I sent the following letter today to all JCR and MCR presidents at Colleges of Oxford University that are in my Carfax ward today:

Dear JCR/MCR president,

Introduction and news from your Oxford City Councillor about major end of 6th week event.

I’m writing to you at the start of this academic year, firstly to introduce myself, so you and your common room members know how to contact me (see phone and email above, or tweet @tonybrett) for any city issues while you are resident here; and, secondly, to let you know about the City Council Christmas Lights event that is planned for the end of sixth week as it will involve some multi-day road closures and parking suspensions in large parts of the City Centre that will affect you.

An Oxford graduate myself, I’ve been representing Carfax ward since 2010. About 65% of its people are students so I am very keen that I am accessible to you so I can help you with anything you need while you are here in Oxford. I work at IT Services at 13 Banbury Road, so I’m very close at hand if you or any of your college’s students have any questions about city issues. You can ring me on internal 83354.

I want to do all I can to ensure you and all your fellow students feel as welcome in this city as possible, and part of it. I’d be really pleased to come along to a suitable common room meeting or any other appropriate event, perhaps to give a quick 5-minute run-down on what councillors do for people, how we can help and to take any questions. Would that be useful? Did you know, for example, that Oxford City Council is responsible for shared houses; parks; licensing live music venues; pubs, clubs, taxis and kebab vans; planning permission, collecting rubbish, and dealing with complaints about noise nuisance? I’ve helped students with all of those. Remember my job is to represent you to the council – not the council to you! You can read more about my work at http://tonybrett.mycouncillor.org.uk/

Turning to the Christmas event at the end of sixth week I am very keen that students get advance warning of the road closures as I think the Council has been pretty poor at keeping you informed. I only found out about them myself last month! All of St. Giles and some surrounding roads will be closed from 7pm on Thursday of 6th week right up until Monday of 7th week. That will mean no cycling and certainly no driving into town for friend or parent visits etc. I’m sure the Christmas event will be good but I wanted all your college’s students to know about it as I thought you might have concerns or questions. I’ve put a map of the closures on the back of this letter – I’m assured, after querying the council, that the green area will actually be closed from 7pm, not 4pm on Thursday of sixth week. Please do let me have any queries or comments and I will make sure they are passed on to the appropriate council officers and dealt with properly. As a past student of Oxford myself I know how important it is to be able to get around the City when you live right in the centre of it.

Thanks very much for taking time to read this and I wish you a happy and successful Michaelmas Term and academic year.

I hope some will find it useful.  You can click the image to see a larger version.