Lib Dem Achievements in Government

I don’t often post about the party rather than what I’m up to or what I think so I thought I would today.

Mark Pack, a well known Lib Dem has produced a wonderful poster to remind us of all the great things that the Lib Dems have achieved in government and I wanted to share it here.

Lib Dem achievements in government.

There is also an A3 PDF available for printing.  For those of you with screen readers I’ll list the achievements here too:

  1. Income tax cuts with 2.7m lower earners being freed of income tax burden completely.
  2. Tax hikes for the rich – a £1m/year earner will pay £381k tax more over the five years of this government than they did under the last 5 years of the Labour government
  3. Created the world’s first National Green Development Bank
  4. Started move than 502,600 apprenticeships in 20011/12 – more than Britain has ever had before.
  5. The pupil premium – in 2013 their school is given £900 for each eligible child (generally those that get free school meals or have done so in the last six years)
  6. Pensions and earnings are linked better again so we won’t see repeats of some of the awful derisory rises that we have seen in the past.
  7. Bank reform means that High Street banks will be better protected from some of the excesses of casino banking that really hit the UK in the banking crisis
  8. Civil Liberties:  scrapping ID cards, banning storing DNA of innocent people, stopping detention of children during immigration cases, cutting the maximum period of detention without charge, and much more.
  9. Protecting post offices
  10. Building more homes.  190,000 affordable units over the next four years.  The first net increase in social housing for over 30 years.
  11. Equal Marriage – very nearly there!
  12. Shared parental leave and 15 hours of free childcare for all 3 and 4 year olds.

All pretty amazing stuff!

Another shop loss on George Street – but good news on bins!

jessopsToday I spotted a planning application for a change of use of basement and ground floor from a retail unit (Use class A1) to a restaurant (Use class A3) at 63 George Street.  That’s the now-closed Jessops shop.  I was worried about the loss of another retail unit and the addition of yet another food outlet/bar (that’s what A3 is) so asked the planning officer about it.  He explained that the council has to assess any against its own retail policies in the Local Plan depending on the number of retail units left within the street and how this affects these policy thresholds.

A couple of days later the planning officer came back to me and explained that  he had reviewed the proportion of non-A1 (retail) uses within the secondary shopping frontage of the city centre (within which the site is located – in line with policy RC5 of the Local Plan). The proportion of A1 uses at ground floor level taking account of the change of proposed would equate to 51% (as based on January 2013 surveys by the Council). The policy minimum threshold for retail units is set at 50%. Consequently the proposal would not be contrary to the Council’s town centre/retail policies.

In English that means the retail units proportions policy does not give planning ground to refuse the application and so it would probably be granted.  I have to accept that really.  The only other thing I would like to see is a condition about is where the proposed A3 user will store waste.  There is a growing problem of large industrial waste bins being left out all over the city centre’s pavements and I really don’t want this unit to be another that does that.  I’ve asked it if can be conditioned that all waste must be stored onsite unless it is out for collection, say within the next two hours.  There are currently too many A3 users that area leaving pavements looking awful all week and I really don’t want that to get worse – All Bar One and the bins all over Alfred Street is a an example of this poor practice as are some of the A3 units on Gloucester Green.

To my delight, the planning officer said it would be entirely possible to write such a condition into the permission  requiring any future A3 user to store waste/bins on the premises at all times except immediately before and after waste collection. He said he would look at ways of making the condition as precise as possible (as required by Government guidance on conditions) so that it is enforceable if necessary and even went as far as to say he had circulated my concerns to all officers within the development control team for them to bear in mind when assessing such applications.  I am extremely impressed!

 

How to check for an Oxford HMO licence or application

A few people have asked me how to check a property before signing a rental contact to occupy it as sharers.  You can check quite easily via the City Council website but clicking this link:

http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decB/Licensing_applications_search_occw.htm

You will arrive at the search start page where you need to click the blue “I accept” button which you find by scrolling down a bit through the text.  You can read the guidance notes there if you wish.  Once you’ve clicked the accept button you get taken to the search page where you can just type in the start of a street address.  If you are searching for an existing licence rather than application it’s important to click the radio button to choose licences (circled in red) rather than applications otherwise you won’t find what you want.

hmo1

I’ve chosen 15 Regent Street just as a random address that I know is an HMO.  Once you’ve hit the search button you should get a results screen that looks like this (without the red circle):

hmo2

If you click on “HMO Details” (circled in red) you’ll get another screen that shows you other things like how many rooms there are and how many occupants the license allows.  These are important things to check.  It is also very important to check that the license has not expired as this system will show those too.  If it will expire during the period of your proposed tenancy then ask the letting agent or landlord what they are going to do about that.

hmo3

If you cannot find a license for a property you are considering renting then I would advise you to contact the City Council for advice before signing a contract or paying any sort of deposit or holding fee.  Don’t let an agency or a landlord bully you into rushing into anything as if there is no HMO license you will not be protected by the City Council and could be signing a lease for a dangerous or otherwise defective property.  The landlord and letting agent will also be acting illegally if they let a property that does not have a license.  I should say that if you don’t find a property on this search it may be because the application or license is still in processing. It doesn’t automatically mean the landlord or letting agent is doing anything wrong but it does mean you should check.

Phone: 01865 249811
Email: hmos@oxford.gov.uk
109 St Aldate’s Chambers,
St Aldate’s,
Oxford,
OX1 1DS

I hope people find this useful – it’s applicable to all those looking to share houses, not just students.  Remember though that being included on the public access HMO register no more makes a landlord or letting agent good than not being included on it makes a landlord or letting agent bad.

 

A weekend test-drive of an i-MiEV electric car

I was asked by a friend, Barrie, to test drive a Mitsubishi i-MiEV for the weekend sometime and I had a few trips to make this weekend I agreed to give it a go. It came from Humphris on Rose Hill where he works – apparently they wanted the view of a councillor!  I picked the car up on Saturday morning and was quite pleasantly surprised at how similar to any other small automatic it was in driving style and appearance. You even have a key to put in the “ignition” to turn it on and “start” the electric motor.

Once home I had a good look around the car inside and out. As it has no internal combustion engine it has electric power steering and there is a dedicated electric vacuum pump to provide the brake servo assistance. The brakes feel very normal, just like on any car of that size. Under the bonnet there is a 12v battery just like in a petrol or diesel car – it’s used for lights, wipers internal fans, indicators and so on. It also controls the electrics that manage the main traction motor and the big traction battery. The traction battery is huge and sits at the rear of the car under the back seat. It produces around 300v DC which is converted to 3-phase AC current to drive the traction motor. For those interested it produces about 66PS which is about the same a 1.1 litre small petrol car. The torque curve is very different though, with the electric motor having good torque right from a standstill, unlike a petrol engine which won’t do much at all below 1000rpm. The flexibility of the electric motor means that the car only has one gear as the motor can cope right through the speed range and reverse is just achieved by running the motor backwards. There is no clutch either as a motor doesn’t need it.  There is no spare wheel but instead a tyre repair kit and a small compressor for re-inflation.  A tiny gripe with the interior is that there is no clock so you can’t see what time it is very easily.

The first journey was a little drive up to the ring road then back down Brasenose Driftway and Crescent Road to see how it coped with the downhill run. As well as “Drive” mode the car also has “Braking” and “Comfort” modes – they are really just variations on a theme. Regenerative braking is used in all modes, an average amount in D, more in B and less in C. The car slows down quite rapidly to about 10mph in B mode with your foot off the accelerator, giving the battery a little charge while it’s doing it.

I got braver then and went with some friends up to Watlington Hill for a walk. We took the A40 and the M40 up to the Lewknor turn and while the car felt perfectly safe and stable at 70mph on the M40 (top speed is rated at around 80mph) it was eating the charge in the battery at an alarming rate so we slowed to 60mph. The car is definitely happier at City Speeds.  Up to about 50mph it is pretty efficient. There is a power gauge on the dashboard and the trick is to keep the needle in the “eco” area as the economy is far better then.

Later on Saturday we did the supermarket run in the i-MiEV. Again fine but the boot is rather little – we filled it with what I’d call a smaller than average weekly shop.

On Sunday I drove into Oxford and then out to Cumnor to lead worship at the United Reformed Church there. The car ran beautifully.  For lunch I took Gordon to the Bat and Ball at Cuddesdon then in the early evening I visited Wolvercote to babysit my nephew Oliver for a few hours.  I was glad of the small size of the i-MiEV in Wolvercote as my sister and her family live on a small side road with extremely tight parking!

Charging the car is achieved with a mains cable that is 5 metres long so quite easy to use if you have a driveway.  It takes 7 hours in total to charge the car from flat and does so at a rate of 3kW so uses about 21kWh of electricity to do it.  At today’s prices that costs about £2.50 – £3.  A full charge claims to do 90 miles and I reckon I’ll get pretty close to that if I stay off motorways.  In comparison, an efficient similarly-sized petrol car would probably use about 9 litres of petrol to do that, costing £12.60 at today’s £1.40/litre fuel price.  That’s quite a significant difference!  For someone with a daily commute up to about 20 or 30 miles away it would save a fortune in petrol or diesel costs!  You can also get a fast charge cable to use in dedicated charging points – this charges at 50kW and takes about half an hour to get the battery to 80%.

All in all I am impressed with the i-MiEV.  I could easily cope with it as my main car as almost all journeys I make are shorter than 20 miles and it’s rare to need to go over 50mph in and around Oxford.  For the odd weekend away and the summer camping trip it would not be outrageous to hire a car as that can be done pretty cheaply and conveniently these days.  As electric plug-in cars get cheaper and their range gets longer it may well become a serious proposition for the masses in a few years’ time. It makes particular sense if, like us, you have a Solar PV installation so you can charge the vehicle with electricity you’ve generated yourself.  At the moment the prices are too high and battery life (i.e. number of charges) is still uncertain but I’m sure this will all change in time.

I must say I was surprised at how drivable and comfortable the i-MiEV is.  It feels very much like a small auto with continuously variable transmission and I got used to it very quickly.  It will never win any speed trials but around town it’s perfect – it has good acceleration from a standstill and has the great advantage over a petrol or diesel car that when it is stationary, even just in traffic, it is using no energy at all.  It emits zero Carbon Dioxide (although of course the electricity has to be generated somewhere and that might produce CO2) and is virtually silent in running. Its small size, with very little outside the visible area at the front or back makes it an absolute breeze to park.

I shall be sorry to return it on Monday morning!

Licensing and Gambling Acts Committee

We met today as part of the regular meeting cycle.  We had a useful and impressive update on licensing activities from Julian Alison, our licensing manager and it was good to have a presentation from Inspector Katy Barrow-Grint of Thames Valley Police.  Katy is the new City Centre and North Oxford inspector and I was impressed at her commitment to partnership working with the City Council as the licensing authority.  I had raised an issue with her by email this morning and she had researched it thoroughly and had an excellent answer ready for the meeting.  I was grateful for that.

Another items on the agenda was the relaxation of licensing hours for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in July this year. It means that on Fri 1st Jun and Sat 2nd Jun premises that are already licensed will be able to carry on those licensable activities until 1am the next morning if they currently have an earlier termination of licensable activities.

We also looked at some proposals to address some of the problems of late-night drinking.  The Government is currently consulting on a Late Night Levy (on clubs etc. to fund more policing) and Early Morning Restriction Orders (EMROs) that local authorities can use to to restrict the sale of alcohol in the whole or a part of their areas between 3am and 6am on all or some days, to address specific problems caused by the late night supply of alcohol in their areas.

The meeting took about an hour.

The pocket park on Middle Fisher Row

I visited this area today on the request of the owner and operator of The Oxford Retreat as he is concerned about antisocial behaviour, drug use and damage to the rear fence of his venue.  I was pleased to have a Street Scene team leader with me to give advice on what might be possible.

The problem is that this little pocket of land, just behind Middle Fisher Row (between Park End Street and Hythe Bridge Street) is very badly lit an so tends to attract all sort of antisocial behaviour.  Drugs paraphernalia, broken glass and all sorts of other rubbish are found there by the street scene team most days.  The area also attracts people urinating or worse in the small hours of the morning as it is so much part of the light night entertainment area of the City.

You can see the damage to the rear fence of the Oxford Retreat in the picture – the apparently happens regularly.  There have been break-ins too.

I think there are lots of angles on this problem – lighting must help so I’ll investigate that and it may be that a better fence needs to be erected to protect the fence that is the property of the Oxford Retreat.  I don’t want to see the area fenced off but it might make sense to allow some community or commercial use of the area so it’s bit less likely to attract problems.  Watch this space!  The first job will be to work out who owns the land.

Licensing Hearing: The new Sainsbury’s in Summertown

I chaired this panel hearing today that was necessary because two Summertown residents had sent in a joint letter of objection to the premises licence application. I was joined by Cllrs Mary Clarkson and Mark Lygo.

The application was from Sainsbury’s as they are opening a new convenience store in Summertown in March.  They were applying for a license to sell alcohol on an off-sales basis only from 7am-11pm 7 days per week in line with the opening hours of the store itself.  It should be noted that we were simply deciding on the alcohol licence – all the other necessary permissions for the store to operate were already in place.

The objections centred around the risk that children might buy alcohol and the possible need for a security guard.  I put these to the applicants and got a very detailed description of Sainsbury’s ways of working, including their think 25 policy, and how in Leeds they have a similar store where problems have been avoided by close working with the Police and the local Community.  Sainsbury’s probably would employ a security guard at “sensitive” times but did not want to accept this as a condition.  I must say I was a bit perturbed that the objectors seemed rather to be objecting to a Sainsbury’s store rather than the sale of alcohol and indeed that’s what their petition said.

After the applicants and objectors had summed up they were dismissed while we made our decision.  We took the view that Sainsbury’s had addressed all the concerns so granted the hours as applied for but with a condition that a prominent sign reminding customers that Summertown was an alcohol-free zone must be displayed by all exits.  We also asked for contact details of the manager to be displayed for residents to use in case of problems and reminded Sainsbury’s that if there were problems it was open to the responsible authorities and the interested parties to call a licence review in the future.

I felt it was useful for Sainsbury’s to be able to hear to concerns of residents and I hope the hearing will be the start of an ongoing dialogue that will enable Sainsbury’s and the residents of Summertown to co-exist in common understanding and peace!

Please note this post does not form an official record of proceedings and should not be treated as such.  The decision notice from the City Council is the definitive document.

A useful meeting about HMO licensing

I had a meeting today with Tim Sadler, Executive Director City Services, and Ian Wright, Health Development Service Manager in Environmental Development.  My colleagues Cllr Mark Mills and Cllr John Goddard also attended.  The subject of the meeting was to discuss the problems and unintended consequences that are occurring with the City-wide licensing of Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs).

The discussion centred around the inflexibility of the Amenities and Facilities guide.  I made a statement in full council about one of these issues a while back and two more have since arisen:

In the first case we have a landlord who owns a few some modern executive houses (built in 2003/4) and has six tenants in each.  They have plenty of bathrooms and toilets and a huge kitchen/lounge communal area with which the tenants are all happy.  The problem is that for six tenants the dreaded document insists on an extra sink (or a sink and a dishwasher).  The tenants are happy with one sink and don’t want either another sink or a dishwasher as this would reduce the cupboard space available to them for storage of their own personal food.  The council is however insisting this work be done against the wishes both of the tenants and the landlord.  This seems bonkers to me and only creates expense for the landlord that will inevitably be passed to the tenants in the next rent rise.  See the ground floor plan on the left.

The second case is even more bizarre.  This is another house with six tenants.  It has two bathrooms, each of which contain a toilet.  You’d think that would be fine as the guide says that for 1-4 tenants one bathroom that contains a toilet is sufficient.  But no – for six people if you have two bathrooms that both contain a toilet you also have to have a separate toilet.  I understand that toiled has now been fitted after the issue was forced by the council –  in a room that opens onto the kitchen, as one of the options the council suggested.  The tenants hate it and never use it because of the smell into the kitchen and obvious hygiene issue.   The work the council has imposed again strikes me as a waste of money and another inevitable rent rise.  I really don’t see why the house can’t be treated as two groups of three people with a toilet-containing bathroom for each group.

My real issue with all this – both these cases, and the one I talked about at full council – is that these are groups of consenting and non-vulnerable adults sharing a house in a responsible and neighbourly way, with good relationships with their landlords.  One of them even said to me: “As a landlord it is my policy to provide almost anything my tenants ask for.  They are, after all, my customers.  Thus, for example, if one tells me that their mattress is uncomfortable I don’t even check it myself.  If they say it is uncomfortable…it is; so I change it.   A quick phone call to my supplier who delivers and takes away the old one is easy and not very expensive.  It makes good business sense to treat tenants well.  I even turned out to fix a leak on Christmas Day.  The tenants really do not want these things that Council officers are forcing us to do.”

The council is not protecting tenants in these cases – it is making problems and rent rises when there were no problems and everyone was happy.  This is absolutely classic Labour behaviour:  We’ll decide what’s best for you and make sure you have it – even if you don’t want it! This attempt to impose a one-size fits all policy on a complex situation where one set of guidelines clearly does not fit all situations is just causing unnecessary expense and waste for landlords and rent rises for tenants in a not exactly financially buoyant time of the economic cycle.  Tenancies come in many different forms – some are room by room, some are whole-house, some have individual locks on rooms, some don’t.

I am of course all in favour of pursuing landlords who are negligent, don’t keep their properties in good repair and treat their tenants badly.  These are not examples of that though – these tenants are financially capable working people who choose to live in high quality HMOs because they can’t afford to live in other way in Oxford with housing being in such short supply and so expensive.  The landlords are providing essential accommodation for the people of Oxford and running decent, honest businesses doing it.  In many cases this is to fund retirement – which seems entirely reasonable to me.  If the landlords were not treating the tenants well they would move out!

There are two ends of the HMO spectrum in Oxford.  At one end you have cases like those I’ve mentioned and at the other end you have run-down, damp, cold, overcrowded properties with vulnerable tenants with few choices.  In my mind THESE are the places where council intervention is welcome and essential.  But it really is not welcome or needed when landlord and tenants were happy and everything was fine – it is not the job of the council to disrupt perfectly good and safe arrangements between good landlords and non-vulnerable tenants.  The Labour council should be arguing about numbers of cockroaches in some properties – not numbers of sinks or toilets in places where everyone is happy!

This was put rather well by one of the landlords at the last full council also:

“I would ask that the council focus on the highest risk properties and are not deflected by technical breaches of guidelines. That they use scarce resources and strong enforcement powers to protect vulnerable tenants and do not waste their energies on nitpicking …. Please avoid the temptation to consider being a landlord as a life choice of the more unsavoury end of the spectrum.”

She is absolutely right! I really want this council to accept that decent, honest landlords actually provide vital housing for many of Oxford’s students and young professionals.  These good landlords want the bad landlords brought to account just as much as the council and we councillors do.  The problem is that it feels like the council is currently treating all landlords like the enemy – when the council writes to them for example wouldn’t a few sentences in the letter acknowledging the important contribution they are making to the City’s housing needs be quite useful?  It might achieve a much better relationship and much better outcomes.

Both of the landlords quoted above have told me they are seriously considering getting out of the business because it is too much hassle.  Neither is young and both are providing good quality accommodation that Oxford desperately needs.  I think it would be a real tragedy if the Labour council’s actions pushed these and others out of what is actually an essential business in Oxford thereby removing even more housing stock for young professionals and students who are an absolutely vital part of the economy of our City.

Planning Review Committee: Old Road Campus

The second  Planning Review Committee that I have chaired.  This was a reconsideration of the East Area Planning Committee’s decision to grant planning permission to Oxford University to build a new research building on the Roosevelt Drive site near Old Road.  I am a member and employee of Oxford University so I had to consider carefully whether I could approach the decision with an open mind.  As I work for the central IT department of Oxford University and have nothing to do (in my work, rather than councillor, capacity) with the estates department and have no vested interest in the Medical Sciences Division I decided that although I clearly had a personal interest in the matter it was not enough to prejudice me as there are many thousands of people in our City who have some relationship or another with Oxford University.

The meeting proceeded smoothly with some very well-considered and well-presented evidence and opinions both from objectors and applicants.  The Planning Officer, Felicity Byrne presented very well and brought along a County Council Highways Officer (Martin Kraftl) to talk about the possibilities with regard to controlled parking zones.  The professional advice was extremely useful, as always.

After quite a bit of debate and careful questioning of all parties there was eventually a motion to approve the planning application with some additional conditions and that passed so the permission is granted.   The additional conditions are:

  • That the landscaping to the tree belt on Old Road includes new hedge and tree planting to the western edge, and mixed evergreens to the eastern end;
  • That the hours for deliveries during the construction of the development be controlled to avoid peak hours and the beginning of the school day;
  • That the external lighting to the campus be designed to avoid Light spillage, in order to prevent nuisance being caused to nearby residential properties;
  • That details of the maintenance regime for the attenuation tanks to be used in the drainage systems be submitted for approval by officers.

I hope these will go as far as possible in alleviating some of the concerns of the objectors.

West Area Planning Committee

I attended this meeting today as I wanted to see the outcome of the planning application to change the use of three shop units in Gloucester Green to A3 food use.  The meeting was ably chaired by Oscar Van Nooijen and there was some good discussion on all the applications considered.  The biggest item on the agenda was the St. Clements’ Car park application but that was deferred.

Much discussion ensued on the Gloucester Green application and the voting was a dead heat.  I am pleased that Oscar used his casting vote as chair to decline the permission as I think three extra late-night food outlets in that area would have caused intolerable problems for the residents of the flats on Gloucester Green (the Chilterns).

The meeting papers are available online.