Green councillors supporting disruption to students' studies

I've been getting more and more worried about the Oxford Green Party.  Today I was horrified to see the contents of a letter from all of Oxford's Green councillors.

One paragraph reads:  "We are proud to stand alongside those Oxford students and pupils who marched peacefully two weeks ago on the NUS/UCU demo in London, and who this week marched for their rights, and then undertook the occupation in Oxford."

I am indeed proud to stand alongside those who marched peacefully, and I am indeed ashamed of and entirely opposed to what my party's senior MPs are doing with student funding in the coalition, but I am much more ashamed of all those who think it's OK to practically vandalise one of Oxford's most historic buildings, the Radcliffe Camera, and to seriously disrupt those students who are trying to work extremely hard to get their degrees.  Did you see the dancing on the tables?  I have never seen such blatant disrespect of such an important and historical resource.  It's sheer hypocrisy to protest about student fees and at the same time disrupt the work and lives of many students who just want to get on with studying so they can get their degrees.  As you can see from the comments on the YouTube video linked above I appear not to be alone in that view.

It's nothing short of scandalous that Oxford Greens seem to be supporting this sort of behaviour.

Greens trying to trick the public again

We've just had a "Green News" through our door.  It has a story about how Oxford Greens are entirely behind the Save Temple Cowley Pools campaign and how they have tried to save the pool three times in full council.  All true.  Then it says that Liberal Democrat councillors have voted against them.  You get what they are trying to imply...

The fact is that yes, Lib Dems may have voted against ridiculous Green amendments to motions about the pools but we have NEVER voted in favour of losing first-class swimming facilities in Cowley.  We have accepted that maybe Temple Cowley Pools will have to go but have always made it crystal clear that we would only support that if there was a guarantee of an equivalent or better facility (and that includes the gym and sauna) in the immediate locality.  Personally I'd love to see a combined pools and ice-rink facility with a big heat-pump to warm the pool and cool the ice on the site of the now vacant Royal Mail facility on the corner of Garsington Road and Hollow Way.

I think it's this sort of blatant bending the truth by parties and attempting to deceive the public that puts so many people off politics and means so many have so little faith in local councillors.  I am frankly appalled that the Greens think people might be so stupid as to fall for this.

Christmas Light Night

This event is becoming a bit of a tradition in Oxford.  I went to the opening at the Divinity School.  The Vice Chancellor of Oxford University, Andrew Hamilton; the leader of Oxford City Council, Bob Price; and the Chair of Oxford Inspires, Tony Stratton all gave speeches thanking everyone for their involment in all that makes our City great at this time of year.

I had a wander round Broad Street and I thought it looked really magical with the main street lights off and all the Christmas stalls and lights.  I was quite surprised at how busy the area was.

The Frontline Councillor as a Community Leader

I went to this training session today at the Local Government Information Unit in London.  It was a useful session and gave a good overview of the roles and skills required to be an effective local community leader. Our trainers for the day were Alan Waters from LGIU and Steve Skinner, an LGIU Associate.

We talked about setting the context of community leadership since the Big Society agenda has come into effect as well as the comprehensive spending review and the Localism Bill.  It was described as councils having much more freedom and control but over much less.  Councillors need to balance community activities and needs with strategic corporate issues for local authorities and it's not always easy!

We talked about the eight leadership roles as in the star image (my self-scores are marked) and the ladder of participation which has five levels:  informing; consulting; joint decision-making; joint action; and supporting community organisations in self-help.



After lunch we talked about creating the right environment for community leadership and working with other community leaders.

A really interesting discussion then ensued about councillor-officer relations and it was a good to have a full and open discussion with members and officers from different authorities.  Trust and respect were two very important attributes of good working relationships as were good communication and regular updates.  I was interested to hear that in one authority new councillors have an officer mentor for a period.

I think my quote of the day was "sharp elbows and loud mouths", describing those who always seem to get hold of available community funding first.

25 years of the Luther Street Medical Centre

I felt very honoured to be invited to this celebration today.  We had a buffet lunch and it was fascinating to speak to so many people who have helped Luther Street Medical Centre in its support and services for Oxford's homeless people.  We heard excellent speeches from Pat Goodwin, the founder trustee of the Oxford Homeless Medical Fund; from Dr Sally Reynolds, a GP who has been working for Luther Street since the start and from Lesley Dewhurst, the chief executive of Oxford Homeless Pathways.



By far the most moving speeches were by two people who had been users of the Luther Street Medical Centre, both explained how they had had so much more help than just medical and how the centre had really helped them to turn their lives around by properly listening to their stories and understanding their needs and situations properly.

There was  an opportunity to look around the impressive facilities of the Centre including the dental surgery and now several consulting rooms and meeting rooms.  It's an amazing place with lots of amazing people doing amazing work!

Central South and West Area Committee

Well that came around quickly! We met today in the town hall but I was rather late as I'd been to a work meeting in Nottingham and got stuck in a huge jam driving back through Oxford to go home and get my bike to cycle back to the Town Hall.  Oxford would jam up on the one rare evening I choose drive through it!

We looked again at the Westgate redevelopment planning permission renewal and I was concerned to hear from some residents who were seriously worried about noise and fume pollution to their properties.  I hope this can be sorted out before any development proceeds. We also determined some other fairly minor planning applications.

We had an item of urgent business that  was essentially asking to divert some developer contributions in the Botley Road area away from public art and towards improved flood mitigation measures.  Given the disastrous flooding we have seen three times in that area in the last decade this was a bit of a no-brainer and was approved once we'd asked a few questions about how the council would be ensuring best value for money for the citizens of Oxford.

There was one final item that was rather unfortunate as it was about a retrospective application for funds for an event held in September by the Oxford City Canal Partnership.  The application should not have been retrospective but it seems that nobody in the council remembered to ask the organisation to apply for the grant once it had been agreed in principle by the area committee back in February 2010.  We reluctantly decided to overturn the officer recommendation not to pay the money as we felt it had only not been paid because of an error that was in no part the fault of the Canal Partnership.

Fast work from waste collections

I had a call from the owner of a property on Ship Street this morning complaining that nobody had informed the residents there of the change of collection day for their waste and recycling and that it was piling up.  I passed this on to the council officers concerned at 11.24 this morning and got the following reply at 14:14 this afternoon: "We have collected the waste from Ship Street today and will letter drop the residents in domestic dwellings. Unsure how this has happened but please accept our sincere apologies on behalf of the project team"

I have to say I am extremely impressed.  Well done and thank you to all at City Works for  sorting this out so quickly (170 minutes), particularly Ian Bourton!