Priced Out!

This evening I went to the first meeting in Oxford of Priced Out.  Priced out UK is a group that campaigns for affordable housing for all.  I was struck at how many people were sharing the same or similar stories about appalling charges made by some unscrupulous letting agents and also stories of it being so hard to get a property in Oxford at all, as either tenant or owner.

priced-out

There were some useful people there from both City and County councils and we had a great discussion about causes of the problem, particularly in Oxford and ways that the problem might be eased.  Oxford is very short on land and is tightly bordered by Green Belt land and it seems rents just go up and up even in the current economic climate and people will still pay them.  I see among my colleagues any younger than about 35 people really struggling to buy a home in Oxford and inevitably having to live further afield and then also having to cope with all the expense of commuting into Oxford to work.

We talked also about innovating schemes like encouraging letting agencies to cut back on ancillary fees in return for recognition as quality agents.  We also talked about how many would appreciate longer tenancy terms (perhaps if they are starting families of have children of school age) and how the return for that might be a bit of a change in legislation so that delinquent tenants (those that stop paying) could be less of a burden on landlords.  The whole meeting was constructive and helpful and I thank Duncan Stott for organising it, Saint Columba’s URC (my church, incidentally) for hosting it and Tim Lund for letting me use the above picture that he took.

Duncan has done some great work with Priced Out (as well as being a good Lib Dem friend) and I wish him and the campaign every success.  If you share its aims and/or are yourself facing some of the problems it is trying address the please do take a look at its website at http://www.pricedout.org.uk and follow it on twitter at @pricedoutuk

Overstepping the mark with protest

EDL-wreath

It was brought to my attention yesterday that an English Defence League event was being advertised today to lay wreaths/flowers at the Cenotaph in Oxford. Oxford doesn’t have a cenotaph so I assumed it meant the war memorial, at the top of St. Giles, which is just within my ward.  There was a picture on the facebook page which you can see here [Update 9 June I’ve cropped it so as not to advertise the EDL].

I added myself to the facebook event and posted this on the event’s wall: “RIP Lee. I hope this is a peaceful and fitting memorial to a young man so cruelly taken by some extremely dangerous and misguided young men. I know that many Oxford people of all races and all religions would strongly share that with me.” Nobody deleted it so I went along at 1pm.  You’ll note that the picture has no mention of Woolwich or of any particular faiths or races.

I arrived to the war memorial just after 1pm to find a huge bunch of people, including some with Socialist Worker Party literature.  Here they are:

SWP demo

I stood and watched this group jeering at the people who had presumably laid the flowers on the war memorial and they jeered at them as they walked away down St. Giles.  [Update 4 June:  I had an email today saying: “Hi tony my name is shane and i attened the demo on sat to pay my respects to drummer lee rigby and was discusted in how the uaf was acting i got accused of being in edl just because i was wearing a help for heroes tshirt .i walk off with a friend. N got jeeard by the uaf . Would they react the same at a repat?”.  He gave me permission to add it here]

The protestors were climbing all over the war memorial, as you can see, and when they got up I was horrified to see that they had been sitting on the floral tributes to Lee Rigby that had been laid on the memorial.  [Update 6 June:  It transpires that the reason the protestors were climbing the memorial is because a local press photographer asked them to.  As such that means it’s unfair to blame that action on those present].  The floral tributes were squashed and badly damaged [although I concede I didn’t see them before the protestors arrived so that could have been anyone] and indeed one young woman tried to walk away with half of the flowers.  I have a picture of her but it’s probably better if I share it with the authorities than post it here.  She eventually put the flowers back after a bit of an argument with me.  Here they are.

tribute

Now I want to be very clear that I in no way support any sort of hate activities that are associated with any political group, including the EDL, but today I saw absolutely no sign of any EDL banners or clothing and no sign of any stereotypical EDL behaviour.  What I saw was a loud and unruly bunch who were showing hate towards what seemed to me to be a peaceful and lawful act of remembrance for a young solider who had lost his life at the hands of two very badly misguided other young men.  If I do see any hate activity from ANY group in Oxford I will challenge it rigorously but the only hate I saw today was from the protesters in the picture above.

Decimating a floral tribute and climbing all over a war memorial is to me a mark of sheer contempt and disrespect and I’m afraid will just fuel hate, not peace.  I will happily support an act of memorial as ward councillor. I will absolutely NOT support even any hint of racism, Islamophobia or any other form of hate – be it from the EDL or any other group.  Today I saw it from another group.

The way to beat hate is with hope, not with hate.

 

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!

 

Widening Participation: Murder in the cloisters

I was invited to a dinner today that was part of the “Murder in the Cloisters” widening participation event run by Oxford University’s Widening Participation Team.  This team works with state school students aged 9-16 (Year 5 to Year 11) in Oxfordshire, Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire to help them understand what they could gain from further or higher education, and what type of study might suit them best.  I was pleased to see that it is not just about recruiting young people to Oxford University but about widening participation in all Higher Education

giving the results“Murder is the Cloisters”   is a residential event  for Year 8 and Year 9 students. This three day subject taster event allows students to experience Law, Classics and Chemistry in a university setting. Working with actors (the Oxford Imps), the students interrogate ‘suspects’, examine evidence and work together in their groups to solve a murder. Students stay in Pembroke College and eat in the dining hall giving them a real taste for what life at University is like. The dinner was good and there was some great acting designed to get the young people to think and work together to gather evidence and process it.  I was so engrossed that I had to go back the next day to find out the solution to the murder mystery!

I think widening participation activity is incredibly important, particularly in Oxford where we have two world class Universities but have historically struggled with below-average educational attainment at secondary and primary level.  I think this sort of event can work wonders to boost confidence and aspiration in Oxford’s young people and really encourage them to be the best they can be at school so they can then access higher education and all the life opportunities that offers.

The widening participation team also offers the Oxford Young Ambassadors scheme, aimed at young people who have little or no family history of Higher Education, and the Compass Young Carers programme, aimed at children and young people with caring responsibilities at home.

All of this work is fantastic at enabling young people in our area to make informed decisions about their future education and life and I think it’s an amazing initiative.  It’s certainly something I’ll keep in mind with my work as a governor at Oxford Spires Academy.

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

Car number plate thefts – please be vigilant and secure yours

number platesA set of car number plates were stolen on Wednesday 27th February in Marsh Road, Oxford. That’s just by my local pub, the Marsh Harrier! Stolen number plates are used in a variety of crimes often replacing plates on stolen cars, or fitted to cars which are driven recklessly followed by non-payment of parking and speeding fines, also filling up with fuel and driving off without paying. All of these crimes will in the first instance lead the police back to you and can be very distressing.

This type of theft continues to happen weekly in Oxford, so I encourage you to consider fitting anti-tamper screws to your number plates. You can seek advice from your local garage or car dealer. I’ve just spoken to Motorists Discount Centre (two branches in Oxford). They stock kits of four of these security screws for £3.99 and I think they are really worth fitting if you can. Too many newer cars these days just have the plates stuck on with sticky pads leaving them too easy to remove intact then and use on another vehicle to commit crime that will be traced back to you!

Please check that your number plates are intact on a regular basis, if you do discover that they are missing report to the police immediately via the non-emergency number, 101. You are in a much better position if a crime is reported by someone with a vehicle displaying your plates if you have already reported them stolen! But it’s even better to have taken steps to avoid having them stolen in the first place.

Labour spreading misinformation about benefits reform

I was horrified to read the column from the Labour Leader of the City Council in my copy of “Your Oxford” (the City Council’s twice-yearly public information newspaper) as it makes some very basic errors about benefit reform and was nowhere near being balanced or even handed.

The two claims were that child benefit is going to be rolled into Universal Credit and that all claims for benefits will have to be made online under the new system. Both claims are just plain wrong and therefore in direct breach of the Code of Practice about such communications from the Department for Communities and Local Government. Paragraph 15 of that says:

“Local authorities should ensure that publicity relating to policies and proposals from
central government is balanced and factually accurate. Such publicity may set out the
local authority’s views and reasons for holding those views, but should avoid anything
likely to be perceived by readers as constituting a political statement, or being a
commentary on contentious areas of public policy.”

I am pleased to say that the Council very quickly saw the error of its ways when I raised this matter and immediately stopped distributing the “Your Oxford” newspaper. It’s an outrage that over 27,000 had already been delivered and that 60,000 had been printed.  This is going to be an awful lot of reprinting and I dread to think what it will cost the council.

I think it’s terrible that Labour continually tries to use “Your Oxford” as a party political leaflet when it should confine itself to public information given in a balanced and informative way.  Scaremongering at public expense by distributing misinformation is just outrageous.  I will continue to pursue the council to find out how much the monumental cock-up will cost the public purse!

Since the date this happened there have been a few news stories about it – The Oxford Mail, and The Oxford Times ran it and I got to appear on BBC South Today about it as well as doing piece on BBC Radio Oxford’s drive time.  My colleague Cllr Jean Fooks also had a letter in the Oxford Times about the issue.

Disgusting treatment of the Covered Market and Labour’s contemptuous remarks

The Covered Market is one of the nicest things in Carfax Ward, the part of the Oxford I represent. I blogged last year about the terrible neglect of the place by the City Council and I’m getting increasingly worried that the appalling treatment it is getting by the Labour administration is going to kill it off once and for all.  I use the Market Barber in the covered market and works to that unit seem to have been going on for ages too.  I hear of stories of bodged roof repairs meaning units get flooded when it rains and there is a leak into the cellar and someone’s storage space that the City Council should have addressed months ago.

There’s an article about this in the Oxford Mail today about this and I have to say I am disgusted by the remarks Labour’s Colin Cook makes about some of the long serving and hard working traders.  He says,

“This situation is not just down to high rents. It’s partly as a result of the age of some traders, who are looking to retire and cash in their chips.

“When rents are assessed for market traders we look at close comparators on the high street.”

I don’t know about you but I think that is pretty outrageous, not to mention ageist and totally lacking in gratitude for the wonderful service to our City and tourist attraction the Market represents.  I do rather agree with the Oxford Mail editorial comment about this.  “while the council has a duty to maximise its income from its asset, it has to be big enough to realise that and make the necessary adjustments to make this an attractive business opportunity.”

My colleague Cllr Jim Campbell put the rent issue rather well in a letter to the Oxford Mail earlier this year.  He says “Although the rate of inflation over the past five years is less than 18 per cent, they have proposed rent increases of between 40 and 60 per cent.”

I think it is an utter disgrace that Oxford Labour claims to be the champion of fighting bad landlords and at the same time has so badly neglected the Covered Market and is pushing such clearly ridiculous and unsustainable rent rises.

Labour:  You are killing the HMO sector already with onerous costs on landlords – please don’t now kill the Covered Market by pricing the tenants out of the retail units.

Oxford University Living Wage event

I attended this event today at the invitation of the Oxford University Living Wage Campaign.  I must admit Living Wage is not really something I’d thought about before but the speeches from the panel I heard this evening were incredibly compelling.  There are aspects of the living wage that I’m slightly ashamed to say I had never really considered before.  The session felt a little bit like diversity training in that it completely moved me on from seeing a living wage as a burden on an employer to seeing it as a positive advantage, just as is paying proper attention to diversity by doing all you can to include as many people as possible.  It never really occurred to me that paying more money to poorer people is actually much better for the economy than paying it to richer people as the former will spend it locally whereas the latter may well squirrel it away in offshore tax avoidance schemes where it does nothing to benefit our economy .  There are the obvious morale, attendance, commitment and retention advantages of a living wage also.  If nothing else then to me paying a Living Wage is simply a matter of common decency and justice that all should be able to expect.

The event was held in the Exam Schools of Oxford University, and that’s quite ambitious as the rooms are not small.  The panel was of the highest quality and the event was extremely well-attended with over a hundred people there.  This just showed me how important people see this issue to be, particularly in the light of housing and the cost of living being so expensive in Oxford.  A member of Oxford City Council, Van Coulter, made an excellent speech about the need for a living wage and reminded us that Oxford has one of the highest cost of living to average income ratios in the whole country.  He said it’s like paying London prices on a West Midlands wage and I think he’s right!  Van also made the excellent point that if people are forced to live on very low wages then they make compromises like buying cheap, unhealthy food, that ultimately shorten their lifespans and of course make them less efficient employees.

It’s also great to hear about all the excellent work the Living Wage Campaign has been doing with Oxford University and its Colleges.  Some Colleges have already adopted a living wage and apparently discussions with the University are going well.  This pleases me as an employee of the University, although I must say not one who has any issue whatsoever with his own wages!  There were quite a few College bursars present as well as some college employees on lower wages and apparently some useful discussions were had after the main speaker event.

If you are interested in learning more about the Living Wage campaign the I recommend following @oxlivingwage on Twitter, emailing livingwage@ousu.org or if you want to focus on these issues during Lent 2012 from a Christian perspective then the Call to Change website gives more information about the Living Wage in the wider UK.

All said a first-class student-organised event about a massively important issue for Oxford that certainly got me thinking to an extent that not many things do!  What a far cry from the image students some East Oxford people seem to have that says they are “increasing to unbearable amounts already in this area and they do not need any further encouragement or welcoming into our community because they bring nothing positive” (See my previous blog post on this).

Neighbourhood Forum: Student housing and the Vision for the City Centre

This was a rather informal meeting but useful nonetheless.  It was good to see quite a few students present as well as someone from Oxford University’s Accommodation office, a member of staff from Christ Church and Gordon Reid from City Centre management.

We had a good discussion about student hopes for the City Centre and the Wayfinding project that has been going on.  The signs have been tendered for and there is now a project to provide QR codes for them to give people more contextual information.  I reminded people that the excellent Mobile Oxford service from Oxford University also provides a lot of this information and that the Wayfinding project really ought to work in partnership with it.  QR codes are fine but there is so much more that mobile Oxford can do!

We then moved onto the issue of student housing.  We had a presentation about the HMO licensing scheme which was interesting and while there are many good things about it I do have concerns that it will have a drastic effect on an already short supply of essential housing for students and many other people in Oxford.  For example we heard how the council is using web sites that advertise house shares to track down and penalise landlords.  Wouldn’t it be so much better to use council resources putting adverts on those websites to educate tenants and prospective tenants about the need to check for a license.  Wouldn’t it be so much more positive to spend effort helping tenants get appropriate housing than assuming landlords are somehow bad and evil?

I’ve posted a lot about this so won’t go on about it here but I do hope that the Council will sometime soon accept that Landlords are generally good people who are genuinely trying to do the right thing, and thus focus on education and support rather than pursuit and penalisation.