All posts in the topic headington/obstructions (Short link)
Summary
- There are 19 posts — by 12 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Ruth Wilkinson at Oct 17 08:30 UTC
| From | File | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Matthew Meeson | 12082008136.jpg | Aug 18 12:15 UTC |
I don't really understand the extent of the concern about cafe tables on the
pavement. In Headington the pavements are wide, they are not crowded, and on
the whole people are civilised about giving way to each other. The cafe tables
are mostly situated close to the coffee shops, and they help to create a sense
of community life on London Road.
Flora Alexander
Some of the pavement in the centre of Headington is wide enough and can accommodate tables; but some is definitely not. There are parts of the centre that are now virtually impossible to visit if you are in a wheelchair; and if you were pushing a double-buggy you would have to divert it into the London Road. The pavement cyclists are also a much greater problem than they were before: people used to be able to get up on the upper pavement to avoid them (or vice versa), but they can't now. Squash Café use their own frontage for tables, and then put an A-board slap in the middle of the only narrow bit of public pavement that is left. How are you supposed to get around it if you are disabled? And how is a blind or partially sighted person supposed to know it is there? It's not just the cafés: the new optician and Nicolas, for instance, are also blocking the public part of the pavement with A-boards, and other retail shops are starting to put goods outside for the first time. But I think that people find the cafés particularly annoying because the tables and chairs take up so much more room and are permanently out in daytime, rain or shine, winter and summer. Please everyone: don't change the subject line in messages. We now have two separate threads running on this topic. If you look at http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/oxford-hm you will understand why it is not a good idea.
I had in my mind that there was some kind of legislation that set minimum
pavement widths to be that sufficient for two wheelchairs to pass each other
(~1.8 to 2m).
From what I can tell, it can vary by council, each having their own
guidelines. But given that I hear some parking "consultations" (ho ho) in
Iffley contain options to park on the pavement, I'm guessing that there's no
such design metric here.
You can't blame businesses for wanting to maximise their appeal to buyers (I
hear cafes are quite competitive in Headington...) and isn't it their fault
that there are various problems for historical reasons; and isn't the 'cafe
culture' what planners have in their heads whenever we see 'mood boards' for
road redesigns? Sometimes you've just got to make the best of what history
has given you [*].
For signage stuck in the public footpath, I'm sure a word with the
proprietor is the best course of action rather than attempts to co-opt the
privately-owned frontage (which I'm quite sure will cause the cooperation
shutters to roll down so fast you'll get whiplash). After all, it _is_ an
offence to place goods or signs which cause obstruction or include
commercial advertising, within the Highway, with a maximum fine of 1000.
[*] I remember some years ago a newspaper article complaining that
cornmarket street was 'too wide' - as if some Fawltyesque 'move the hotel a
couple of inches to the right' were possible!
On Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 8:03 AM, Stephanie Jenkins <
>I had in my mind that there was some kind of legislation that set minimum
> pavement widths to be that sufficient for two wheelchairs to pass each other
> (~1.8 to 2m).
>
> From what I can tell, it can vary by council, each having their own
> guidelines. But given that I hear some parking "consultations" (ho ho) in
> Iffley contain options to park on the pavement, I'm guessing that there's no
> such design metric here.
This is happening in all CPZs where the the road is considered too narrow for
cars to pass each other with a line of parked cars.
>
> You can't blame businesses for wanting to maximise their appeal to buyers (I
> hear cafes are quite competitive in Headington...) and isn't it their fault
> that there are various problems for historical reasons;
Surely this is not a 'fault', front gardens were converted so that the houses
could become shops!
In Wharton Road, the reverse has happened, most shops have been converted to
houses with front parking/gardens
> and isn't the 'cafe
> culture' what planners have in their heads whenever we see 'mood boards' for
> road redesigns? Sometimes you've just got to make the best of what history
> has given you [*].
The proposed London Road development mentions 'decluttering'.
Moving away from central Headington but on the subject of obstucting the
pavements, I would like to post a photo's showing a problem we have in
Headington Quarry with Waste and recycling.
This was taken outside Julia Gaspers house. This is 'all' garden waste although
it is pilled into box's, purple bags, blue bins and green bins.
This has now been blocking the pavement since last monday.
I would like to ask "Dr Gasper" why she feels she has the right to leave this
littering the pavement for over a week ?
Why can't she keep this in her garden until it is due for collection ?
Why can't she work out the 'complex' colour coding system for recycling?
Why can't she grasp what gets recycled on which week?
This is not a one off I would like to add.
Shouldn't the council be fining people who block the pavements with thier
rubbish ?
Headington Quarry is a very pretty conservation area and I personally think it
is unacceptable that this sort of selfish, unsightly, clogging of the pavements
should be allowed to continue.
The following file was added to this topic:
One small point that might be useful. You can sign up on the council's
recycling site so that you receive a text every Sunday morning (in my case - it
might be the day before your due collection date) reminding you which
collection is due that week.
PG
----- Original Message -----
From: Matthew Meeson
To: Headington & Marston Neighbourhood Forum
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 1:18 PM
Subject: Re: [HMNF] headington/obstructions
Moving away from central Headington but on the subject of obstucting the
pavements, I would like to post a photo's showing a problem we have in
Headington Quarry with Waste and recycling.
This was taken outside Julia Gaspers house. This is 'all' garden waste
although it is pilled into box's, purple bags, blue bins and green bins.
This has now been blocking the pavement since last monday.
I would like to ask "Dr Gasper" why she feels she has the right to leave this
littering the pavement for over a week ?
Why can't she keep this in her garden until it is due for collection ?
Why can't she work out the 'complex' colour coding system for recycling?
Why can't she grasp what gets recycled on which week?
This is not a one off I would like to add.
Shouldn't the council be fining people who block the pavements with thier
rubbish ?
Headington Quarry is a very pretty conservation area and I personally think
it is unacceptable that this sort of selfish, unsightly, clogging of the
pavements should be allowed to continue.
Headington & Marston Neighbourhood Forum now contains the following file
http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/file/2635-2008-08-18T121524Z
Name: 12082008136.jpg
Tags:
Type: image/pjpeg
Size: 1505KB
All the files that have been added to Headington & Marston Neighbourhood
Forum can be viewed at
http://forums.e-democracy.org/s/?g=oxford-hm&f=1&t=0
Matthew Meeson
Info about Matthew Meeson: http://forums.e-democracy.org/p/matt_meeson
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I think that everyone will agree that it is quite unacceptable to block the pavement with rubbish and recycling in that way. It is also, however, unfair to name an individual offender on this public forum. You should report such offences to the city council, which is at last enforcing the rule that rubbish and recycling must not be put on the public pavement until 6pm on the day before collection and empty containers removed on the day of collection: see http://archive.oxfordmail.net/2008/8/11/256042.html
Stephanie, I appreciate you find it unfair to 'name and shame' on this forum,
however I hold a different view.
Several local residents have commented to me about this and we are fed up off
looking at it.
With regard to Matthew's accusations, it appears that while I was away, the
person employed to look after my garden put several large bags of cuttings
outside, and also the lodger, who was leaving, had a big clear-out. They put
the stuff out when they were here, which may not always correspond to the
collection dates.
However, I would like to say that there was no question of this blocking
the pavement, as the pavement here is very narrow, dwindling to nothing, so
no-one walks on it anyway.
Secondly, the garden stuff was happily accepted by the council recycling
system for compostable materials, regardless of what containers it was in.
Thirdly, my household does not have a large wheelie-bin, because the steps
in the garden make this impossible.
Fourthly, when I am here, I do pick up a lot of other people's litter,
including the considerable amount that seems to emanate from the Mason's Arms
pub.
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."
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, 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.
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.
We have looked at your Pavement Clutter Forum with interest. Have you
considered looking at this issue from a shopkeeper's point of view? Spare us a
thought. We are not trading in a particularly wealthy or easy area, ie. shop
turnaround is high for a reason. Self-advertising is crucially important if we
are to offer an independent alternative to every other high street chain. Many
high street chains would not consider Headington as a fit proposition. It may
have been noticed that Frog Orange has not used its A Board for several months,
and therefore we are not currently contributing to this so-called 'clutter'.
In fact, during the 2-3 years that our A Board was up, we did not receive a
single complaint from a member of the public; the only comments we received
were positive and in response to our 'jolly' and 'fun' board.
Nobody has ever bumped into, fallen over or otherwise hurt themselves on or
because of our A Board. We implemented the board to stop a trading neighbour
of ours constantly parking their van on the pavement directly outside our
shopfront (which is legal during certain hours of the day). Having a white van
parked outside and obscuring your shop does nothing for business. If we really
felt that using an A Board was putting our customers and the general public at
risk, we would never use one. We are one of the few shops who are, and always
have been wheelchair and double buggy-friendly. We care about all of our
customers, young and old, able and disabled, and would never wish to jeopardise
their safety or mobility.
Imagine, without Headington's entrepreneurial shopkeepers, hairdressers, cafes
etc., we could become A N Other small town of bookies, offies and takeaways.
Then we really could watch our house prices plummet.
So we say, get over your anti-A Board antics and Clutter claustrophobia, and
get into Headington life. Headington may be a place that is hard to love, but
we believe it is a place full of lovely people who are willing (perhaps without
realising it) to move in single file when necessary.
xxx
Welcome to the forum, Lucy: I think that you are our first retail shop to join. I don't mind A-boards when they are close to the shops. It's the ones placed in the middle of the pavement that are dangerous. I have walked into one myself, but not in Headington: I was holding a map, and when you do that you see nothing below waist level. I was unscathed, but a very elderly person might get hurt if they walk into one. A-boards are banned in many places now, but I would not want to see things go that far. I did some googling and found some interesting information about pavement clutter and the Highways Act on Wolverhampton County Council's website: http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/business/licenses/pavement/faq.htm The most relevant question answered on that page is: Q. Why are A-boards deemed a hazard, but not tables and chairs? A. Tables and chairs will need to be set within an enclosure agreed with the council. A-boards tend to be positioned more randomly, thereby presenting a hazard to the blind and partially sighted as well as causing an obstruction. I don't see why shops can't have a similar designated area where it is safe to put an A-board (whether on the private or public pavement). But I think it would be mean if the council charged for A-boards on the public pavement. I don't think it is ever acceptable, however, for pedestrians to be forced to go in single file in a shopping centre (or indeed anywhere else). It's just not safe if you have to manage a buggy and children, and is very hard for the disabled.
Going back to blocking the pavement with rubbish bins, what happens when the
bins are placed for collection just INSIDE the premises, but the empties are
placed by the operatives outside, blocking the pavement? The owner returns the
following week from holiday and finds a summons? (On top of that, his house is
burgled because it's quite obvious he's away).
What happens with bin lorries on Fridays in Kennett Road when the Farmer's
Market is in full swing? The new bin day seems to be listed as Friday for our
area....
Hmm - will be most entertaining to watch I suspect!
David Clover
I too was worried about the fact that the bin collection for Kennett Road is
being changed to a Friday, but have been reassured that it will take place
either very early or very late, and will not interfere with the market. (I had
visions of enormous rubbish lorries reversing down Kennett Road.)
I imagine that we have had to change to Friday because most of the streets to
the east and north of us already have a collection that day, and so they wanted
to disrupt as few people as possible. But it isn't a good day generally: how
are people who go off for the weekend after work supposed to take their bins
back in?
I received my information letter from the city council yesterday about the new
collection services. It seems to me confusing to print the blue calendar on
one side of the card and the red calendar on the other, as no one needs both,
and people who at present don't seem to know if they are orange or purple are
unlikely to be able to work out if they are red or blue.
Yes I share everyone's concerns about the timing of the rubbish collection in Kennett Road. I have been pestering City Works about this over the last two to three weeks. I have posted up the response from them on the Headington councillors' website http://headingtonlibdems.org.uk. I am informed that waste will be collected from the flats at the London Road End of Kennett Road on Thursdays. Collections from the rest of Kennett Road will be Fridays but the necessary vehicles will be entering the road from the Bateman St. end. I am assured that this will not affect the operation of the Farmers' Market in any way. I shall continue to liaise with City Works over the timing of the collection. If there are any operational problems as a result of the changed delivery rounds in the Headington ward, please let David and me know.