Disgusting treatment of the Covered Market and Labour's contemptuous remarks

The Covered Market is one of the nicest things in Carfax Ward, the part of the Oxford I represent. I blogged last year about the terrible neglect of the place by the City Council and I'm getting increasingly worried that the appalling treatment it is getting by the Labour administration is going to kill it off once and for all.  I use the Market Barber in the covered market and works to that unit seem to have been going on for ages too.  I hear of stories of bodged roof repairs meaning units get flooded when it rains and there is a leak into the cellar and someone's storage space that the City Council should have addressed months ago.

There's an article about this in the Oxford Mail today about this and I have to say I am disgusted by the remarks Labour's Colin Cook makes about some of the long serving and hard working traders.  He says,

“This situation is not just down to high rents. It’s partly as a result of the age of some traders, who are looking to retire and cash in their chips.

“When rents are assessed for market traders we look at close comparators on the high street.”

I don't know about you but I think that is pretty outrageous, not to mention ageist and totally lacking in gratitude for the wonderful service to our City and tourist attraction the Market represents.  I do rather agree with the Oxford Mail editorial comment about this.  "while the council has a duty to maximise its income from its asset, it has to be big enough to realise that and make the necessary adjustments to make this an attractive business opportunity."

My colleague Cllr Jim Campbell put the rent issue rather well in a letter to the Oxford Mail earlier this year.  He says "Although the rate of inflation over the past five years is less than 18 per cent, they have proposed rent increases of between 40 and 60 per cent."

I think it is an utter disgrace that Oxford Labour claims to be the champion of fighting bad landlords and at the same time has so badly neglected the Covered Market and is pushing such clearly ridiculous and unsustainable rent rises.

Labour:  You are killing the HMO sector already with onerous costs on landlords - please don't now kill the Covered Market by pricing the tenants out of the retail units.

A note on the system of political parties

I've been asked to comment about why I think the party system is a good thing for the electorate. This is an extract from a sermon I preached at Mansfield College back in 2002 entitled "Politics and Faith – Complementary or Mutually exclusive".  The URC is the United Reformed Church - the denomination in which I am a member, elder and lay preacher.

"I should explain a little about political parties and how they fit into government both local and national.  The dictionary definition of the word political is "affecting the state or government, engaged in civil administration, having an organised form of society or government".  The political parties exist as groups of people who have similar political views.  People form these groups so that they might work together to govern in the way that best fits their collective view.  Just as in the URC nobody is expected to agree 100% with everything their party stands for however most will agree with a large proportion of their own party's policy.  Sometimes a particular issue will cause great problems in a party and this can be the most interesting but most testing time of one’s own integrity.  Compare the issue of Europe and the single currency for some political parties to the issue of human sexuality for the URC.  The similarities are striking.  What makes politics so interesting (and frustrating sometimes) to me is trying to work out how closely (or not!) our principles match those of fellow party members and how we might come to a compromise agreeable to all.  Indeed the sort of meeting as a councillor that I find the most difficult but yet the most interesting are the regular meetings of my own political party's group – for my sins I am its chair this year.

You could say that in an ideal world, all councillors would be independent of political parties and that they would all truly represent those that elected them.  I have nothing at all against independent politicians, indeed being independent and having one's own mind is crucial to being a good politician.  The problem is that if you had 48 people in the council chamber with 48 different views and agenda you'd never decide anything and never get anything done.  It is also difficult, if not impossible, to get elected without the support of a larger body such as a political party in campaigning and in being effective as a councillor.  Most parties will provide support not only in getting elected in the first place but also in how to be an effective councillor, and how to balance working life with being a councillor and perhaps having family responsibilities.  The political parties help to ensure that government is effective but still accountable to the electorate and also help the electorate to know a little about what values and principles a candidate has.  With the best will in the world, no candidate can possibly know all 4000 or so electors in a ward!"

Thames Valley Police: "Have your say" meetings

I've just received notification of some further "Have your say" meetings that our local police are organising. I can recommend you attend one of these if you have a few minutes. They are at:

Date: Saturday, 27 October 2012
Time: 12:00 - 15:00
Venue: Ice rink, Oxpens Road

Date: Saturday, 17 November 2012
Time: 12:00 - 15:00
Venue: Ice rink, Oxpens Road

Date: Saturday, 08 December 2012
Time: 12:00 - 15:00
Venue: Ice rink, Oxpens Road

Oxford University Liberal Democrats resurgent!

( a guest post by Layla Morgan)

Last week marked the end of the Freshers Fair at Oxford University. Held in the Examination School on the High Street, this three day event marked a resurgence for the OULD as hundreds of students signed up to receive emails and join the oldest political society in Oxford.

The brightly coloured stall, adorned with a brand new banner attracted a steady stream of students asking for more information or to ask about their latest campaigns. Beers mats with 'I Love Me' were given away to promote the Body Confidence Campaign started by Jo Swinson MP, now a minister for Equality. The Bears for Belarus campaign which fights for greater Democracy in Belarus also received a lot of attention. OULD are also firmly behind the OU for Obama campaign and will be supporting Obama's re-election into November. With strong links already between the Liberal Democrats and the Democrats in the USA, this is a natural extension to a flourishing partnership between the parties.

This is the first year that Lib Dem HQ has employed a full time Liberal Youth officer, Katherine Pugh (katherine.Pugh@libdems.org.uk) who was able to send out subsidised freshers packs across the country. She was been working hard to connect the Liberal Youth wing of the party (see www.liberalyouth.org for more info) to local parties and central campaigns to enhance our campaigning capabilities for the 2013 local elections.

Co-Chair of OULD Rio Jones commented,  "I am really pleased to see so many people sign up this year. It is the best it has been since entering coalition. We plan to add an extra dimension to the club this year by doing more campaigning and offering training for our members. It is going to be a great year"

If you would like more information about the OULD, contact Rio or his counterpart Mairi Robertson. You can visit their facebook page or email them at co-chairs@oxfordlibdems.org.uk.