Am I being watched?

A number of people have asked questions about the surveillance that is carried out by City Council Officers on members of the public under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, and our Lib Dem colleague representing Barton, Chris Scanlan, has been pressing for a statement on this.  I thought you might be interested in this response from the appropriate officer in the Legal and Democratic Services department:

For your information the Council has authorised directed surveillance on 24 occasions since the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) came into force. The Act came into force in October 2000. Of those 24 authorisations 6 related to benefit fraud investigations, 13 related to anti-social behaviour/crime & disorder investigations and 5 related to internal disciplinary investigations.

None of the above include investigations into littering, dog fouling or any of the other minor offences, which have made the press in recent months. Over a period of 8 years I think it is fair to say that the Council has used these powers very sparingly.

Under the Council’s current RIPA policy and procedure (which is available on the Council’s website) I receive a copy of each authorisation. If I felt that the Act was being used inappropriately or that the ‘necessity and proportionality’ test had not been applied then I would intervene and require the investigating officer and the authorising officer to justify their actions.

If you have any queries or concerns about this, just hit the Comment? button or email David or me directly (see Contact us in left hand tool bar for details). 

Priority roads for building work in the next financial year

The following is a list of all the roads in the ward that City Works have advised need repairs and maintenance, and they are grouped in order of priority.  Don’t forget that the major roads like the London Road will not feature in this list as their repairs and maintenance are looked after directly by the County Council’s Highways Dept. I hope I haven’t missed any, it’s a very long list to scan for Headington road names!

These Estimates present the City Council’s proposed programme of works for carrying out in the year 2009-2010.The threshold for Assessed Maintenance schemes has been set at £6,000 by the County Council, so all complete schemes below this figure are funded from the General Maintenance estimates. The aggregate value of work within a street on the Named Schemes list will exceed £6,000 even if the value of any type of work in a street is less. The Estimates are prioritized according to need. Priorities are based on the following parameters:-

  1. Urgent work required to carry out structural repairs to eliminate an existing hazard.

  2. Medium priority structural repairs to prevent the occurrence of hazards

  3. Lower priority schemes to protect the structure from deterioration

Highways Act, 1990, Part IV, Section 42, Schedule 7 estimate Named Schemes (sorted by priority) Priorities 1,2 and 3 are collected and presented as named schemesPriority 9 is applied to works not achieving the £6,000 threshold.  

Street (Section) Description of work Value of work (£) 

Priority 1

  • BEECH ROAD Lift kerbs and lay new kerbs 4,087.65
  • BEECH ROAD Lift kerbs and lay new kerbs 4,448.32
  • BEECH ROAD Footway overlay 2,485.54
  • BEECH ROAD Footway overlay 2,284.01
  • BEECH ROAD Carriageway plane and resurface 13,296.63
  • GATHORNE ROAD Lift kerbs and lay new kerbs 8,912.68
  • LARKINS LANE Carriageway heavy patching 1,195.67
  • LARKINS LANE Lift stone kerbs and relay with 30% new stone kerbs 8,790.71
  • OSLER ROAD Footway reconstruction 57,865.85 

Priority 2

  • FORTNAM CLOSE Lift kerbs and lay new kerbs 2,244.20
  • FORTNAM CLOSE Footway overlay 1,603.52
  • FRANKLIN ROAD Carriageway concrete joint seal 683.24
  • FRANKLIN ROAD Carriageway macadam overlay of concrete 5,270.70
  • FRANKLIN ROAD Carriageway plane and resurface 25,062.91
  • FRANKLIN ROAD Footway overlay 13,542.84
  • GATHORNE ROAD Carriageway plane and resurface 10,133.75
  • HORWOOD CLOSE Carriageway plane and resurface 12,794.87
  • LATIMER ROAD Lift kerbs and lay new kerbs 8,616.12
  • LATIMER ROAD Footway reconstruction 11,519.59
  • LATIMER ROAD Footway reconstruction 11,787.48
  • LATIMER ROAD Lift kerbs and lay new kerbs 8,816.50
  • MARGARET ROAD Footway overlay 6,737.04
  • MARGARET ROAD Footway overlay 5,906.71
  • NEW HIGH STREET Carriageway plane and resurface 48,219.13
  • OLD HIGH STREET Carriageway Plane and resurface with minor patching 28,547.46
  • OLD HIGH STREET Footway overlay 1,275.75
  • OLD HIGH STREET (SW side and shops layby) Footway overlay 7,669.04
  • OLD ROAD (upper) Footway reconstruction 130,133.90
  • OLD ROAD (upper) Lift kerbs and lay new kerbs 43,601.60
  • PIPER STREET Footway reconstruction 8,915.62
  • PIPER STREET Carriageway plane and resurface 3,727.36
  • STAUNTON ROAD Footway reconstruction 74,068.28
  • STEPHEN ROAD Carriageway plane and resurface 23,855.10
  • WINDSOR STREET  Carriageway plane and resurface 6,531.83
  • WINDSOR STREET Footway reconstruction 6,978.19 

Priority 3

  • BARRINGTON CLOSE Carriageway macadam overlay of concrete 9,504.54
  • BARRINGTON CLOSE Carriageway concrete joint seal 1,268.88
  • BICKERTON ROAD Footway overlay 2,505.51
  • BICKERTON ROAD Lift kerbs and lay new kerbs 8,295.52
  • BICKERTON ROAD Footway overlay 7,523.80
  • BICKERTON ROAD Lift kerbs and lay new kerbs 8,295.52
  • BROOKSIDE Carriageway plane and resurface 21,575.67
  • CUCKOO LANE FP 320/034 Footway overlay 8,523.10
  • ETHELRED COURT Carriageway plane and resurface 13,762.56
  • FORTNAM CLOSE Carriageway plane and resurface 14,515.20
  • FORTNAM CLOSE Carriageway concrete joint seal 627.47
  • GATHORNE ROAD Footway reconstruction 31,710.48
  • KENNETT ROAD Footway overlay 9,954.27
  • LAUREL FARM CLOSE Footway Deep clean of block paving and reseal 7,071.60
  • PERRIN STREET  Carriageway plane and resurface 16,138.75
  • STAPLETON ROAD Footway overlay 8,279.08
  • STAPLETON ROAD Footway overlay 1,379.84
  • STAUNTON ROAD (Headley Way to Woodlands Road)  Lift kerbs and lay new kerbs 34,624.80
  • YORK ROAD Footway overlay 4,456.06
  • YORK ROAD Carriageway plane and resurface 8,246.55
  • YORK ROAD Footway overlay 2,965.46 

Priority 9

  • ALL SAINTS ROAD Footway overlay 2075.82  Lift kerbs and lay new kerbs 1963.67
    BATEMAN STREET   Lift kerbs and lay new kerbs 2364.42      Footway overlay 714.13
  • CECIL SHARP PLACE Footway Deep clean of block paving and reseal 5438.16
  • CUCKOO LANE FP 320/035 Osler Road to Old High Street  Footway Overlay 2440.15
  • FP 320/036 (BURY KNOWLE PATH) North Place to London Road Footway overlay 4988.75
    GARDINER STREET  Footway overlay 519.25
  • LATIMER GRANGE Lift slab footway and reconstruct in macadam 1832.20
  • NORTH PLACE Footway stone slabs lift and relay 3971.60
  • NORTON CLOSE Footway overlay 2736.69
  • NURSERY CLOSE Footway overlay 1653.88
  • ST. ANDREWS LANE Carriageway heavy patching 5480.20
  • ST. ANDREWS ROAD  Footway Lift pitched stone footway and relay  1750.00
  • ST. ANNE’S ROAD Drainage gullies reconstruction  3142.62
  • WILBERFORCE STREET  Footway overlay 561.62

  • WILLIAM ORCHARD CLOSE Lift slab footway and lay modular paving 5461.93
  • WOODLANDS CLOSE Footway overlay 5523.26

Improving Oxford City homes – latest update

Oxford City Homes Tenants and Leaseholders may be interested to click on this link to find out about the progress of the homes improvement work plan. Click on the link to the Homes Improvement Works Plan edition 2 December 2008 to access a document which tells you what work will be carried out in OCH homes in different areas of Oxford. In our ward, properties in the following roads are included:

  • Bury Knowle House
  • Gardiner Street
  • Headley Way
  • Laurel Farm Close
  • London Road
  • Mattock Close
  • New High Street
  • North Place
  • Old Road
  • Stephen Road
  • York Road

If you think your property should have been included in this work list, then telephone 0800 227676 to ask why it’s been missed out.

City Council dilemma on making planning decisions

Plans for the Kennet Valley 'mini-town' have temporarily been withdrawn

Lib Dems believe that planning decisions should be made as close as possible to the people affected

An inadequately argued proposal from the Labour administration on Oxford City Council, to remove the right of area committees to make decisions on planning applications in their areas, and to return to centralised decision-making, was so fundamentally amended at the last full council meeting that the council is now in limbo.

Since 2002, when a Lib Dem-led administration set up six area committees to make decisions affecting their own communities – including deciding key planning applications – people in Oxford have found that they can get much more involved with matters which concern them, and can influence their councillors much more effectively. Attendance at area committee meetings is regularly many times higher than was the case with centralised planning committees.

But the current Labour administration has vowed to change this, and return to a system of decision-making in the Town Hall by councillors who often know very little about the likely effect of their decisions on the people living closest. Said Lib Dem group leader Cllr David Rundle: “We have protested loudly that there has been very little consultation about this change with the communities affected. Representatives of many groups in the city have come forward in recent days to object, but they have been ignored by the Labour group. This flies in the face of their own Government’s claims to want to increase the powers of communities to decide things which affect them.”

Added Cllr Rundle: “Labour claim that the change will save the council money, but their financial case is so full of holes that they dare not let the scrutiny committee, or area committees, check it out. We have heard a succession of contradictory and false statements by the portfolio holder, and it is clear that the whole idea is being pursued for reasons which have nothing to do with community empowerment or improving quality of decisions.”

As a result of amendments agreed in council, the council may now allow area committees to decide for themselves whether they want to retain planning powers. People in those areas of the city with Labour-dominated area committees would find their planning decisions being made centrally, with limited opportunities to hold their councillors to account.

Water Watch in Old Headington

tap.jpg

David and I have been informed by Thames Water that the cleaning out of the sewers has now been completed in Old Headington. The extent of the operation had to be extended as they found the line was heavily fatted and greased, and was heavily scaled

This should have sorted out the problems. Please let us know if anything else needs to be done

Changes to controlled parking zone restrictions

David and I received notification of this today from the County Council

OXFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL (HEADINGTON CENTRAL, OXFORD)(CONTROLLED PARKING ZONE AND VARIOUS RESTRICTIONS) (VARIATION No.6) ORDER 200* NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Oxfordshire County Council proposes to make the above mentioned Order under Sections 32, 35, 45 & 46 and Parts III & IV of Schedule 9 to the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and all other enabling powers. 
The effect of the proposed Order will be to amend the Oxfordshire County Council (Headington Central) (Controlled Parking Zone and Various Restrictions) Order 2005, as amended and revoke the Oxfordshire County Council (Headington Central) (Controlled Parking Zone and Various Restrictions) (Variation No.5) Order 2008 effectively replacing Schedule 4 Part A.  The proposal is to:

1.      exclude the following properties from eligibility for residents, business and visitors permits:

·         Champneys Court (Flats 1-6) 88 Windmill Road.·         Edna Rose Court (Flats 1-5) 90 Windmill Road.

·         No 124A Lime Walk.

·         Lime Tree Mews (Flats 1-12) 2 Lime Walk.   

·         Wingfield House (Flats 1-5) 2A Gathorne Road

.  2.      include the following property as eligible for residents and visitors permits

  • No 124 Lime Walk.

Documents giving more detailed particulars of the proposed Order are available for public inspection at County Hall, New Road, Oxford OX1 1ND from 9.00 am to 4.30 pm Monday to Friday and at Headington Library, Bury Knowle Park, Headington on Monday & Wednesday from 9.15am to 1.00pm; Tuesday & Thursday 9.15am to 7.00pm; Friday 9.15am to 6.00pm; and Saturday 9.15am to 4.40pm. Objections to the proposal, specifying the grounds on which they are made, and any other representations, should be sent in writing to the Director for Environment and Economy (ref. MJR/TRO) at the address given below, no later than 15 January 2009. The County Council will consider objections and representations received in response to this Notice. They may be disseminated widely for these purposes and made available to the public.  Dated:  18th December 2008  Huw JonesDirector for Environment and EconomyOxfordshire County CouncilSpeedwell House

Oxford, OX1 1NE.

Planning decision overturned

Re: 10 STEPHEN ROAD – Application  08/01961/FUL

The Strategic Development Control Committee met yesterday and resolved to approve the application for the following reason, and subject to conditions as detailed in the planning officers report. The Council considers that the proposal accords with the policies of the development plan as set out in the report.  It has taken into consideration all other material matters, including matters raised in response to consultation and publicity.  Any material harm that the development would otherwise give rise to can be offset by the conditions imposed.

Why is David Rundle looking so excited?

congrats.jpg     Ruth Wilkinson writes…

I am sure everyone in the Headington Ward will join me in congratulating David and his fiancee Ruth on their recent engagement.  She’s either brave or foolhardy, but we wish her (and David!) all the very best for a long and happy future together.

 

PS from David: Thank you, Ruth, for your kind words about me and the other Ruth! (A source of eternal confusion). Like you, I’m surprised she said ‘yes’ but I’m not going to ask for a re-count. Thank you to those of you who have written to me and my fiancee with warm wishes: we appreciate it.

Will they listen? Well…they’re going to have to!

STOP PRESS

Councillors voted tonight and amended the recommendation on ways to handle planning decisions as follows:

Area Committees to be given the choice of whether or not they continue
to determine planning applications

So this means the paper will be referred through to area committee meetings for further debate, and if councillors at Area Committees vote against continuing to determine planning applications, they will have to do so in front of their own residents and residents’ associations who will be able to petition them and challenge them

Basically this will mean that, if councillors vote according to party lines then NEAC is likely to meet only every two months and won’t determine its own planning decisions, as I understand it, unless a couple of Labour councillors are brave enough to defy the whip.

This may mean that there will be disparities between the way planning decisions are made in different areas of Oxford

David and I feel that this outcome is better than we expected. We are really pleased that residents will now have the opportunity to have their say and we thank all those Headington residents and the Highfield Residents’ Association for taking such a spirited stand on the need for public consultation and partnership