Licensing application for the White Horse

A licensing application has been made for the White Horse (Hungry Horse) in Headley Way and the deadline for representations is 4 June 2009.  If you wish to know more about this application, please click Licensing Applications on the central orange toolbar.

David is willing to hold a meeting with local residents to explain the procedures if you think this would be helpful?  Please comment here or email either David or me if you would like us to organise this

Message to County Council on London Road: stop and learn!

Thank you to all those Headington residents who responded to our survey about the next phase of work on the London Road. We have formulated our response to the County Council having taken on board the wide range of comments made and talked to more local people.

One thing which is very clear to us is the level of frustration there has been over the way the roadworks for Phase I have been handled. We have regularly had to deal with issues of blocked drives, traffic lights switched off, unacceptable noise at night — like you, we have lived with this! The next Phase, because it’s in the very centre of Headington, is likely to be all the more disruptive. If the works were managed like this Phase has been, that would be a nightmare for our district centre. So, one of our key messages to the County is that they should stop and learn before they rush ahead.

We have also stressed to them that the roadworks should be part of a larger strategy, co-ordinated between different agencies: what we want to see is nothing less than our district centre on the up, being regenerated. For that to happen, we insist, it must involve local residents and their representatives at every stage.

We have also made comments on specific proposals. The one issue that has caused the most interest in the press has been pedestrian crossings. Our survey results show that the vast majority want to see an extra crossing on London Road — but that many do not want to lose the underpass. There are a significant minority who would prefer not to use the underpass, and we want those people to be able to have a crossing. But there are equally others who would not feel safe using a new crossing. What we have recommended is that there should be a new crossing, next to Osler Road which means that there would be no reason to waste money on losing the facility of the underpass, which some people find so useful. In short, we don’t see it as a case of either / or: it can be win / win!

I have uploaded the full submission so that you can read in detail what we have said on this and on other elements of the scheme. Thanks again to those who filled in our survey.

London Road Submission

Survey: cycling on pavements

The police in Headington North have received a number of complaints from residents who say that too many cyclists are riding on pavements, and they are keen to find out how often this happens, where it happens, and what time it happens. They are producing a leaflet to give to cyclists that will explain to them the consequences of cycling on pavements, the safety hazards this causes for pedestrians, and some information on safer routes to take.

If you see a cyclist riding on the pavement rather than on the cycle track, please report it to Headington North neighbourhood team, giving the date, time and place.  This will help them identify the areas they need to focus on.

Dates for your diary: Police Surgeries

You may already know that the police hold monthly surgeries in the Baptist Church on Old High St. Here is the list of their forthcoming sessions:

Tuesday 2 June 12pm – 2pm
Wednesday 1 July 12pm – 2pm
Wednesday 29 July 6pm – 8pm
Wednesday 26 August 12pm – 2pm

Most of them are in the day time but you’ll see that the event in July is in an evening. If you can’t make any of those but want to speak to the police, they give the following contact numbers:

tel: 0845 8 505 505
email: headingtonnorth@thamesvalley.pnn.police.uk

And, of course, you can also contact one of us and we will liaise with the police about the issue.

Illegal parking in Dunstan Road

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David and I are working hard to address the problem of illegal parking on the grass verge outside the parish hall in Dunstan Road.  It is wrong to park on this grass verge because:

  • it ruins the grass in a beautiful conservation area
  • there are yellow lines on the road at that point, and the verge forms part of the highway so parking here is illegal
  • parking on a bend like this obstructs the line of sight of oncoming motorists

The Principal at Ruskin College is assisting us by ensuring that Ruskin users are aware of the regulations, and David and I are in touch with enforcement officers.  If you recognise anyone who parks their car on the grass verge please let them know that they are likely to be served fixed penalty notices. I will raise this issue with neighbourhood police at this morning’s Neighbourhood Action Team meeting in Old High Street

 UPDATE 8/5/09

There is some confusion over who owns this land and I am following this up with officers and with the Land Registry. In the meantime, the neighbourhood police team from Headington North has undertaken to patrol this area on a regular basis

Litter near Windmill Road bus stop

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We have been trying to sort out the problem of litter in the area next to the bus stop in Windmill Road.

Here is an update on progress. The environmental development officer has written to the owners of the land and discussed the siting of the bus stop and the height of the retaining wall and advised them who to contact regarding this.

As the problem is continuing, he will seek to serve a litter clearing notice on the owner of the land and arrange for concentrated litter enforcement in the area

Cycling in Pullens Lane

We have been contacted by a resident who cycles along Pullens Lane who is concerned about the London Road improvements.  He contacted us to say that the junction with Pullens Lane has an obstructively high kerbstone and this is dangerous to those riding bikes, and particularly so for those riding trailer-bikes as the cyclist has to dismount to negotiate the junction between London Road and Pullens Lane safely.  We have contacted the County Officer concerned and here is his reply:

In the short term a fillet will be placed on the road to remove the vertical face on the kerb.

A change will be made to the kerb line but the inclined face was a requirement of the scheme.

We are discussing what further action we can press for with County Councillor Altaf Khan

Lib Dem candidates for the county council election

The two Lib Dem candidates for Headington and Marston Division are Cllr Mohammed Altaf-Khan and Barry Crossman.

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Altaf has been your local County Councillor since 2005. He has lived and
worked locally with his family for more many years and is currently
finishing a course in labour economics and law at Ruskin College in
Headington.
Altaf has always been at the heart of our community and led the campaign to
retain the IT hub at Northway community Centre.
As a City Councillor, Altaf is also a member of the local neighbourhood
action group and is a trustee of the charitable trust of Old Marston.

Barry works in Headington as a Clinical Trials Co-ordinator for the
University of Oxford – making life saving medicines available to the wider
public.
He has been actively involved in campaigning to retain and improve sports centre facilities and he helps to represent leaseholders in the City.  He is keen to involve Headington and Marston residents in developing local plans and amenities

Got a gripe? Tell us about it!

David and I are re-starting our popular open air street surgeries in June, and look forward to meeting you in a place near where you live

9 June 18.30 – 20.00  Informal street surgery outside St Andrew’s Church, St. Andrew’s Road. All residents in Old Headington are welcome to come and share their views and concerns with David and Ruth.

30 June 18.30 – 20.00 Informal street surgery in All Saints Road by the community noticeboard.  All residents in Highfield and New Headington are welcome to come and share their views and concerns with David and Ruth.

There is no need to book in advance, just come along, we’d love to see you!

If you need to speak to us about any issue, our contact details are at “Contact us” on the central orange toolbar

Road Closures latest

Further to our post of 26th April, we have been in contact with the County Council about the re-surfacing of London Rd from Headley Way to Osler Rd and the related closures. There are two main issues. First, the simultaneous closures of Lime Walk, Latimer Road and Sandfield Road. We are now told that the hope is not to have them all closed at the same time, and that it does not take a full five days. I’m not sure how reassuring that is: it might be better to know all the roads are closed that having to leave it to guess work!

Second, and at least as important, is the impact of the night-time working on residents on or near London Road. This has already been a problem further up for the dormitories at Headington School. Our main concern now is for the residents of the sheltered accommodation that lines London Road. We have been assured that a letter has gone to each building but we are urging the County to try to make contact with individual residents in those blocks. If you know any residents in London Court, Victoria Court, McMaster House or any of the other residences around there, do help us make sure they are aware of the unfortunate (but necessary) disruption that’s going to occur.