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
I attended a meeting last night at which the County’s transport planning officers set out some options for improvements to Old Road. There is £90K developer funding available to make improvements for cyclists and pedestrians, and it may be possible to obtain some extra funding in a bid to Sustrans for some of options 2 and 3. The planners are talking to representatives from all different agencies and groups including those representing cyclists and pedestrians, and local residents’ groups. Further consultation will follow later.
I thought I would outline some of the suggested options here. An overall aim is to encourage people back onto their bikes by enabling them to feel confident and safe when cycling to school and work.
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Other points that were raised included: should this not be linked in with a longer term transport plan?, would it be better to spend all the money on the single most dangerous part of Old Road?, should we look at a cycle by-pass from the Slade into Old Road?, how do we reconcile the differences in height between cyclists on a higher shared path and motorists below? would it be better to hang onto the money and wait till a later funding source becomes available?
Which option do you prefer? Please click the comments box below the subject line and let us know your views.
This was the sight in Kennett Road which faced the intrepid OxClean helpers from New Headington Residents’ Association on Saturday morning! Mary, Cicely, Stella, Kate, Helena, Stephanie and I clearly had a great deal of work to do! Much of the rubbish was recyclable and we managed to find out that there had been a communications breakdown between one of the local shops and its refuse collection company, and hopefully we have been able to help sort this out
Friends of Bury Knowle Park turned up for their litter pick but in fact found very little to collect in the Park – the Park Rangers are clearly keeping the Park very clean and tidy. Thanks to Rosemary and Jill and Frank for helping out.
In the afternoon helpers from the Central and North Headington Resident’ Association in Sandfield Road did a sterling job to finish clearing Cuckoo Lane and help clear some of the rubbish from the JR site – we were pleasantly surprised that the Headington Hill end of the lane had already been cleared by helpers from Brookes. Many thanks to all, including Karen the organiser, Topsy, Michael, Hans, and Steve Goddard and the other delightful lady pictured here!
A change in the law now means that ward councillors may call for reviews of existing licences on one or more of four grounds. These are:
If you have actual evidence as well as real concerns about nuisance or safety issues arising from any alcohol or entertainment licensed establishment within the Headington Ward – please get in touch with David and me, also the Neighbourhood team on 0845 850 5505 and your local Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator. It’s best to document dates and times of disturbances if you can as this will inform the licensing panel if the case comes to review.
The following licensing application has been granted to Jacobs and Field, 15, Old High Street, Headington (next door to Waitrose)
10/00090/PREM
New Premises Licence: Every day On / Off Sale of Alcohol 11am to 11pm, and until 1am on New Years Day
It was a great privilege to attend the opening of the Fair Trade Shop in London Road this lunchtime and to thank all those concerned for their dogged hard work and enthusiasm in bringing us this exciting new venture.
I was particularly interested in the Ecover containers of fabric softener, non bio laundry liquid, and washing up liquid available – at last, there is no need to buy plastic containers full of washing up liquid, just bring in your old ones and fill them up in the shop! What a great idea, and one that I know will appeal to many Headington residents who are concerned about their environment
Several residents have asked for an update on the unsightly barriers outside the Nat West Bank on the corner of Stephen Road and London Road. David and I have been investigating the cause of the delay in mending the pavements there following damage by tree roots. We were also concerned about a water leakage from the building onto the pavement next to the cash machines which was freezing in the bitterly cold weather and causing a safety hazard for residents.
The owners of the property went into receivership in November 2009. The receivers have been appointed and David and I are in contact with their London-based agents.
The agents claim not to have been aware of various leaks from the building until January of this year following an intervention by the County Highways Dept at our request, however this is disputed by their tenants, and it is possible that there has been a communications problem.
We are informed by the agents that they have attended to the leakage issues and the guttering. Their contracter checked the premises earlier this month, and reported back to say that the only remaining piece of equipment requiring repair or maintenance is the air conditioning unit, and that as this had been installed by the tenant, it was deemed to be the responsibility of Nat West.
We also understand that a late decision has been made by the receivers that a sum of money can be allocated towards the repair of the pavement outside the Nat West on their private property. We have put the agent in touch with the County officer who is leading on the London Road redevelopment, as it is the receivers’ intention to try and ‘buy into’ the pavement rebuild which is about to be carried out by the County’s contractors later in the year. We hope that they can come to an arrangement on this very soon.
One complication here will be the trees on that stretch of pavement – if replaced, the roots will continue to cause damage to the pavement surface, and the County planning officers are keen to see them replaced with trees of a more manageable size in line with the design proposals of the London Road redevelopment scheme. It is possible that the trees currently growing there may have Tree Preservation Orders on them, so we have given the contact details of the City Council’s Tree Officer to the agent for the receivers so that she can find out whether this is the case – if so, the correct planning application procedures will need to be followed.
Let’s hope it won’t be too long before the unsightly barriers disappear!
The corners of this junction are going to be tightened, so that pedestrians crossing York Road at the junction will have a shorter crossing, and vehicles turning left into York Road will go more slowly, reducing the risk of accidents.
Where pedestrians cross Margaret Road, the kerbs will be lowered and tactile paving will be laid. On the east corner, the existing footway will be rebuilt, and on the west corner the existing footway will be resurfaced.
The junction alterations are part of the “Better ways to school” initiative, its main aim is to encourage pupils to walk or cycle to school rather than to travel by car. Best of all, the efforts of Cllr Roz Smith and I in having a School Crossing Patrol have succeeded, and s/he will help school pupils and escorting adults to cross Margaret Road safely.
The work will start on 24 February and is expected to finish on 5 March
It’s always been confusing for residents (and us councillors too!) to know which neighbourhood team to contact for issues in and around the London Road and adjacent streets. The setting up of one team to cover the whole of Headington is really good news for local residents and David and I have lobbied hard for this, for some time!
The Headington North and South neighbourhoods have now amalgamated and cover the whole of Headington. The new email address to contact the team is Headington@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk . The members of the team are listed below so please feel free to contact them with any questions.
Sgt Claire Grant
PC Chris Miles
PCSO Dave Hession
PCSO Rachel Cooper
PCSO Steph Barras
PCSO Eva Jordan
The change is so new, the web links haven’t changed yet, but we will endeavour to make the necessary changes to our local information link when we know more!
The main redevelopment scheme will commence in April, but the following two actions will take place before that.
1) Consultation on new Traffic Regulation Orders relating to the parking and loading restrictions within the scheme and extending into some of the side roads – these will be advertised mid March, and letters will be sent to all immediate frontagers. The consultation period will be for 4 weeks.
2) Street lighting works – lighting columns between Osler Rd and Wharton Rd will be replaced during April. This will be carried out under a separate contract, and will cause minimal disruption to traffic. Affected frontagers will be kept informed, and if there are any queries, these should be addressed to the Project Leader, Colin Baird, tel 01865 252149.