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20mph speed limit? From: Lindsey Doyle Date: Sep 04 21:49 UTC Short link

But look at the statistics for what happens to people hit by cars at 20mph
rather than 40mph.

If this saves one life or reduces the severity of injuries for one person in a
road traffic accident it's worth it.

Count me as in favour!

E-Democracy.Org UK Input Meeting in Oxford on Oct. 2 0 Invitation From: Steven Clift Date: Sep 04 19:10 UTC Short link

Have you ever wondered what the heck "e-democracy.org" has to do with your
local community Issues Forum?

A few years ago, the UK Local E-Democracy National Project funded pilots in
Newham and Brighton and perhaps miraculously with no further funding, the
forums remain open and have spread to five neighbourhoods in Oxford and
Bristol with more likely next year. Because this is a citizen-based model
run by volunteers and some in-kind support from council staff in Oxford and
Bristol, keeping the network operating in "basic" mode is not too costly.

Basic isn't good enough. What might you, might we, do better with Issues
Forums and local e-democracy in your community? Are there good ways to
connect your efforts across the UK, leverage resources, promote community
empowerment and social inclusion with greater outreach, find central funding
sources, etc.? Who and how might we coordinate and over time expand UK
activities with either dedicated volunteers or UK staff in the near and
long-term?

These are some of the questions we will discuss in an input session at the
Oxford Town Hall on Thursday, October 2. I'll be coming through the UK from
a conference in Austria (I am based in Minnesota) and look forward to
meeting a number of you.

Join us!

Details and information on how to RSVP is on our wiki at:

     http://pages.e-democracy.org/Oxford_meeting

Sincerely,
Steven Clift
E-Democracy.Org

P.S. We are in the process of forming an E-Democracy.Org UK Advisory
Committee. If you can't make it to Oxford, but want to help improve our
collective local e-democracy effort or make sure your local forum has
influence within E-Democracy.Org, mention the committee to me in a note:
<email obscured>  or  http://e-democracy.org/contact

20mph speed limit? From: nicholas fell Date: Sep 04 17:55 UTC Short link

If you want the totally unvarnished truth about how rotten and politically
spiteful these much hated and idiotic twenty mile an hour zones are I suggest
like me you join the Association of British Drivers and visit their website,
they have a page devoted to the subject, or visit the website of Safe Speed a
pressure group begun by the late Paul Smith, I reccommend it.

I dream of Headington being in the Good Food Guide From: Nicholas Newman Date: Sep 04 14:57 UTC Short link

I have just got the Good Food Guide for 2009 - again no Headington eating place
is mentioned in this guide. Though a few Oxford ones are mentioned, but none
are in the top 40 unfortunately. The nearest in the top five is at Great Milton
I see. What do you think makes a good restaurant? What do you recommend? to
read more see
http://www.oxfordprospect.co.uk/oxfordnews.htm#Local_Restaurants_in_Good_Food_Guide_Top_40

Perhaps the proposed 20mph speed limit would encourage more people to walk
after having a good meal and support their local resturants like the  Black Boy
in Old Headington.

20mph speed limit? From: Derek Powles Date: Sep 04 10:39 UTC Short link

I attempted to find information on the internet concerning increased air
pollution due to driving vehicles at a lower speed in a lower gear but found
very little. It seems that most official documentation about 20mph zones chose
to ignore this side effect.
All vehicles with internal combustion engines  will increase their air
pollution when driven at a lower speed in a lower gear simply because they not
designed with that in mind. Engines just do not work smoothly at low revs in a
high gear, particularly when required to accelerate.

How many of you have tried to drive in top gear at an indicated 20mph and then
accelerate, its not comfortable.

The perception that it might make it easier to cross a busy 20mph road is a
little false as vehicles moving at slower speeds do so with a reduced gap
between them. In effect the time slot between vehicles tends to be the same
until they are nearly stationary. This would make it more difficult for people
with slower reaction times to cross a road. Additional controlled crossings
would be needed, but the side effect of this is increased pollution!

There is an article at http://www.speedlimit.org.uk/twenty.html that puts the
case against 20mph. I have NO connection with the author or the article.
I dont agree with all of it but presumably like some other people 'I'm still
sitting on the fence'.
It's worth reading to help make up your own opinion.

Derek

PS How to enforce a 20mph should be a separate topic.

new street lights From: Ian Alexander Date: Sep 04 08:09 UTC Short link

New street lights are currently being installed in some parts of Headington.
Those in Holley Crescent came into operation last night, and I can report that
they are a great improvement. The colour of the lighting is much less garish
and the focus is improved. Although I was sad to lose one of our old lamps in
particular, the last of our runcible period fittings, the new units are not
unpleasing (in a vaguely teutonic style) and overall preferable in daylight to
the mish-mash we had before.

  We weren't told this was going to happen, but 9 out of 10 and a thank-you to
the lighting people.

  Ian Alexander


*********
Dr J H (Ian) Alexander

20mph speed limit? From: Stephanie Jenkins Date: Sep 04 07:21 UTC Short link

Headington and Marston will be specifically consulted about the county
council's 20mpm proposals at the meeting of the North East Area Committee to be
held at St Andrew's Primary School at 6pm on Tuesday 16 September.

The county council is consulting on whether to introduce a 20mph speed limit
on:

•  all minor residential roads within the city of Oxford;

•  all unnumbered through-roads except where they are part of heavily-used
bus routes into the city;

•  sections of A and B roads that pass through busy shopping areas
(including the section of the London Road that passes through the Headington
District Shopping Centre, but not the rest of the London Road in Headington).

Full details here, plus an opportunity to fill in an online form with your
views:
http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/20limits

There is already an Order bringing in a 20mph speed limit on the Headington
Road from Pullens Lane to Headley Way: see
http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/londonroad (click on "Background and
consultation").
But the police were not very happy with that idea: see
http://archive.oxfordmail.net/2008/1/3/213129.html

Refuse Collecction From: Julia Gasper Date: Sep 03 18:10 UTC Short link

As I have no car, I can't drive my garden refuse to the dump. But if Marie has
more compostable stuff than she can fit in her green bag, maybe she could just
pass it to me, over the road, and provided it has no wood or thorns in it I
will sling it on my dump.

headington/obstructions From: nicholas fell Date: Sep 02 17:13 UTC Short link

Anyone who has problems with unsightly rubbish can report it to the rubbish hit
squad at Marsh Lane and get it removed, you could also report it to Annie
Skinner and Eric Murray at CROW Collect Refuse in Oxford Weekly.

Refuse Collecction From: noaddedsugar Last name Date: Sep 02 10:28 UTC Short link

I don't think it's got anything to do with the sort of house or flat you live
in - more a question of being friendly to the team when they come around to
collect.

headington/obstructions From: Matthew Meeson Date: Sep 01 12:58 UTC Short link

Nicholas, my post raised a couple of valid issues regarding recycling and the
eyesore this rubbish caused having been left there for over a week. The post
was exaggerated, sharp and personal for a reason........................has the
penny dropped yet ?
I am glad you said the rubbish 'possibly' came from the Pub (and I'm assuming
Julia is talking about bottle's and cans ?) because I'm quite sure most of it
doesn't as we don't allow drinks to be taken off the premises (unless sealed
for off sales).
I also can't imagine for one minute 99.9% of our customers walking down the
street swigging alcohol from cans and bottles lol !, that's just not our
clientel, trust me on that one !!!!!!!
Anyway I must congratulate Julia on her litter collection, the area always
seems so clean and tidy to me, she's is obviously doing a 'fantastic' service
to the community :-) Keep up the good work, you may may even get a £5 tip in
your Christmas card :-)
Good luck with Civil Parish Councillor post by the way Nicholas.

Headington Civil Parish Council From: nicholas fell Date: Sep 01 10:11 UTC Short link

Stephanie is slightly out with her facts surrounding the old Parish Council in
that it was not replaced by either the Urban District Council or the Rural
District Council as they were stand alone entities split off from the Civil
Parish Council.  There was also the Headington Registration District as well.
Things are also complicated by the fact that Headington is too all intents and
purposes a Royal Borough to this day, as the Royal Borough title is tied into
St Andrews Old Headington being a Royal Peculiar Church.  It is a
Constitutional Statute like the 1689 Bill of Rights Act.  You can't undo one
without undoing the other.
There was the City Corporation before there was the present City Council, and
plus there was the Municipal Borough of Oxford as well, before the County
Council ever existed.  I have this morning spoken to Angela Cristofoli about
Jocks claims that the City Council want to dissolve the Area Committees, that
was not the story she gave me, so i think it could be said that Jock in typical
Lib Dem style has jumped the gun, angela told me that she had seen some long
range planning discussion documents for changes to the Area Committees but that
the Area Committee in the short term are staying around, and that there is
nothing solid of any substance on the table yet.

Headington Civil Parish Council From: Stephanie Jenkins Date: Aug 31 20:33 UTC Short link

Just to put the history straight:

Headington Parish Council was still going strong in 1927, with fifteen local
worthies as its members.  At that time the three Headington villages were not
part of the city of Oxford.

In 1927 Headington Urban District Council (UDC) was formed at the request of
the parish council, and replaced it.  This had eighteen members (nine members
for Old Headington & Quarry Ward, and nine for Highfield Ward -- many of them
the same people who had been on the parish council).  It met fortnightly at the
Workhouse on the London Road.

In 1928/9 Headington (1,529 acres) was incorporated into the City of Oxford
along with Cowley.  Once it was a suburb of Oxford, it lost its sovereignty and
came under the control of the City Council.

So Headington UDC was very short-lived: it was founded in 1927 and dissolved in
August 1929.

Refuse Collecction From: Marie Vickers Date: Aug 31 20:14 UTC Short link

I am so glad to know that Oxford City Council will remove garden refuse from
detached bungalows in Trinity Road - whatever container it is placed in. I now
feel that I no longer have to make car journeys to the refuse tip to dispose of
garden refuse from Trinity Road.  Thank you for clarifying this. I would like
to know if other members of Headington and Marston Neighourhood Forum have
received such specialist treatment.  I live in a terraced house in Trinity Road
and have found that the City Council is very rigorous in enforcing its policy
of refuse/recyling/compost collection.

Marie Vickers

On Sun, 31/8/08, nicholas fell <<email obscured>> wrote:

> From: nicholas fell <<email obscured>>
> Subject: Re: [HMNF] headington/obstructions
> To: "Headington & Marston Neighbourhood Forum"
<<email obscured>>

> Date: Sunday, 31 August, 2008, 6:00 PM
> I am a friend of Julia Gasper and happen to know her well, I
> was taught by Matthew Meeson's mother as a child at St
> Andrew's Primary School I met him once but he probably
> does not remember me.  Julia says that she regrets her too
> rash comments about Matthew's Beer.  The bags of rubbish
> he took photos of were not actually put there by Julia but
> by the person employed to look after her garden while she
> was out of the country, and some was left by a lodger who
> was moving out who had a clear out of their stuff.  Julia
> denies that there was any question of the rubbish in
> question blocking the pavement as was alleged, as the
> pavement concerned here is actually very narrow dwindling
> down to nothing and no one actually walks on it at that
> point anyway.  i should know because I sometimes visit her
> at her house.
> The garden refuse was actually taken away totally happily
> by the Council, it didn't matter what container it was
> in.  For another thing Julia does not have a Wheelie bin
> because the steps up from the garden make using one totally
> impossible.  When she is at home she often picks up a lot of
> litter including quite a bit that would appear to have
> possibly come from the Mason Arms Pub.  I would just like to
> say that I would be more than happy to meet with Matthew to
> discuss this matter over a jar of his best beer any time,
> due to the fact that I am in the process of setting up a new
> Civil Parish Council for Headington and am applying to
> become a Civil Parish Councillor.
>
>
> nicholas fell
> Royal Borough of Headington, City of Oxford
> Info about nicholas fell:
> http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/nicholasfell
>
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Headington Civil Parish Council From: Jock Coats Date: Aug 31 19:52 UTC Short link

Some of us have been "campaigning" (more like nagging) for this for
many years, and in fact now that the City Council appears to want to
dissolve their area committees, or so I am led to believe, it seems
like a good time to push for it more - reparishing the whole city to
replace the area committees.  I have a feeling (though no doubt
someone on here will know more) that the previous Headington PC
disappeared when it became part of Headington Urban District Council
(so it was still a local affair), a short lived body before it was
incorporated into Oxford City (in about 1938 was it?).

I would prefer now for us to think in terms of a town council (same
"tier" of government as a parish, really just a different name)
covering roughly the area covered by the present North East Area
Committee.  But that would definitely need delicate negotiations with
the two existing parish councils in the area (Old Marston and
Risinghurst & Sandhills) as I know for a start that OMPC had concerns
about losing their identity when I mentioned the idea to them ten
years ago or so when we started thinking about the city's ward
boundary changes.  The elections manager at the City Council always
winces a bit when I go into his office in case I'm there to talk about
reparishing the city - as he had a "difficult" time negotiating how to
re-ward and redraw Risinghurst and Sandhills a few years back!

I was recently at Thame Town Council explaining Community Land Trusts
to them and it was clear that, as an independent devolved body, they
seem more willing to stand up to their district council for their
community than a "branch meeting" of that larger body could ever
really do (apart from anything real devolution needs the money in the
form of the parish precept to give them real independence of
thought).  Such a Headington and Marston Town Council would have a
population far bigger than Thame, and a much bigger economy, and, as
you rightly point out, we have had such independence before, within
living memory, both as a parish and an urban district.

Almost anything a principal authority can do can be devolved to a
third tier authority, including things like Section 42 roads
maintenance, leisure (indeed in the era of "public baths" that was
quite a considerable responsibility - though in Headington I believe
that sort of thing was dealt with by the "Public Health Board"
separately) and, since the City Council seems determined to take back
centralised micromanagement of planning decisions whether or not they
get away with dissolving the branch committees, it would at least
guarantee a democratic local forum as a statutory consultee on
planning issues.

Nowadays I could even imagine making a case for responsibility for the
local schools under a sort of a "Parish Academy" type arrangement if
that were popular.

How about Bury Knowle House as the Headington Mairie?  I wrote about
it recently here:

http://www.jockcoats.org.uk/oxford_labours_double_devolution

and a longer while ago here:

http://risinghurst.blogspot.com/2006/03/power-to-parish.html

We have the highest ratio of electors to elected representatives in
developed democracies.  It is quite fundamental to changing the way
our politics works to start from the ground up rather than the top down:

http://www.jockcoats.org.uk/revolutionary_liberalism_5_sovereign_individual
and
http://www.jockcoats.org.uk/haris_game_not_even_right_ballpark

OX3 Guide From: Jock Coats Date: Aug 31 19:25 UTC Short link

I am astonished that "ThinkLocally" can be making enough money to buy
advertising space on buses and taxis!

There appears to be one searchable business listed in OX3.  And that's
Lock Fyne in Walton Street (OX2)!  Though there is an advert for a
special offer from Squash, the new juice bar in Headington.  In fact
it appears to be a rebadging of a business indexing portal based in
Camberley.

When I looked at the idea of doing a bi-monthly free-sheet advertising
funded Lib Dem Focus for OX3 I think I worked out that we'd need no
more than about 25 regular advertisers covering half of an eight A4
page layout with a centre spread being a two month calendar of
community events and the rest political stuff.  But it's quite a lot
of work - you can't rely, as "ThinkLocally" seems to do, on people
just signing up for themselves.

I think when I looked at the business rate lists I found about 350
"business premises" in OX3 (although that does include a few that
would probably not "advertise" like hospitals and so on).  But given
all the little groups around, churches, playgroups and all sorts who
put some money into doing fliers and so on around you can't discount
any organizations willing to advertise if they are persuaded it saves
them time and probably money.

When I think "local" I want to find, for example, an auditor for the
Community Land Trust - I'm sure there are home working accountants who
could do it - instead Critchleys have got the business and will likely
charge us a fortune after their first, pro bono year.  I think there's
quite a lot we can do to assist local businesses just by giving them
the equivalent of a postcard in the newsagent window for a similar
sort of price but covering the whole of the OX3 area.

And you can do it all "virally", getting local groups involved - say
offering residents associations, PTAs and other community
organizations a fifty-fifty slice of any surpluses for getting local
businesses they know of in their areas to advertise.  But the key is
to develop something that will keep people coming back - business
directories are all very well but you only look at them when you can't
find something you want elsewhere.  A proper community portal with
local events listings and the like that people, even down to street
level, can subscribe to so they get notices of events into their
inboxes, information like planning applications, free easy update mini-
web sites for local groups and so on (far better linked into a
community portal than someone having to search through Google and
remember some btopenworld/my-little-group URL and so on).

These organizations that created huge nationwide "thisismyvillage"
type sites have not done very well - they may have survived the
dot.com bubble, but in reality it was by not growing how they thought
it would in the first place so having no bubble to burst.  So long as
you don't want to become a millionaire out of it local, word of mouth,
viral portals are very worth while in my opinion.

Now that my New Big Server (tm) is nearly up and running (never say I
don't use my holidays well...:) I'm nearly ready to start working on
"ox3online.net" which I hope will pull some of these ideas together.

Headington Civil Parish Council From: nicholas fell Date: Aug 31 19:10 UTC Short link

I had the idea of starting a new Civil Parish Council after reading on
Stephanie's Headington History Website that a member of the Mattock family had
been on the Headington Civil Parish Council back in the nineteen twenties, it
ran between 1894 and 1927 when it disappears from the records, but it appears
that the original paperwork for it are filed at the local records office at
Between Towns Road.
The circumstances are somewhat peculiar as to what happened to the Civil Parish
Council.  i shall post more on this in the next few days.

headington/obstructions From: nicholas fell Date: Aug 31 16:56 UTC Short link

I am a friend of Julia Gasper and happen to know her well, I was taught by
Matthew Meeson's mother as a child at St Andrew's Primary School I met him once
but he probably does not remember me.  Julia says that she regrets her too rash
comments about Matthew's Beer.  The bags of rubbish he took photos of were not
actually put there by Julia but by the person employed to look after her garden
while she was out of the country, and some was left by a lodger who was moving
out who had a clear out of their stuff.  Julia denies that there was any
question of the rubbish in question blocking the pavement as was alleged, as
the pavement concerned here is actually very narrow dwindling down to nothing
and no one actually walks on it at that point anyway.  i should know because I
sometimes visit her at her house.
The garden refuse was actually taken away totally happily by the Council, it
didn't matter what container it was in.  For another thing Julia does not have
a Wheelie bin because the steps up from the garden make using one totally
impossible.  When she is at home she often picks up a lot of litter including
quite a bit that would appear to have possibly come from the Mason Arms Pub.  I
would just like to say that I would be more than happy to meet with Matthew to
discuss this matter over a jar of his best beer any time, due to the fact that
I am in the process of setting up a new Civil Parish Council for Headington and
am applying to become a Civil Parish Councillor.

OX3 Guide From: Mike Ratcliffe Date: Aug 31 13:30 UTC Short link

It must be worth doing for someone, as we've just had another Headington guide
put through the door.

Thinklocally.co.uk has a website as well - so covering their bases - and I
assume that it's all paid for by the advertisers.

headington/obstructions From: Stephanie Jenkins Date: Aug 30 20:33 UTC Short link

Could we please now go back to discussing pavement obstacles in general, and
avoid the issue of the waste and recycling of a specific household, which
should now have been resolved?

The Starbucks application 08/01534/FUL which included permission for their
pavement tables has been amended so that it is now simply an application for
"Change of use from retail (class A1) to a mixed use as retail and cafe
(A1/A3)".

But the comments of the Local Highway Authority (i.e. Oxfordshire County
Council) on the original plan are still up, and are interesting.  They say:
"Whilst the tables and chairs will be erected on land under the control of the
applicant the Highway Authority is concerned that the erection of table and
chairs in this location will obstruct the adjacent footway."

This is what we have been saying on this forum: the miserable bit of public
pavement here is totally inadequate.  And the county council goes on to say,
"The Highway Authority also has aspirations for changing the footway in the
area as part of the Phase 2 works for the London Road improvement works."

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