Neighbourhood Plan for Headington

TonyOX3

On Tuesday 26 February 2013 about 120 people attended a meeting organised by Headington Action (@HeadingtonA, website http://www.hcda.org.uk/ ) where it was agreed to go ahead with producing a Neighbourhood Plan for Headington. Cllrs @RuthWilk and @DavidRundle published a report.

I wasn’t able to go to this inaugural meeting but I hope to be able to follow progress and perhaps contribute in some way. It’s the start of a long and complicated process which I’ll do my best to report on a dedicated “Neighbourhood Plan” page.

The precise area to be covered by the Plan won’t be decided for a while but this rough proposal was shown at the meeting and generally supported.

At least 10 areas of Oxford are working on preparing either Neighbourhood Plans or less comprehensive Community Plans. The Oxford Civic Society has produced a list of them.

Headington Headlines #100

TonyOX3

Well, I made it to the 100th edition! No special celebrations though, and here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 18 – 24 February.

Cancer charity Maggie’s Centre has raised £3m and plans to start work on a permanent building later this year.

Lime Walk residents took matters into their own hands and decorated the All Saints’ junction chicane with plant pots and windmills to emphasise the 20mph speed limit.

William Hill’s application to open a betting shop in the old Cartridge World was turned down.

A cyclist was taken to the JR with minor head injuries after a collision with a car in Warneford Lane on Wednesday.

Starting today and lasting until Friday the Eastern by-pass between Kiln Lane and the Green Road roundabout is going to be resurfaced overnight between 8pm and 5am. Speed limits and restrictions will apply.

Police raided a cannabis farm in Hawthorn Avenue on Tuesday. A man was arrested and later released on bail.

My favorite Headington-related tweet this week:

Active topics on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week:

  • A Neighbourhood Plan for Headington?
  • Joint Bus Ticketing Starts 24 July
  • New Lime Walk and All Saints junction “improvements”
  • Saxon Way bus gate
  • New Night Journeys on 280
  • HS2 Shoppers Bus through Quarry
  • New Menu at The Six Bells
I try to cover news from the OX3 postcode in Headington and out as far as Barton, Sandhills and Risinghurst (see map). To feed into next week’s summary you can comment on this article, or tweet either with the hashtag #ox3 or @mentioning @TonyOX3.

Police & Crime Plan – PCP comments

TonyOX3
To see all my articles on the Police and Crime Commissioner click here.

If you followed my coverage of the Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections back in November, and my comments on Commissioner Stansfeld’s draft Police & Crime Plan, then you might like to take a quick glance at the Police & Crime Panel’s comments on the same document. The PCP is a non-elected body made up mainly of local councillors from across the Thames Valley region whose job is to hold the PCC to account.

They have published their comments which you can read here. They don’t find much to praise in the draft Plan – nothing at all, in fact – and they have plenty of suggestions as to how it might be improved. There are some interesting comparisons with the plans of other PCCs where the Panel has picked out examples of good practice.

Although the Panel stops short of expressing outright disappointment or criticism their considered view makes depressing reading. It’s not too late for Commissioner Stansfeld to make changes in the light of all the comments he has received – let’s hope he has the courage to do so.