Rise in charges for taking non-household waste to the tip

Here is the press release from the County Council about the rise in charges with effect from 1st October.

There will be an additional facility for recycling hard plastics.

Fly-tipping and waste/recycling collection are managed by the City Council in our area, but the County Council runs Redbridge.

From Bank Holiday Saturday banners and leaflets  will be on site at all seven of our HWRCs, informing local residents that there will be a change in non-household waste charges from the 1st October. We will also be raising awareness via social media and will be issuing a press release w.c. 28th August.

The existing DIY 1,2,3 for free scheme is being replaced by a small fixed fee per item of £1.50 for non-household waste from the 1st October. Tyres and plasterboard will also be charged for at an affordable rate. The existing scheme has been in place for 15 years and during this time there we have not increased the charge of £1 per item.

The council is not obliged to provide residents with a disposal site for non-household waste. However, in the HWRC public consultation carried out in summer 2016, 91% of responses indicated that residents would prefer to pay to deposit non-household waste as a way of saving money and protecting other council services.

Soil, rubble, hard-core, plasterboard (gypsum) other DIY type items are classified as construction waste, not household waste, and are expensive for the council to dispose of. We recognise that many householders carry out small DIY projects from time to time, and by applying a small charge this allows HWRCs to continue accepting these discretionary types of non-household waste.

Non-household or DIY items, as a general rule are materials created from the construction, demolition, alteration or repair of a home or garden. For example a sink, bath, kitchen unit, fence panel, bag of rubble etc. 

Residents can still dispose of all their household waste free of charge at any of the county’s HWRCs.

Also new in October 2017 will be a bin for recycling hard plastics. After a successful trial at Dix and Alkerton HWRCs, items such as plastic garden furniture and children’s toys will be collected and recycled from all sites.

You may want to remind residents in your area that all HWRCs are open until 8pm on Thursdays throughout the summer until 1 October 2017. We are encouraging people via social media to beat the bank holiday weekend queue by visiting their local site on a Thursday instead. 

More information about the changes is available online at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/chargeablewaste.

Up and coming events in Oxford

  • Until Monday 28 August, World Vision Charity – Journey of Hope, Bonn Square, 9am to 7pm every day. Journey of Hope is an immersive experience telling the story of eight-year-old Ayie from rural Sierra Leone. It also gives people the opportunity to sponsor a World Vision child. www.worldvision.uk
  • Sunday 27 August, Headington Five Mile Road Race, starting at Boults Lane Rec, 9.30 am to 11 am. Annual five-mile road running race around Marston and Headington.http://www.hrr.org.uk/h5m/
  • Wednesday 30 August, Recycling Roadshow, Hinksey Park, 10 am to 4 pm. This is to promote and engage residents with recycling by giving out free recycling advice, leaflets and recycled goodies.
  • Friday 1 September, Film under the Stars, Rose Hill Rec (behind the community centre), 8.45 pm to 11 pm. Outdoor screening of a family film. www.filmoxford.org
  • Friday 1 to Sunday 3 September, Foodies Festival, South Park, 11 am to 7 pm. Join Saturday Kitchen’s Matt Tebbutt and Great British Bake Off winner Candice Brown at the annual Foodies Festival. www.foodiesfestival.com
  • Monday 4 & Tuesday 5 September, St Giles Fair, St Giles, 11 am to 10 pm.  One of the UK’s oldest fun fairs is back – this year with a licensed bar and street food traders!www.oxford.gov.uk/info/20035/events/557/st_giles_fair
  • Monday 4 September, Recycling Roadshow, Cutteslowe Park, 10am to 4pm. This is to promote and engage residents with recycling by giving out free recycling advice, leaflets and recycled goodies.

Felling licence consultation – 24 trees in Christ Church meadow

Oxford City Council is being consulted by the Forestry Commission on an application for a Felling Licence that has been made by Christ Church. The Forestry Commission deadline for comments is 1st September 2017.

The application is to fell 24 trees (mixed species; predominantly hornbeam, but also including ash, hawthorn and sycamore) and replant with 22 lime trees (Tillia x europea ‘Pallida’) at Rose Lane Walk, Christ Church Meadow.

In response to the Forestry Commission consultation, officers recommend under delegated powers

  • to raise no objection to the grant of a Felling Licence;
  • to ask the Forestry Commission to impose a condition on any Felling Licence requiring 22 heavy standard common lime trees to be planted before the end of the first planting season in the year that the trees are felled; and,
  •  to ask the Forestry Commission to impose a condition requiring tree felling not to take place during the ecologically sensitive time of the year between 1st April and 1st October unless there is a clear over-riding justification.

Full details can be viewed on the Council’s website

Although this application does not affect Headington Ward, we appreciate that many of our residents will want to know about this consultation.

Up and coming events in Oxford

  • Until Monday 28 August, World Vision Charity – Journey of Hope, Bonn Square, 9am to 7pm every day. Journey of Hope is an immersive experience telling the story of eight-year-old Ayie from rural Sierra Leone. It also gives people the opportunity to sponsor a World Vision child. www.worldvision.uk
  • Tuesday 15 to Thursday 17 August, Rose Hill Play Ranger Sessions, Rose Hill Rec (behind the Community Centre) 10 am to 2 pm. Free play sessions organised by the Oxfordshire Play Association. www.oxonplay.org.uk
  • Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 August, German Village Festival, Broad Street, 5 pm to 11 pm. Traditional German fest with an outside area and beer tent – the first time in Oxford. http://oxford.bierfest.co.uk/
  • Friday 18 to Sunday 20 August, Hebborns Family Fun Fair, Cowley Marsh Rec, 1.30 pm to 10 pm. www.hebbornamusements.co.uk
  • Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 August, Oxford City Royal Regatta, Longbridges Nature Park, 7 am to 6 pm. Oxford City Royal Regatta is an annual rowing competition which has taken place on the Isis River since 1841. www.oxfordrowingclub.org.uk
  • Sunday 20 August, Oxford Women’s Softball Cricket Festival, Cutteslowe Park, 12 pm to 4 pm. Organised by Oxfordshire Cricket, this event gives women of all ages an exciting and inclusive introduction to cricket. http://www.oxfordshire.cricket/
  • Sunday 20 August, Film under the Stars, Rose Hill Rec (behind the community centre), 8.45 pm to 11pm. Outdoor screening of a family film. www.filmoxford.org
  • Tuesday 22 to Thursday 24 August, Rose Hill Play Ranger Sessions, Rose Hill Rec (behind the Community Centre) 10 am to 2 pm. Free play sessions organised by the Oxfordshire Play Association. www.oxonplay.org.uk
  • Sunday 27 August, Headington 5 Mile Road Race, starting at Boults Lane Rec, 9.30 am to 11 am. Annual 5-mile road running race around Marston and Headington.http://www.hrr.org.uk/h5m/

Better broadband in Headington Ward

The County Council has sent us the following information.

Superfast broadband coverage in Headington

The majority of coverage in Headington has been delivered commercially with the Better Broadband programme having enabled superfast broadband already to most of the areas not covered commercially.

There is a small element of commercial coverage remaining for completion, specifically covering premises in OX3 9BQ, OX3 9DZ and OX3 9FR. There is also some additional work under the programme due for completion by the end of 2017. There are very few postcodes where there is no (or minimal) superfast coverage. Therefore, if there are premises not able to order superfast broadband, we would direct residents to our website and in particular, the final 4% page for further information on options available. The Better Broadband programme has also launched the co-funding scheme, which is detailed on the website.

Within a postcode, there are instances where some premises may not be able to order a superfast broadband product due to distance from a fibre enabled cabinet.

What if my property is still unable to get superfast broadband?

Further information is available on the Better Broadband website, specifically in the section titled Final 4%. In summary, the options are:

  • self-funding
  • co-funding (with help from OCC)
  • wireless broadband (subsidy vouchers available, subject to eligibility)
  • satellite broadband (subsidy vouchers available, subject to eligibility)
  • 3G/4G mobile broadband
 You can check whether or not your property has access to super fast broadband on the Better Broadband website

H42 applications

We get asked questions about H42 planning applications. Householder Prior Approval applications (H42) can only be refused where representations have been received from neighbours sharing a boundary with the application site and the Council considers there to be significant harm on the amenity of any adjoining premises.

We have asked the City Council’s planning department for more information and here is its response.

There are three potential outcomes for H42s. Firstly, prior approval not required which is for cases where there are no objections from neighbours. In these cases we don’t assess the development at all other than to check that it meets the parameters of permitted development. If they don’t meet the requirements of permitted development we normally point this out and return the applications (which you can see accounts for a few in the stats below). The great majority of H42s are ‘prior approval not required’. Where there are objections we assess the development and its impact on neighbouring amenity,  we do refuse some of these and of course it depends on the size of the extensions, orientation of the plot and the relationship with neighbouring windows. These decisions are ‘prior approval required and granted’ and ‘prior approval required and refused’.

2015 – Total of 141 applications:

Prior approval not required – 104

Prior approval required and granted – 22

Prior approval required and refused – 4

Withdrawn/returned – 14

 

2016 – Total of 115 applications:

Prior approval not required – 72

Prior approval required and granted – 13

Prior approval required and refused – 9

Withdrawn/returned – 21

 

2017 (so far) – Total of 91 applications:

Prior approval not required – 52

Prior approval required and granted – 5

Prior approval required and refused – 4

Withdrawn/returned/not yet determined – 30

Response to consultation: B4495 Windmill Road (Oxford) Proposed 20mph Speed Limit

Here are our comments in respect of the proposal to introduce a 20MPH speed limit in B4495 Windmill Road, Headington which we have sent to the County Council. Please note that this consultation is entirely separate from works in Windmill Road and surrounding streets associated with the Access to Headington project.

We have discussed this issue with residents in the affected area on doorsteps, at street surgeries and at public meetings. There is broad support in the area for the introduction of a 20 MPH limit throughout the whole of Windmill Road to minimise risk of road accidents and facilitate better and safer amenity for residents. We know that Windmill Road Residents’ Action Group and the governors at Windmill Primary School support this proposal.

A significant number of those residents favouring the 20 MPH limit have indicated to us that they would also like to see more robust speed limit enforcement. We are discussing these concerns with the Thames Valley Police Neighbourhood Team who have offered to make available speed indication devices for community speed watch operations. Various police speeding operations have taken place in the area over the recent past and a number of speeding tickets were issued.

We support the proposal to introduce a 20 MPH limit along the whole length of Windmill Road.

Cllrs Roz Smith, Altaf-Khan and Ruth Wilkinson

 

Latest decisions on planning applications in Headington

17/01277/FUL PERMITTED

Erection of single storey rear extension. Erection of single storey extension to porch and insertion of 2no. rooflights to east elevation. Alterations to doors and windows on north and south elevations.

20 And 22 Kennett Road 

17/01242/FUL PERMITTED

Erection of a two storey office building (Use Class B1)

Land Between 7 And 9 All Saints Road

Linfield Ltd

17/01279/FUL PERMITTED

Affecting a Conservation Area

Insertion of 2 rooflights to roofslope on south elevation.

Flat 14 Emden House Barton Lane

17/01370/CPU PERMITTED

Application to certify that the proposed formation of 1no rooflight to side roofslope and 1no. rooflight to rear roofslope and roofspace to be used as a habitable room is lawful development.

104 Staunton Road Oxford

 

Adopt a piece of Oxford’s history!

Oxford residents are being invited to adopt a piece of Oxford’s history to help fund the £2.8m redevelopment of the Museum of Oxford.

People will be able to adopt 60 objects from the Museum of Oxford’s collection, ranging from a Saxon arrowhead to a Morris Minor badge.

Adopters will get an adoption certificate, a digital image of the object, their name in the museum’s online gallery and an invite to the new museum’s opening in 2020.

You can adopt an object for yourself or as a gift, with adoptions starting at £25.

Objects available for adoption included:

  • A bone ice skate from the Saxon period
  • Lewis Carroll’spocket watch
  • A pavement made of animal knuckle bones
  • A 400-year-old tennis ball
  • Rainsley model of a St Giles attraction

All money raised through the adopt an object scheme will go towards the development of the Museum of Oxford. If all 60 objects are adopted, it will raise £5,000.

Oxfordshire County Council’s Museum Service, which owns many of the objects, has kindly allowed them to be adopted.

The £2.8m project to transform the Museum of Oxford, called Oxford’s Hidden Histories, will tell the story of Oxford, its people and its communities. It has been dubbed the “people’s museum”.

The City Council hopes to raise £1.6m through a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and has set aside a further £315,000 for the project. It is hoped that the remaining funds will be raised through private donations.

The development trust, which will raise funds for the project, has been granted charity status by the Charities Commission. This allows the project to receive gift aid, and to apply to more trusts and foundations for funds.

The hope is to start building work in 2018 and open the new Museum of Oxford in 2020.

To find out more about the Museum of Oxford redevelopment project – please visit www.oxfordhiddenhistories.org

Click here for the link to the objects up for adoption

Wick Farm

Just to confirm the latest re a potential development of the Wick Farm site as we are getting lots of questions. That area falls outside the jurisdiction of the Oxford City Local Planning Authority.

Proposals were put forward to South Oxfordshire by landowners Wick Farming Ltd and Christ Church for housing on land next to Barton Park. Part of the proposals included a potential hospital park and ride for NHS staff at the Headington sites. South Oxfordshire did not include the sites as potential development sites in their Second Preferred Options. (They are Green Belt sites).