Central South and West Area Committee

We met again today at St. Barnabas’ School on Hart Street in Jericho.  The agenda was short so the meeting lasted on an hour.  We discussed the proposals to make Jericho a conservation area and talked about usual street scene issues including the mess near the “backside entrance” (phrase of the night award to Cllr Stephen Brown!) to a building in the Walton Street area.

We were disappointed that the person from First Great Western who had come to listen to the concerns of many residents about noise and pollution from Jericho sidings was unable to attend due to being stuck in a traffic jam on the M1.  What does that say about FGW’s attitudes to transport I wonder?

We also expressed our horror and the County Council’s proposal put increase the cost of residents’ parking permits by a whopping 25%.

We were pleased to note our committee’s unblemished record this year (rolling to 31 Aug 10) on planning appeals – not only had no appeals against our decisions been allowed, none had even been lodged.

It was good to see  Daniel Lowe, OUSU Vice President (Charities and Community) present at the meeting.

Mansfield College Development Plans

This was a brief meeting set up by the architects Rick Mather and they showed us plans for the redevelopment of the inside of one of the Mansfield College buildings to improve the dining room and kitchens.  There is also proposed a link between the chapel and that building that would be built after demolition of some rather unattractive garages.  I shan’t comment further on this as it may go to a planning application determination in a public meeting and I don’t want to fetter myself.

Full Council: Core Strategy and New Executive Board Member

We had a full council meeting at 4pm today.  It was primarily to discuss the council’s response to the Core Strategy.  The leading group had tried to get our leader to jointly sign a letter with the leader but our group was of the view that this is far too important an issue to sign off behind closed doors so we asked for a full council meeting.  The main areas of contention were the numbers of new houses in the strategy, whether the Northern Gateway should be included and whether the employment land allocation needs reviewing, in the light of how much land earmarked for employment use has been fallow for such a long time.

The amendments to the response proposed by our group were:

Delete “8,000 new homes” in line 2 and substitute with “9,000 new homes” to read:

(1) Endorse the housing figure in the Core Strategy of at least 9,000 new homes between 2006 and 2026 and confirm that this level of growth is considered appropriate in the absence of the target from the South East Plan

After point (1) insert the following paragraph:

Council urges the Leader and the two Members of Parliament for Oxford to campaign immediately for a recognition that the housing needs of Oxford City over the plan period cannot be met solely by building within the city; and that a mechanism to meet economic, social and environmental needs of the economic unit of which Oxfordshire and the neighbouring Local Planning Authorities (unitaries and District Councils) should be formed as a Local Economic Partnership.

and

After point (1) [and amendment 2] insert the following paragraph:

Council calls for a new employment land study to be undertaken before any targets for quantity and diversity of jobs are enshrined in the Core Strategy
The Labour group outvoted all these amendments and I must say I have never seen them quite so tetchy.   I felt that the meeting was essential so that the Council’s response could be debated and voted on in public but unfortunately some administration members had said they thought it was “silly politics.  The building and development plan for the next 20 years in Oxford doesn’t seem like that to me!

Lib Dem Group Meeting

Another group meeting tonight with lots on the agenda.  We discussed the outcomes from a recent Group away day and our response to the Core Strategy that will direct planning and development control until 2026.

As usual we worked through the paper’s for next week’s City Executive Board.  That promises to be a busy and controversial meeting as it will consider the future of Temple Cowley Pools.

I am really enjoying getting to know the new LibDem councillors since I was last on the Council in group meetings and I’m pleased to see good consensus building in the group on most issues and the very definite support for and confidence in our leader, Stephen Brown.

Central, South and West area committee

We met at the town hall this evening.  It was a long meeting, appropriately enough held in the Long Room.

rail.pngThere were lots of members of the public present and we heard about many issues. Some residents who live on Stable Close near the railway line and sidings and staff car park were being disturbed by train diesel engines being left idling for hours (something to do with the braking system) and by shunting and very antisocial small hours of the morning.  We also heard from a resident on Hamel Walk who was having trouble with an access route to his area that some developers were blocking off at times.  It sounded like the City Council had failed to put a proper enforceable legal agreement in place to ensure right of access was preserved for occupiers of the social housing on Hamel Walk.

13072010742-wince.jpgWe considered several planning applications – the most interesting was the one by Oxford University which would make internal changes to the Radcliffe Camera and the Old Bodleian.  It would open up some of the underground store for public access and would alter the level of the (1970s) paving in the schools quadrangle of the old Bodleian to improve level access to the building and remove the need for the unsightly temporary ramps.  I had to declare a personal interest in this application as I am a senior member of The University of Oxford.  As these are very well known buildings I don’t consider that I have any more or less interest in the success or failure of the planning application than any other member of the public so I did remove myself from the meeting and did vote.  I did make the point that if lots of heavy vehicles were to be using the junction of Parks Road, Broad Street, Holywell Street and Catte Street then EXTREME care must be taken and enforced to ensure no nasty accidents with any of the hundreds of cyclists a day that use that junction.  There was a nasty and fatal accident at that junction not long ago and I don’t want a repeat.

Central South and West Area Committee

Another area committee meeting tonight.  I can’t believe it has been a month since the last one!  We met at St. Barnabas’ School in Jericho at 5.30pm.  As the committee is 4 Labour and 4 Lib Dems we voted Oscar and Mark as co-chairs and Susanna and Nathan as co-vice chairs.  So now half the committee is either chair or vice chair 🙂

Members of the public attending the meeting

We had an address from John Power about antisocial behaviour at Tumbling Bay, particularly in the light of last week’s fatality there.

Then we had an update from Thames Valley Police’s Oxford City Centre Inspector. Matthew Bullivant.  Crime statistics have dropped markedly although there are still a worrying number of thefts from the person.   Matthew was also asked why TVP had not objected to Tescos’ application to sell alcohol from 6am at the site of the the old lighting shop on St. Aldates.  He reassured us that he has a robust approach to licencing.

Mark and Oscar: co-chairs

We moved on to planning applications and the one we discussed was an outline application from the Jericho Community Association for a community centre.  There were some difficult issues raised and building the centre will not be without cost to some local trees and the amenity of immediate neighbours, but the permission was unanimously granted nonetheless.  I must say I entered the meeting thinking I may well vote against this but the discussion convinced me that the benefits outweighed the losses and that the chance to provide an important community facility should not be lost.

We agreed to the planning application at the ice rink for a small enclosure for a new chiller without discussion.  This only had to go to committee because it is the City Council applying to itself for planning permission and to do it in a closed office under delegated powers would not be very transparent!

Dave Huddle from Parks then gave us a street scene update.  He promised to look at the litter problems in Jericho and to make sure the bins along the river in Hinksey Park ward were emptied regularly enough during the summer months.

Our final discussion was about the proposed scheme for the licensing of Houses of Multiple Occupation, which is something I am very interested in, living in a very HMO-dense street.  It will be interesting to see how it operates but I’m afraid I can’t see the council inspecting an licensing the estimated 5,000 HMOs in the City in much less than a year! I would encourage you to comment during the consultation period (until 21 June) if you have a view.

I was a bit alarmed to discover that HMO licensing appears to be an executive function rather than a council function.  That in my view makes it too political but we’ll see how it pans out.

We finished just after 8pm.

Community up in arms about proposed use of Manzil Park as builders yard

Manzil Park in AutumnI’ve had nearly 20 emails from East Oxford residents today voicing great concern about the proposal to hand some of Manzil Park over to builders as a yard for 2 years while doing a building project.  I too am rather concerned about this.  My reply to people is:

“I entirely agree that turning a large part of Manzil Park into a builders yard for such a period would be hugely detrimental to the local community and the amenity of all local residents, particularly younger children. There must be better local sites to use as a builders’ yard. As a resident of East Oxford myself I am extremely concerned about this.

I am unfortunately not part of the City Executive Board or indeed the ruling political group on the City Council so my absolute powers are limited but I will undertake to do all I can to influence those in power to rethink this potentially disastrous proposal.”

An interesting discussion with Carlyle Group

I had a meeting to discuss the proposals for the area between St. Aldates and Queen Street today and it seems there is a bit of an impasse between the City Council and the Developer over what to do with the site that we know as St. Aldate’s Chambers.   There is a planning application that has been waiting for determination for over a year now and the problem seems to be over a section 106 agreement

I’ll write more on this later.

Planning and Development Control Training

An interesting training session this evening teaching how Development Control is a balance between the needs of all interested parties.  I was pleased to see that legislation now better recognises that councillors are political animals and that as such we are able to take part in planning decisions so long as we do so with an open mind (and say so) even if we have publicly expressed strong views before.

Reliance WayI was also interested to hear about the new House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) legislation and how Oxford City Council will apply it.  It could make quite a difference to places like Reliance Way, where I live.

Central South and West Area Committee

An interesting meeting tonight.  Oscar is a good chair and keeps things moving along well.  Now we are 4 LibDem and 4 Labour members we have agreed, I think, to have alternating LibDem and Labour Chairs.  Probably Oscar and Mark. More about Central South and West Area Committee

csw.jpg

The main business of the meeting was planning applications.  The first was for a replacement mobile phone mast 10cm taller than the existing one that was given permission on appeal by a planning inspector.  The committee refused the permission although I refrained from voting, having only just been elected and not visited the site.  I also fear the grounds for rejection, given the precedent set by the planning inspector, are weak and that we may get our decision overturned and costs awarded against us.

We also had long and interesting presentations from the planning officers and representatives of Oxford University on the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter development.  We were just commenting on, rather than determining, the application and we were all wholeheartedly in favour of it.  We expressed a desire to take serious action on the safety of pedestrain and cycle approaches to the site, particularly from the West, and I expressed a hope that some of the buildings that will be vacated by the University when departments move into ROQ might be considered for use as further student accommodation.