is 9.8%.
Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Areas, Special Areas of Conservation, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Parks account for 55.2% of England’s land.
More than 1.6m hectares in England (12.9% of land) is classed as Green Belt.
It’s important that we discuss the issues around the Green Belt in a measured, non-emotive and rational way. Local residents are best placed to consider housing and other economic needs in our communities, not national government. We need to keep up pressure on central government to give us greater powers of decision-making in any future review of the County’s Green Belt.
Those brave enough to stay till the end of the North East Area Committee meeting on Tuesday will have noted that David and I pushed hard for action on the Manor Ground development scheme. Beech Road residents have made it clear to us that they are disappointed that the promised affordable housing units have not yet been built and made available for use.
We have secured the Area Committee’s backing to call for a progress report from the Head of City Development. Our Area Co-ordinator Angela Cristofoli is arranging a meeting between officers in Planning and City Housing/Development and David and myself to agree an action plan. We will post up more news when we have it..watch this space!
I have been asked why the planning applications made by Starbuck’s are no longer on the Council’s planning website. This is the information I have been given by planning officers.
The original Starbuck’s planning applications have been made invalid.
The original applications were served on the owners of the building but
incorrect details were quoted. When this was realised, Starbucks
withdrew the applications, and submitted new ones with the correct
details. These are currently being processed by planning officers and will be added to this week’s list
This means that the applications get logged all over again and won’t come up before North East Area Committee till November.
Important notice for residents who have sent in comments about the original applications
You will need to send in new letters quoting the new applications.
Letters quoting the old applications will not be considered with the new applications.
The Planning Inspector has allowed Headington School’s appeal against refusal for floodlighting for their new sports pitch bordering London Road. This will be a disappointment to the residents nearby who have been concerned about the possibility of light pollution as well as the ugliness of the lights. The North East Area Committee rejected the application when it was discussed and Cllr Chris Scanlan (LibDem, Barton and Sandhills Ward) represented the Council at the appeal.
Many thanks to those who attended our street surgery this evening, we enjoyed meeting you and are taking up the issues you raised. Over 25 people attended and the event was very worth while. We shall be repeating our street surgeries in areas across the ward. Please watch out for details of our next surgery by clicking the box in the left hand margin
Some of the issues you raised included: the future of the Dorset House site, uneven footpaths, the site of the old tree stump, the drains in Latimer Road, the delivery lorry at 4 am to St Luke’s Hospital, parking problems, rubbish problems at a site in Beech Road, RPZs for disabled constituents and their carers, green waste, replacement tree planting, cycling on pavements, affordable housing, and health and safety incidents involving buses in Osler Road
We are on the case!
One of the City planners has alerted me to a useful Government website which contains information on how to make planning applications, and gives guidance on regulations. I have put up a link to it from the left hand toolbar. It is called Planning Portal.
There will be a meeting of Full Council next Tuesday 5 August to discuss “Oxford 2026: the Oxford core strategy”. This is a very important document as it outlines the planning vision for Oxford over the next 18 years, and discusses, among other things, the proposed development of Headington and its infrastructure. If you would like to see this document, please click on the website link and select the section you want to view under item 4.1.
The document will be formally published on 5 September 2008 and there is still time to contact either Cllr David Rundle or myself if you want us to raise any associated issue at full Council. Any planning policy changes in the future are likely to refer back to this document, so we need to make sure it reflects the views of our Group and our residents. Please let us know if you have concerns about anything in this document.
I have been contacted by residents to ask about the degree to which public consultation has taken place with regard to the prospective application to install a mast at Rock Edge. Please click on the planning application website to view this application and quote planning reference 08/01162/CPU. This is the reply from Planning Officers.
There are three types of proposal for telecommunications:
1. Permitted development notifications
2. 56 day proposals ( up to 15 metres)
3. Full applications.
For all three we notify neighbours within 100 m and schools within 200m,
although blocks of flats will get just a notice put up in the foyer.
In addition for those:
For category 1 above the letter advises that this is permitted
development and neighbours should write to the company not us.
For category 2 we also put up 4-5 site notices on community notice
boards and other strategic sites in the area
For category 3 as well as the site notices we also put a formal notice
in the local press.
This application falls under permitted development. It
appears from the system that the 100m ruling was applied in this
instance.
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If you are a resident living close by this development (i.e. within 100 metres) and you feel you should have been consulted about the application but this has not happened, please get in touch with me via phone or email or via this website and I will investigate this further.
The planning officers have been working on a consultation guide outlining the extent to
which they should consult on all types of applications received by Oxford City Council’s Planning Dept. A copy will be posted on the Council’s website as soon as it has been signed off, and I will post a link to it from this website as soon as this has been actioned