Subject to there being no more significant snowfall overnight, Oxford City Council plans to run the following Recycling and Waste service:For those who live on major bus routes that have been gritted and whose normal residual or food waste collection day is Tuesday we intend to run a reduced service where possible.The following services are suspended:
- garden waste
- bulky waste (including white goods and fridge freezers)
- bin and box deliveries
- co-mingled recycling.
We will be running a limited trade waste collection service within the city centre and major retail areas where possible. We will also, where accessible, provide a collection service to flats.
We will collect clinical waste where possible.
For collections the rest of the week we will confirm the afternoon on the day before they are due to take place whether or not our crews will go out – for instance the decision on whether crews go out on Wednesday will be made on Tuesday afternoon.
Due to the anticipated build up of extra waste in the next few days, where collections have been missed, a reasonable amount of side waste can be put out on collection days. This should be placed out as follows:
- general/residual waste – black sacks only
- recycling – either in recycling or cardboard box or clear bags
- food waste – in extra biodegradable bags or, if not available, please place in normal household waste.
Due to the anticipated build up of extra waste in the next few days, where collections have been missed, a reasonable amount of side waste can be put out on collection days. This should be placed out as follows:-
· General/residual waste – black sacks only
· Recycling – either in recycling or cardboard box or clear bags
· Food Waste – in extra biodegradable bags or, if not available, please place in normal household waste
Roads Maintenance
Two bulk gritters, complete with snow ploughs, have been working throughout the day on our priority gritting routes in the City to enable the majority of bus routes to continue to operate.
In addition to the two main gritting routes, additional snowploughs and gritters have been deployed across the City to deal with localised problems.
The Direct Services Streetscene teams have been re-deployed to clear snow and apply grit to high footfall and shopping areas across the City including the City Centre, Summertown, Headington, Cowley Road and other local shopping areas such as Templar Road, Cherwell Drive, St Nicholas Road, Blackbird Leys Road and Underhill Circus.
Resources have also been deployed to clear snow and ice from the approaches to health centres including Manzil Way and Dunnock Way.
We are working closely with the County Council to manage our salt supplies and arrangements are in place to supplement our supplies from the County’s large stock at Drayton.
Our gritters will commence work at 8pm and will work through the night to cover major routes
Housing Repairs
We are currently dealing with a large number of frozen or burst water pipes and loss of heating in Council properties. Our first priority is the elderly and vulnerable but our aim is to get to everyone within our Service Standard of 24 hours for an emergency call.
Our emergency service is being run using 4×4 vehicles and we have escalation plans in place should the snow arrive this evening.
Don’t shelve our Library!
Here are just some of the Headington residents who braved the snow today in order to protest at the County Council’s proposal to close Bury Knowle Library
We have met Headington Action to discuss what can be done to safeguard library services in Headington. It is clear that more statistical and financial information is needed by the campaigners in order to help make a good business case for library services to continue, and this is being collated by county officers currently
Ruth has contacted the Team Leader in the Neighbourhoods and Communities Team at the City Council for community development advice and support. Many residents want the library to stay at Bury Knowle House and for the rest of the space to be used by the community for other needs. Suggestions for future action include a survey to find out what people want, and a public meeting at the start of the consultation process next March
Do you have any ideas about how the rest of Bury Knowle House could be used? Do you think there should be computers for internet access (and possibly adult education) there? Should it house an information point and refreshment area for users of the Park? Should there be meeting rooms for community groups? We must take into account that income may need to be generated in order to pay the lease on the building to Oxford City Council.
Please get in touch with David and Ruth with any good ideas!
Maps of potential development sites in Headington
If any of you couldn’t get to the recent presentation at the Baptist Church in Old High Street, you may be interested to know that there are scaled down versions of the exhibition boards and maps on display at Ramsay House in St Ebbe’s in Oxford till 24 December, along with comments forms
The information is also available here
County Lib Dems oppose library cuts
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Cllr John Goddard, the Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet with responsibility for libraries, has set out the Liberal Democrat Group’s concerns about the proposals which could lead to 20 libraries being closed in the county. He said:
“Who cares about public libraries? I am not sure that the ruling Conservative clique in the County Council do.
“A library in 2010 is not a silent zone dedicated to book borrowing. It has become a social hub of the local community. It is where people of all sorts go for their stimulus to read, to view and to learn. It is where interests are developed, access to wider horizons is offered and, not to overstate the case, life made more worthwhile.
“The present proposals look as though they have been dreamt up in some bean-counting establishment where Charles Dickens’ Mr Gradgrind rules the roost. The cost of cutting library facilities is not to be measured by a bottom line: it will damage the society that lives by more than cash alone.
“For success a library needs easy access – not too costly to the user in terms of cash or time and not so rarely open as to be inconvenient. There has to be skilled management of the hardware: this could well be part time. There has to be properly maintained premises: this could well be shared with other community organisations including schools, children’s centres and youth clubs, community centres and health centres. For each community the best answer will be locally determined after full public involvement. This requires, immediately, open and full consultation, locally-based.
“At present the County Council plans to set a budget in February and to start consultation on the library closures in March. This will guarantee that the key decisions have been taken before consultation. Does this sound familiar to County Council watchers? Come on, County Hall! Show that in your book the big society involves listening, learning and local decision-making!”
Library usage figures for Bury Knowle Library
Supporters of Bury Knowle Library will be heartened by these 2009-2010 usage figures!
Bury Knowle Library – 153,350 visits – 136,804 items issued
Old Marston Library – 7,000 visits – 20,541 items issued
Botley Library – 89,750 visits – 78,825 items issued
Blackbird Leys – 21,950 visits – 29,206 items issued
Temple Cowley Library – 196,000 visits – 217,458 items issued
Oxford Central Library – 582,900 visits – 676,417 items issued
The top twelve libraries for visit figures in Oxfordshire 2009-2010 were as follows:
- Oxford Central
- Banbury
- Abingdon
- Witney
- Temple Cowley
- Wantage
- Henley
- Headington
- Didcot
- Bicester
- Summertown
- Kidlington
DON’T PRICE OUT HEADINGTON!
We are working with Headington’s businesses to get an important message across to the City Council’s Executive Board members..
We must keep decisions on parking charge increases local!
The Town Hall is putting the viability of Headington’s shopping area under threat. Oxford’s Labour City Council is proposing to take the decision about car parking charges away from the local area and to introduce a huge hike in charges for Headington’s car parks.
Their plans will increase the charge by up to 100%: that means parking for 2-3 hours will go up from £1.50 to £3.00
We urge the the City Council’s Executive to see sense and:
- Keep local decisions locally, being made in meetings in the local community
- Back-track from the proposed hike in car parking charges that can only hit trade in Headington at a time when the Council should be working with local businesses to help improve the economy, not planning to undermine it
We support the petition that local businesses are asking customers to sign – if you feel strongly too, ask to sign the petition at shops in Old High Street and London Road
And another thing to consider…the tariffs will now run Mon-Sun till 8pm not Mon-Sat (till 6.30 pm) with a fixed charge on Sundays. This will hit the pockets of Sunday customers and those shopping in the evenings or using the car park to attend meetings at the Baptist Church Hall hard!
Bury Knowle Library
You will have heard the news that Bury Knowle Library is one of the 20 libraries (out of a total of 43) highlighted by the County Council for discontinuation of funding. Details are still sketchy about what exactly it is that the County means by this – would it for example include lease of properties, or replacement stock as well as staffing? We don’t yet know. What we do know is that Bury Knowle House belongs to the City Council, not the County Council, and the County pays the lease to the City. Our portfolio holder is in contact with the relevant senior manager at the City to ascertain whether the City would accept a “peppercorn rent” from any group of volunteers who would like to take over the running of the Library – we haven’t had a response so far
This is part of the County’s press release from 26 November:
Please note these are proposals not decisions
Big Society proposals for the future of Oxfordshire’s libraries
Oxfordshire County Council is asking local communities to come up with innovative ideas to run their local libraries as it proposes to cease funding 20 of the 43 facilities that currently operate in the county, with possible further changes to service levels in future years.
Following the Government’s Spending Review and cuts in funding to local authorities, Oxfordshire County Council currently calculates that it will have to save around £155m up to 2015. These savings will need to be made across all of its services and the library service is one of the areas that will have to contribute to making that saving. The council is already on target to make £35m of savings in 2010/11 with a pay freeze and driving down the costs of contracts with suppliers contributing to this.
What is the vision for the future of libraries?
Proposals have been formulated around a clear vision of providing library hubs centred on key areas of population in Oxfordshire with a quality support network of mobile library services and an extension of the library loan service to include e-books and e-audio downloads, so people can get the books they want direct to their home PCs. Residents will continue to be able to go online and order books from an online catalogue. The books can be delivered either to the nearest library hub or to the village/town by the mobile library service for users to collect.
In formulating proposals for a new way forward there has been a strong emphasis on the comparative quality of the public transport links that enable local communities to reach libraries in individual localities and geographical spread. Usage figures have also been considered.
Are these the final proposals?
Details could yet change when more information becomes available on Local Government Settlement Day – the day when all UK councils learn in detail what their grant funding from central Government will be in future years. Oxfordshire County Council receives 65 per cent of its funding from central Government.
Cash to help innovative ideas
In line with the Government’s Big Society agenda, Oxfordshire County Council is to set up a pot of money to which local communities can bid for funds to help them take responsibility for any library that the council is seeking to end funding.
Which libraries will see funding cease?
A total of 82 per cent of library visits take place to the 23 libraries that are currently proposed for continued funding by the county council.
Oxford and Banbury have excellent transport links with a high quality bus service meaning that libraries are very easy to reach. Oxford Central Library is accessible to everyone in the city and it is proposed that opening hours should be extended to include Sundays. Cowley Library is also proposed to remain as part of the county council’s network of libraries.
Summertown, Headington, Littlemore, Old Marston and Blackbird Leys in Oxford would see funding discontinued as would Neithrop in Banbury.
Adderbury, Bampton, Benson, Berinsfield, Botley, Charlbury, Chinnor, Deddington, Grove, Kennington, North Leigh, Sonning Common, Stonesfield and Woodcote would also see funding cease with opportunities for the community to take over their running.
When will funding cease?
Funding will be phased out during the 2011/12 financial year although there is no exact timetable at the moment. Any further funding changes will be announced in future financial years.
Our latest information from County is that:
information is being worked out for each library – and will be available the week commencing 13th December. Each area will need a different solution, even if the community wants to take it over – because some buildings are leased, some are owned by the County etc etc. So it is taking some time to get the information together to help communities decide what they would like to do. The consultation is likely to start in March 2011
Unofficially a figure of £200K has been mentioned as a possible sum of money for which volunteer groups can bid to maintain their libraries, but this has not yet been confirmed. As soon as we have more details we will let you know, and we shall be meeting Headington Action shortly to discuss a local response
Consultation event on Tuesday
The Planning Consultation Events are for Planning Policy Officers from the City Council to hear your views about almost 100 sites that have been identified for potential development for uses such as housing, shops, student accommodation and offices over the next 15 years and to suggest other sites. They are also looking at new planning policies for housing and student accommodation. Future planning applications will ultimately be judged against these new policies.
The consultation event for the North East is happening on Tuesday
Headington Baptist Church, 78 Old High Street
Tuesday 30 November 4.30pm-7.30pm
The map of the areas put forward for development (and for what purpose), and information on how you can send in your comments, can be found here. We would urge people to go and register your views. Areas in our ward include the JR Hospital site, Ruskin fields, Old High Street car park, Dorset House (corner of London Road/Latimer Road) the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Headington School and Headington Prep School
The types of things Planning Officers would be interested to hear about on the site maps are:
- Which sites do you think are suitable for development and for what uses?
- Which sites do you think are not suitable for development, and why?
- Do you have ideas for how any of the sites could be best developed, such as where the best access would be from or which features might need to be protected?
- Are there any other sites that we haven’t identified that you think are suitable for development?
The types of things they would be interested to hear about on the housing issues are:
- How can planning policies best ensure that new housing developments address the affordability crisis in Oxford?
- Where should student accommodation be located, and how should it be designed?
- Should we be doing more to manage the number of shared houses (or ‘houses in multiple occupation’)?
- How should we expect developers to build sustainable homes?
- How could planning policy better encourage quality design in homes, so that the impact of development on the wider area is positive?
Lobbying at national level
Lib Dem reps on the LGA Economy and Transport Board are lobbying for the following:
- Calling for local authorities to have the right to require utility companies to deposit bonds with them so local councils can reinstate substandard road repairs after utility works instead of councils having to inspect each one and negotiate individually with the utility company. This puts the onus on the utility companies to do their repairs properly before faults and problems have to be rectified.
- Call on Government to help fund (once off) Smartcards on all buses to provide more accurate data on journey numbers, times and locations. This should reduce bus company reimbursements for concessionary fares. Some smaller bus companies (rural and tendered services in many urban areas) cannot afford the capital cost.
- Foreign Lorry mileage charges: they currently pay no road tax and little fuel duty as most fill up in mainland Europe where diesel is cheaper. Yet they cause a lot of damage to our road surfaces. A new charge (measured on entry and exit from UK) will be welcomed by UK car drivers, road haulage companies and bus companies.
The Local Government Association has been charged with pursuing these points with the government as a result of Lib Dem pressure
Health walks starting in Bury Knowle Park!
The first set of health walks set up by City Council officers will take place as follows:
Sundays in Blackbird Leys, meeting at the Leisure Centre for a 2pm start, commencing Sunday 21st November 2010
Wednesdays in Florence Park, meeting at the tennis courts for a 10am start, commencing Wednesday 24th November 2010 (wheelchair accessible)
Fridays in Bury Knowle Park, meeting at the library for a 10am start, commencing Friday 26th November 2010 (wheelchair accessible)
Walks are led by health walk leaders and are taken at a pace and distance suitable for everyone.
All walkers are encouraged to wear suitable shoes to walk in and to arrive on time as the walks leave promptly.
Walks will not go ahead if there is heavy rainfall, snow or ice!
There are 9 enthusiastic volunteers who have received health walk training to lead the walks in the city, however we are always on the look out for more people to join them.
More information is available on the website