Tag Archives: Oxfordshire City Council

Shocking video shows Gibbs Crescent threat

Readers of Volesoft.com are already aware of the goings on in Mill Street, Oxford – some salacious details were made famous by Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales – the Miller’s TaleContinue reading

Oxford City Council appears “inept or corrupt”

HERE ON Mill Street, I take a long and hard look at the local Mick's Cafe, the Botley Roadcommunity and now that even Jocks like me have suffrage in England, I will be voting on the 2nd of May next.

So when a leaflet popped through my door from the Green candidate, Sushila Dhall of Green Oxford arrived with some allegations about the infamous Roger Dudman Way development, I read it with some interest.

I wrote to Ms Dhall – see correspondence below.  In other news, had a lovely breakfast at Mick’s New Cafe this morning. BBC Radio Oxford was outside the Westgate Hotel conducting a vox pop about St George’s Day. Unfortunately, I am no good – because I am a sweaty sock.

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Dear Mike,
I am referring to the fiasco surrounding the Roger Dudman way development, where a vital report from the City Council Heritage Officer was suppressed by the city council planning department after 1.5m of the apex of the roof was removed, as if this answered the concerns, which it did not at all, soil contamination surveys were not carried out, an Environmental Impact Assessment was deemed uneccessary (by the planning dept), which included a lighting survey and the impact on the view, trees were said to be able to be planted where they cannot, the plans were misleading in that they showed the view cone (meant to be protected) would not be affected, which it is, severely, the wording of the report said that the buildings would be visible as ‘glimpses from parts of the Meadow’, consultation which was said to have taken place did not. The whole things was pushed through on the basis of a number of misleading statements and pictures. Now the planning department is standing by it despite the errors and misleading statements made by them. With the proposed Blavatnik building on Walton St the proposal is for a building far taller than should be approved according to City Council documents and yet planning officers have not required it to be lowered, again drawings are misleading, local people not consulted (except in as far as local people have taken it upon themselves to spread the word and organise a meeting), and there appears already to be a bias in favour of approval, although given the level of publickly expressed discomfort this may change.
Re the Roger Dudman way buildings; a legal challenge against teh City Council is currently ongoing.
I hope this is helpful.
With best wishes,
Sushila

On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 11:48 PM, MIKE MAGEE <mike.magee@btinternet.com> wrote:
Hi Sushila, and thanks for bunging your leaflet into Mill Street, which is where I live at number 27  as a registered voter.

When you say that the Labour dominated City Council “appears inept or corrupt”, can you give me some more evidence, please?

If the officers are corrupt, I would like to have them prosecuted for what they are doing for Oxford.

I look forward to your reply.

Mike Magee

Oxford’s not too dangerous for cyclists

I PLACED A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION request to Oxfordshire County Council to find out how many people were injured in Oxford between the years 2005-2009.

Why did I do that? Because Oxford is pretty cycle friendly – and even pedestrian friendly for that matter. There’s plenty of cycle lanes, the speed limit is 20MPH in many areas, and there’s heaps and heaps of students. Plus the buses are quite expensive.

The results are encouraging, considering the city is quite bike rich. Here’s the table those nice people from Oxfordshire County Council sent me under the FOI Act. Two deaths in five years doesn’t seem too bad to me, although 100% bad for the two individuals involved.  Oxfordshire, in conjunction with Oxford City Council, is also pretty good at devising schemes to make the roads even safer for people living here.

The figures for 2009, marked * are for the months January to November, no data being available for December. Here’s the response to my FOI request.

Oxford pedal cyclist injuries 2005-2009
Fatal
Serious
Slight
Total
2005
0
16
142
158
2006
0
33
113
146
2007
1
20
132
152
2008
0
20
143
163
2009*
1
26
121
148