Carols with the Mayor of Abingdon

I had a great time this evening singing carols with the community in Abingdon.  It was a carol service with a difference in that it was held in the Aroma Coffee shop in the centre of town.  We were treated to some music by the Abingdon Society of Bell Ringers before the service started.  I joined Sam Bowring, the Mayor of Abingdon, and some

of the members of Abingdon Baptist church for a good sing and some traditional readings.  The coffee and cakes were pretty good too!



 

Opening Oxford's Christmas Market

I was  pleased to be able to open the Oxford Christmas Market today at its new location on Broad Street after a long campaign to get it allowed to be there.  It consists of about 40 stalls with all sorts of exciting food and Christmas gifts.  From what I can see it all looks to be really high quality and as far as I can see there is no amplified speech or music so it should happily co-exist with local colleges, businesses and residents.

Christmas Markets are a wonderful tradition and while this one is not new to Oxford, it is new to Broad Street and I wish it a really successful and joyous time here.  It’s great to have it so near to the Covered Market, another jewel in Oxford’s crown, and I sincerely hope both markets will be of mutual benefit to each other at this time of Christmas shopping both for presents and provisions.

I'm very grateful to everyone who has been involved in making this event happen – all the council officers, the Broad Street Stakeholder Group who have been so helpful and constructive in the planning of this event and particularly to Nicole Rahimi, the person whose inspiration and vision has made all this possible. I also want to thank surrounding colleges, residents and businesses for being so tolerant of this event right on their doorsteps. I do hope it will be a success from now until 22 December and that everyone will be able to go about their day to day business without being disturbed – this particularly applies to all the sixth formers up in Oxford for University interviews at this time!

I’m grateful also to all the traders who have taken up stalls in this market and to those who have helped build such a lovely set up. I do hope many people from Oxford and surrounding area will come along and enjoy the magical atmosphere. Local choirs and bands will perform Christmas carols throughout the coming 10 days, adding to the festive feel!

It was really good to have my parents up at the event too.  Here we are eating churros and chocolate!  Photos are courtesy of Dad.

Opening of Oxonia International University Network

This afternoon's engagement was to welcome guests to the launch and name unveiling of a new International University Network.  I felt honoured to be among so many distinguished guests and delegates from Higher Education Institutions from over 10 countries, including Oxford and the UK.  I was impressed to see so many vice-chancellors, masters, provosts, presidents and rectors from across the globe at the launch as  it’s a good sign of international support for and gravitas of the network.

The event launched a brand new university network that will enable members to collaborate and share resources as well as have a UK platform that will help them increase the profile of their institutions internationally. This should be of great benefit not only to those institutions but to the communities and countries that they serve.  I am told that the network was founded as a result of international delegates attending an Oxford Academy for Education and Development (OAED) Leadership in Higher Education Programme in May and their wish to forge stronger links with each other, internationally, both with new organisations and also with OAED as the provider of services to the HE sector overseas. That’s a pretty impressive timescale and it’s great to see the start of something new and exciting like this. I hope that many more institutions will see the benefit of joining the network to partner with like-minded organisations for the development of higher education.  I'm pictured with Dr Clark Brundin (centre), the inaugural honorary Chancellor of the Network and with Dr Moghaddam, the Chair of OAED.

I was delighted the next day to to be forwarded a lovely email from the PR manager to the Lord Mayor's PA saying "Please pass on our sincere thanks to Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Tony Brett for officially opening the Oxonia University Network yesterday. The delegates and guests were very pleased to meet him and we were very re grateful for his kind words. The event was a great success and we have received applications to join the network already. OAED would very much like to thank Tony and your team for your support for our event and we would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and a prosperous new year."

That sort of thing make such a difference!

Hidden Spire: How lucky are you?

I have the great privelege of attending the first night of the show at Crisis Skylight Oxford in partnership with Arts at the OFS tonight and I must say I really enjoyed it.  It was a moving performance with about half the cast being fmo Oxford's homeless community.  There were some really thought provoking moments, some good acting and some good music.  Highly recommended.  Rather than take it from me, I take the liberty of adding an extract from a much better review by Helen Ward of Daily Information.

"Despite a running time of just over an hour, How Lucky Are You? is a surprisingly thought-provoking and ultimately positive exploration of the theme of change and upheaval. Drawing strongly on their own experiences, the homeless members of the company have spent last four months working with a professional creative team to create a unique piece of theatre – an experience director Liz McBain described as “inspiring”.  Another member of the company told Daily Info, that the piece reflects the way in which homeless people often come together to form intensely caring and supportive families."

Intercultural Mass

I attended inter-cultural Mass today as a sign of how much Oxford as a City values its cultural diversity.  It was good to be welcomed by the Catholic Caribbean Association and I was impressed to see that these inter-cultural masses have been held in Blackbird Leys for over 20 years.

Faith plays a very important part in any society so I was very happy to see everyone together  to share their faith journeys, faith experiences and to celebrate mass. Our City is one of many faiths and one of the things I have really enjoyed so far in my year of being Deputy Lord Mayor is the diversity of events and the fine traditions of all the faiths in our City.

I am grateful to to Olive Smith and members of the Catholic Caribbean Community for all their hard work over the years in making these important events happen.

It’s a real joy that through shared faith we can bring our many different cultures together in events like this - it was a wonderful celebration to the glory of God and to our continued faith journeys together across our different cultures and in peace and harmony and with respect for each other.

Needless to say, as with many faith-based events, there was wonderful food afterwards and a chance for lots more good fellowship and good conversations about all the good works done by the Catholic Community of Blackbird Leys and beyond.

Carols at Crisis

I went to a good event this evening at Oxford's Crisis Skylight Centre.  I was pleased to be invited as this centre is in my ward and it has has support from my ward money allocation for the last two years.  We were treated to some nice mince pies and mulled punch and eleven separate carols, all well-known and all well-sung by the choir of Wesley Memorial Church, just round the corner.



We in the audience also sang, slightly less well!  The evening was rounded off by a prayer and blessing frrom Rev Martin Wellings, minister of Wesley Memorial Church.

On the way home along Cornmarket it struck me that Oxford City Council has done a good job on the Christmas lights this year - they look very good!

100 years of buses in Oxford

This morning I had the privilege of riding on a very old bus on a journey to commemorate 100 years of bus services in Oxford.  We started at the BMW museum in Cowley and travelled all the way to Oxford Station then back along Queen Street.  The old buses are looked after by the amazing volunteers of the Oxford Bus Museum Trust.  I was made to feel very welcome and learned some amazing facts about Oxford's long bus history including how they were preceded by horse-drawn trams but that Oxford never had electric trams because colleges wouldn't allow the hooks in their walls for the necessary cable suspension.

The bus we were in had no power steering and a "crash" gearbox, meaning no synchromesh.  Despite this it was dirven very expertly and smoothly by one of the museum trust volunteers and a long-time bus driver.

 

The Spirit of Christmas

I went as Deputy Lord Mayor this evening to an amazing concert at Christ Church Cathedral. It was entitled "Spirit of Christmas" and arranged by the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign. I was honoured to be sitting at the front and had a really good conversation with Bill Ronald, the Chairman of the Trustees.  The event was a mixture of audience carols, lovely music from the choir of the Dragon School and some wonderful light-hearted Christmas-themed readings from well-known celebrities including Michael Elwyn, Robert Glenister, Jemma Redgrave, Honeysuckle Weeks and Alison Steadman OBE.  The whole evening was an utter delight, set off beautifully by everyone lighting candles to hold, starting from Lily, a seven year old child who has benefited from a lot of support from the MDC.  I gather concerts like this regularly raise around £15k - pretty impressive but so important for the lives of so many young people diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy.

If you can possibly afford to make a donation to this excellent cause, please do so now via this web link to the MDC donation page.

The utter hypocrisy!

I took this screen shot just now, 2320hrs. It shows a Labour Oxford City Councillor saying how much he enjoys the Gym and Swimming Facilities at Temple Cowley Pools. And Mike Rowley, the Labour executive member with responsibility for leisure facilities, has "liked" the status.  The Labour Councillor would have been at the pool and gym first thing this morning by my reckoning.

This is just a few hours after the Labour ruling group on the City Council was laughing at and interrupting Jane Alexander of the Save Temple Cowley Pools campaign when she gave a public address to the full City Council meeting yesterday evening about how much the pools, gym, sauna and steam are used and loved by the local community.  Flabbergasted only starts to describe how I feel about this Labour contempt for the people of Oxford.

That is truly shocking hypocrisy!

Note the post I have reproduced here has a little icon of the world just beside the words "17 hours ago via Mobile".  That icon means the post is public and visible to anyone in the world with a facebook account, so I haven't breached any privacy.

Full Council: Labour denying any errors with Covered Market

I'm going to do two blog posts about today's full council meeting as there were two important issues I want to mention. The first is a motion from Cllr Jim Campbell, and Cllr Elise Benjamin about the findings of the Covered Market Scrutiny Review. The motion was fully supported by Cllr Mary Clarkson, a member of the Labour administration of the Council.  Jim, Elise and Mary have all spent many hours working on a big review of the Covered Market, working with The Retail Group who have produced an excellent and comprehensive report.
Jim's motion read:

"Council:

noting that the latest edition of Your Oxford has a full page  advertising “Oxford's Amazing Christmas Markets”, which highlights new arrangements at Gloucester Green but makes no mention whatsoever of the Covered Market;

noting further no provision has been made during the Three Day Winter Light Festival to include the Covered Market in its programme;

regretting the lack of trust that has developed between the Council, as  Landlord, and the Traders, as tenants;  

welcoming the excellent report of the Retail Group, its analysis of the reasons behind the current under-performance of the Covered Market, and its proposals for how it can once again be a key part of Oxford's Retail Offer;

hoping that the residents of Oxford will respond, in numbers and in depth, to the four week public consultation on the report;

supporting the Council's already stated intention to appoint an interim Market Manager,

therefore calls on The City Executive Board:

• to recognise that, in recent years, there has been a lack of effective  management by the Council and that this has been a significant contributory factor to the poor performance of the market;

• to consider thoroughly the findings of the Public Consultation on the future of the market;

• to ensure that the Covered Market has a key role in future City Centre events;

• to respond positively to the short term proposals put forward by the Retail Group;

• to examine in detail the long term proposals made by the Retail Group, and to draw up, by November 2014, a full report of how it will respond to these proposals."

I was highly dismayed to see and hear Bob Price, the Labour Leader of the Council propose what can only be called a wrecking amendment to the motion that completely removes any suggestion that the council might have done anything wrong or been at all remiss in how it manages the market  Colin Cook, Executive councillor with responsibility for the Covered Market also entirely supported the amendment despite objection to it from fellow Labour Councillor Mary Clarkson who has a huge amount of experience of the Covered Market and has spent many hours as part of the scrutiny review of it.  Colin Cook said he must be a Market Supporter and must be right because he had recently bought some cheese there.  I was quite disgusted that the whole of the rest of the Labour Group, even my Carfax ward colleague Cllr Canning, supported the Labour amendment that essentially takes all the blame off Labour and puts it all on the traders.  This is absolutely not the way the political group leading a local authority should behave.  I am quite ashamed.  This is not the first time I have commented about Labour neglect and arrogance towards the Jewel in Oxford's Crown that is the Covered Market either.

See my previous posts about Labour Contempt (Oct 12) and Neglect (Sep 11) of the Covered Market.

You can see the briefing note for the meeting, that includes the motions at http://mycouncil.oxford.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=3120

Proud to be part of a City Supporting LGBT rights in Russia

This is my second post about full council today and concerns a motion that I was extremely pleased to put to Oxford City Council.  I (think) I am the first openly LGBT (G in my case) Civic Office Holder in Oxford CIty, as Deputy Lord Mayor, and this made me even more proud to be able to put this motion and have it (almost) unanimously supported.  I chose to target Perm because it is a city that is twinned with Oxford.  My motion was seconded by Cllr Mary Clarkson and reads thus:

"Oxford City Council notes with horror the appalling human rights abuses happening in Russia that are denying LGBT people their basic rights to be themselves, to express themselves freely and to live in relationships with whoever they choose, free from government and police persecution.

This Council notes that Oxford enjoys a twinning arrangement with the City of Perm and, while a strong supporter of all human rights the world over, is concerned particularly about the plight of LGBT people in that city. This Council, further notes that some cities have chosen to sever twinning relationships with Russian cities because of Russian's LGBT human rights actions but considers this may be a disproportionate response in the case of Oxford and Perm as the abuses come from Russian central government, not from Perm local government.

As a more appropriate action for this situation, this Council therefore resolves to ask the Leader of the Council and the other Group Leaders to write a letter to their opposite number in Perm expressing Oxford's concern for Perm's LGBT people and their human rights situation, offering our solidarity and friendship to them in any way they feel able to request."

I gave a short speech supporting the motion and Mary Clarkson was also very supportive, telling the council of her experiences in a recent trip to Perm.  I was grateful too, to David Williams, leader of the Green Group, for speaking also strongly in favour of the motion.  On voting, virtually everyone in the room voted in favour with no objection.  There were two abstentions, one from Cllr Shah Khan (Lab) and one from Cllr Mohammed Altaf-Khan (LibDem).  The Sheriff, Cllr Mohammed Abbasi, left the chamber just before the vote and returned shortly afterwards.

The three abstentions aside, I am very pleased that the City Council is such a progressive place.  It's easy and safe to live as an openly gay man in Oxford and I think it good for all of us to remember that doing the same in Russia is now a completely different proposition.

100 years of Oxford Cinema Memories - book launch at the Phoenix

This was a fabulous afternoon spent at the Phoenix Picture House on Walton Street in Jericho.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect with this Mayoral engagement but was keen to find out.  I was welcomed by Kenny Gold, the general manager of the Phoenix Picture House and then we were taken into screen 1 where we were treated to a fascination presentation on the History of what is now called the Phoenix Picture House by Dborah Allison, one of the authors of the book that was being launched.

I was fascinated to hear how many different owners and proprietors the Phoenix has had in its 100 year life and how much it has served the local community in its time.  I'm amused that students used to be charged the top rates for tickets because they were considered to be the most well-off people in Oxford.  I hadn't realised either that the cinema had a rather seedy period in the 1970s where it was owned by a company called Star, and became a bit of a notorious sex cinema.  We saw an amusing press cutting from the era that said "students were accused of kinds of atrocities ranging from shouting, urinating and slamming car doors, to consuming Chinese take-away meals while sitting on walls and discussing films in an obscene manner."

The talk was finished off with some wonderful memories from Martin Selwood who had been a projectionist in the 1930s and is now 97 years old.  He has some amazing memories to share and was a major source of historical information for the book.

After the presentation we were taken to the Phoenix's bar for tea and cakes and I very much enjoyed more conversation with the other authors, Hiu M. Chan and Daniela Treveri Gennari.  What an absolutely fascinating afternoon learning about the secrets of one of Oxford's most lovely cinemas.  I hope it will go on serving the people of Jericho and beyond for many years to come!

Pretty impressive work by City Council streetscene team

[caption id="attachment_1088" align="alignleft" width="225"] Before[/caption]

On Monday, I reported that the bike markings going into Wellington Square from Little Clarendon Street were very badly faded and that this was sometimes causing conflict between cyclists and pedestrians. I reported this to streetscene@oxford.gov.uk

[caption id="attachment_1089" align="alignright" width="300"] After[/caption]

I am very impressed that by yesterday evening the lines were re-painted. A big thank you and well done to the council staff that did this. I'm very grateful as I'm sure are all those that use that route regularly, live or work near it.

I know this seems like a small thing but things like this are quite important to lots of people and it's great to see the Council being so helpful and responsive.

A victory for Gloucester Green residents and their right to sleep at night

I attended a licensing hearing yesterday as ward councillor as I had made a representation against an application for yet another late night takeaway on Gloucester Green. The application was by a food outlet very similar to the other two that are already there with late night licences.

Although I like to see businesses thrive in my ward, there always must be a balance between the needs of business and the needs of residents. The problem with having lots of late night food outlets on Gloucester Green is that it is more-or-less en route to taxis and buses for people leaving the bars and clubs.   Many of these now shut at 3am and do so for most nights of the week what with different themed nights for students, locals, and other groups etc.  The effect of the takeaways is to make the (often drunk and aggressive) people gather and it makes it very hard for the Police to encourage them to go home.  As Thames Valley Police said at the hearing there has been a marked increase in crime and disorder or Gloucester Green since the later food outlets have been open and this is in direct contravention to the licensing objective of reducing crime and disorder.  Although CCTV and SIA-registered door supervisors were requested, these still won't stop drunk people making a lot of noise and causing much public nuisance for the residents of Gloucester Green - the flats called the Chilterns and the Heyes.  Prevention of public nuisance is another licensing objective that the licensing act says licences should encourage.  It seemed clear to me that this one would not do that.

In my speech I did suggest it might be just about bearable to allow this new business to trade until 2am and that would mean it closed before most of the club but unfortunately the applicant was not able or willing to pay for door supervisors so in the end the panel made what I think was the right decision and rejected the application in its entirety.  This means the outlet will not be allowed to trade past 11pm, as is the current situation.

I have written to all residents of Gloucester Green today to tell them this good news and hope it might well be the start of a move to cut back the hours of some of the other food outlets in the area so that they don't attract the crime and disorder and public nuisance that is currently blighting Gloucester Green in the small hours at a totally unacceptable level.

This blog post has no official status as a record of the licensing hearing and I can’t guarantee it’s error free so please don’t rely on it. Written notification of the decision is available from the Council.

A problem with a taxi rank location in the new Westgate Development?

I had a meeting with a council officer today to discuss concerns about a proposed taxi rank as part of the new Westgate Development that looks to me like it will be incredibly close to residential accommodation on Pike Terrace and Faulkner Street in my ward.  My concern is that in the small hours it will attract a lot of noise and antisocial behaviour from people leaving clubs and bars and that this will disturb a lot of residents in the area.

There is a very good consultation site about the west gate development and I recommend you have a look and give any feedback you want to give via that.

See http://www.westgateoxfordconsultation.co.uk/ and follow the navigation in the top right.

Celebration Dinner Dance for Diwali

What an evening this was!  I had spoken at an event with the Oxford Hindu Temple and and Community Centre Project before so I was delighted to invited to the Diwali celebration dinner and Dance at the Rover Sports and Social Club.

I was welcomed again by Dr Gopal and his wife as well as by the wonderful Chinta Kallie and was pleased to be able to take Gordon, my partner, along too.



There was a great band and some amazing music and dancing.  We had a delicious three course meal and I know that many of the OHTCCP committee and members had been at the venue since 10am that day.  It all looked amazing and the food was delicious.  I got to help open the event by lighting a Diwali lamp and gave a short speech after the vote of thanks.

Divali, the festival of lights, I understand, is one of the most important festivals of the Hindu religious year so I was glad to see everyone having a fantastic evening and hope all enjoy a really great festival, in the coming days and weeks, culminating on 3rd November. The five day festival of Diwali honours Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. And the row of lamps – the Diwali – is lit to help Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, find her way into people's homes. I hope that the homes and lives of all those present are prosperous so that OHTCCP can realise its dream of having a Hindu Temple in Oxford soon!

It’s lovely to see that In Britain, Hindus celebrate Diwali with great enthusiasm.  Diwali is becoming well known in Britain with many non-Indians joining in – I was indeed very pleased to be at the event with Gordon doing just that!

Licensing hearing for Christmas Light Festival

I attended this evening's licensing hearing and spoke on behalf of a St. Giles college that had concerns about the disruption the three day Christmas Light event on 22-24 would cause to it, particularly in terms of noise disturbance to those living on St. Giles with windows directly out to it, and such extensive road closures and parking suspensions, over a whole weekend in full Oxford University Term.  An extremely different proposition to St. Giles' Fair which happens after most tourists have left Oxford post-summer and before most students have arrived back.  The City Council has a web page with more information about Christmas Light Festival.

The license application has reference 13/02305/PREM and you can see some extremely rudimentary information about it online.  I'm not sure why the council has not put adequate information there - I have asked!   The outcome was that the license was granted but with some changes. It is a perpetual license but there is a robust review process in place so if there are problems this year (I fear there may well be) then I will request a review of the license as soon as reasonably practical after the event. A future licensing panel can amend or revoke a license just as easily as it grants it!

Following discussion the applicant volunteered that there will be no licensable activities on Beaumont Street and the provision of late night food has also been removed from the application. That means the kebab vans will stay on St. Giles (and will be allowed to trade as normal as they have their own licenses). I am told that alcohol sales from some stands will be licensed by Temporary Event Notice.  These can only be objected to by the Police so I have asked Thames Valley Police to watch out for them and consider the effect they will have on a city that will already be full of drunk people on Friday and Saturday evening.

Regulated entertainment (live or recorded music, performance of dance and exhibition of films) hours have been cut back a little to:

Friday noon-10pm
Saturday 10am-10pm
Sunday 10am-7pm

The following conditions were imposed:

1. Notification of dates of future events to be at least 12 months in advance to all stakeholders and this will include all stakeholders fronting St. Giles.

2. There must be a stakeholder meeting six months in advance of each annual event.

3. During the event a 24 hour control room will operate to allow anyone with complaint or grievance to address them with an appropriate person.

4. A draft event plan will be submitted to the Safety Advisory Group at least 60 days before the event.

5. A noise management plan will be prepared and submitted to the licensing authority for approval.

6. No amplified live entertainment on Sunday between 10am and 12.15pm

And some informatives about keeping noise down while the event is being built on Thursday night and taken down on Sunday night.

I am unimpressed by this but I think it is probably realistically all that was going to be conceded at this stage.  I just hope those that come to the festival stop and think about how they would fee about three days of their own road being closed and lots of noise outside their bedroom windows for three nights.

This blog post has no official status and I can't guarantee it's error free so please don't rely on it. Written notification of the decision is available from the Council.

A letter about Christmas light night road closures and of introduction to JCR and MCR presidents

I sent the following letter today to all JCR and MCR presidents at Colleges of Oxford University that are in my Carfax ward today:

Dear JCR/MCR president,

Introduction and news from your Oxford City Councillor about major end of 6th week event.

I’m writing to you at the start of this academic year, firstly to introduce myself, so you and your common room members know how to contact me (see phone and email above, or tweet @tonybrett) for any city issues while you are resident here; and, secondly, to let you know about the City Council Christmas Lights event that is planned for the end of sixth week as it will involve some multi-day road closures and parking suspensions in large parts of the City Centre that will affect you.

An Oxford graduate myself, I’ve been representing Carfax ward since 2010. About 65% of its people are students so I am very keen that I am accessible to you so I can help you with anything you need while you are here in Oxford. I work at IT Services at 13 Banbury Road, so I’m very close at hand if you or any of your college’s students have any questions about city issues. You can ring me on internal 83354.

I want to do all I can to ensure you and all your fellow students feel as welcome in this city as possible, and part of it. I’d be really pleased to come along to a suitable common room meeting or any other appropriate event, perhaps to give a quick 5-minute run-down on what councillors do for people, how we can help and to take any questions. Would that be useful? Did you know, for example, that Oxford City Council is responsible for shared houses; parks; licensing live music venues; pubs, clubs, taxis and kebab vans; planning permission, collecting rubbish, and dealing with complaints about noise nuisance? I’ve helped students with all of those. Remember my job is to represent you to the council – not the council to you! You can read more about my work at http://tonybrett.mycouncillor.org.uk/

Turning to the Christmas event at the end of sixth week I am very keen that students get advance warning of the road closures as I think the Council has been pretty poor at keeping you informed. I only found out about them myself last month! All of St. Giles and some surrounding roads will be closed from 7pm on Thursday of 6th week right up until Monday of 7th week. That will mean no cycling and certainly no driving into town for friend or parent visits etc. I’m sure the Christmas event will be good but I wanted all your college’s students to know about it as I thought you might have concerns or questions. I’ve put a map of the closures on the back of this letter – I’m assured, after querying the council, that the green area will actually be closed from 7pm, not 4pm on Thursday of sixth week. Please do let me have any queries or comments and I will make sure they are passed on to the appropriate council officers and dealt with properly. As a past student of Oxford myself I know how important it is to be able to get around the City when you live right in the centre of it.

Thanks very much for taking time to read this and I wish you a happy and successful Michaelmas Term and academic year.

I hope some will find it useful.  You can click the image to see a larger version.

A meeting about Christmas light night

Jean Fooks and I met today with two council officers and a contractor about the events planned for 22-24 November in the City Centre to Celebrate Christmas light night.

We made quite a few points but the main one was about our fears that such a long closure of so many City Centre roads would cause utter havoc for the thousands of City Centre residents who had not been consulted about the event.  I also had not been consulted as a ward councillor which I find frankly staggering for an event of such size and disruption.  There are many disabled and inform people extremely worried that they will not be able to get to their regular places of worship on the Sunday too.

I am not very sure our points were taken very seriously and it does increasingly like councillors who are not part of the Labour administration really are not taken seriously by the paid staff and that the need to consult us as ward councillors doesn't really seem to register.

I wish the City Council would understand that Oxford University is not just an historic backdrop against which it can do what it likes, but rather a busy and active world-leading centre of excellence in education and research.  I don't think it is reasonable to disrupt that so comprehensively in what is the height of University term.  Without the University there would be very little of Oxford - it is one of the main wealth-creators of the City and certainly one of the biggest employers.  The City Council would do well to remember that before it tramples all over its activities with such massive disruption.

 

Interfaith evening for better understanding

This evening I attended an interfaith event at the St Clement's family centre on Cross Street.  Canon Bruce Gillingham of St. Clements' Church opened the event and the topic of discussion was "The founders of our religions". We heard some excellent talks both from Dr Richard McCallum of the Centre for Muslim Christian Studies in Oxford and from Mr Abdul Ghani Jahangir Khan.  I was delighted to accept a cheque for the Lord Mayor of Oxford's charitable trust, which came frrom the good works of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community nationally.  The event was chaired by Ch Waseem Ahamad, National President of the Elders of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association.



I am impressed that the Ahmadiyya Muslim community UK has been doing great work for 100 years and that the Oxford chapter has been active for about 30 of those. I think it's great that the community puts such emphasis on education, values, peace, harmony and service to humanity and it is an example to all people in our City, be they of other faiths or none. I was particularly pleased to hear that the centenary activities include making regular contributions to feeding Oxford's many homeless people and that so many members are donating generously to charitable activities in Oxford and beyond. It is a sign of a healthy, compassionate and committed community that it is engaged in humanitarian efforts in other parts of the world too, under the auspices of its own national community, and I want to thanked all involved for their current fundraising efforts for the victims of the Syrian humanitarian crisis.

Drug and substance abuse, antisocial behaviour, gang culture, violence and promiscuity are all plagues of our time on the younger people of our society and I am grateful for the work the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community does in encouraging our youth to take alternative, more healthy and wholesome pathways.

I think we really benefit from a multi-faith approach to such issues in jointly showing our youth that there are better ways to live a fulfilled life. In any faith, evangelism is important so I was interested to see that the Oxford chapter of the Admadiyya Muslim Community has visited nearly 30,000 homes in Oxford to spread the peaceful message of Islam with leaflets - I joked that maybe I should invite some of them out for election campaigns! Spreading peaceful messages is so important in these times of terrorist threat and it does a huge amount to help the public resist the temptation to be suspicious of all Muslims just because a tiny minority have some radical views that they express as hateful terrorist actions. There have been plenty of radical Christians in history too and I hope we can all agree that all religions of peace have no place for radicalism, hatred and terrorism. These peace symposia, held in Oxford since 2011, are very useful in spreading the "love for all, hatred for none" motto.

We ended the evening with some wonderful Asian food, prepared on the premises for us.

Freshers' Fair

I took a couple of hours out over lunch today to join the Oxford University Liberal Democrats on their stall at Oxford University's Freshers Fair.  I had some really good conversations with lots of new students and lots were asking interesting questions.  It was interested being sandwiched between the Labour and Tory tables  and hearing some other conversations too.  We signed up dozens and dozens of new members so I look forward to an exciting year of events with this important student society.  I'm pictured here with Andy McKay (Wadham), the current Social and Events Officer.

Planning application for St Cross College rejected

St Cross College submitted a planning application over the summer I was quick to alert residents in the immediate area about it.  It would be fair to say that the area of the application site does need some sorting out as it's a bit of a mess at the moment but it seems to me that the St Cross planning application had some features that seemed more about ticking boxes than actually doing some appropriate development.

I worked with the St. John Street area Residents' Association and had a very constuctive meeting with them back on 10th August to help better understand their concerns and work out how best to articulate those to the council and to the members of the West Area Planning Committee who would be determining the application.  I was impressed at how well people pulled together to get all the points in a high-impact, extremely effective summary that was delivered to the planning committee when it met.



I think the image here shows how the design with very square and blocky features would just jar terribly against the existing chapel and against the roof-lines of the existing St. John Street properties.

As it turned out, despite the planning department recommending approval of this rather inappropriate proposal, most members of the West Area Planning committee voted against the proposal so it was rejected.   The application fell 6 against, 2 for (Cllrs Cook & Gotch in favour; Cllrs Van Nooijen, Tanner, Price, Canning, Clack & Jones against).  I believe this is the right result and I hope that a more suitable proposition will be forthcoming in the future so that St Cross can build the extra accommodation it badly needs without doing quite so much damage to the amenity and beauty of this sensitive part of Oxford's historic centre.

Lovely to be thanked!

I had a really lovely email today following my last-minute attendance at the Oxford-Léon link meeting and AGM from the organiser, sent to me and to the Lord Mayor's PA Anjana who organises our engagements:

"I would like to thank you both for Thursday evening: Anjana for organising Tony to deputise at our meeting at short notice, as Cllr Sinclair, the mayor was ill and Tony for stepping in. It was clear that Anjana had efficiently forwarded the notes - and that Tony had read them. Your system for dealing with these situations clearly works.

Tony, I appreciate that it must have been difficult with little notice, but your speech was excellent and thank you for staying for the meeting and taking an interest in our work. Thanks especially for your technical help with the Skype link. It was (again) a tad embarrassing that the problems were at this end and that Oxford City Council's technology was out-done by that of a small NGO in a developing country. Our contacts in Leon were very amused by this.

I'm glad that, with your help, we were able to establish the connection and speak to Jane and Andrew. It is a pity that there were no speakers, as we requested so even had we got Skype working on time, the audience would not have been able to hear them as intended.

All in all it was a good meeting and making £70 on the raffle was an added bonus."

Receiving such messages is wonderful and really makes it feel worth making the effort to attend everything I am invited to as Deputy Lord Mayor.  I feel honoured and very blessed.

Opening of The Individual Funeral Company

I really had no idea what to expect today, being asked to open a funeral directors.  I needn't have feared though as the owner of this new business, Lucy Jane, was really lovely and made me feel so very welcome.

I know that Lucy Jane has a local history in this business, training in Oxford and then becoming the first female hearse rider in the world for Motorcycle funerals. That sounds very exciting and quite fitting for those who have motorbikes and indeed probably petrol in their blood.

I am delighted that Lucy Jane has decided to come back to Oxford to fulfil her dream of helping local families to have an individual funeral tailored exactly to their needs and wishes. She says that people are not gold, silver or bronze packages and that the Individual Funeral Company won’t treat them as such. I think that’s really important as funerals are a very difficult time for friends, family and loved ones of those that have passed away. Getting the details right, including treating everyone with dignity and respect is so important in properly enabling the grieving process and helping those that are left to come to terms with their loss.  I loved the way everything was accessible and there were some really beautiful decorated coffins on show in the window as well as a model of the motorcycle hearse.

The individual Funeral Company is a small independent company and although it is principally a funeral directors I am pleased that the intention is very much to become an integral part of the community where people can just come and say hello to Lucy Jane and her staff as friends as well as providers of this important service that we all ultimately need! It’s great that the company is family owned and managed and is happy to give honest advice on any matters to the local and wider community. I’m sure that as a small local company it will be a great asset to the Rose Hill community and beyond.

It was an honour to give the business, its owner and all its staff the formal blessing of the City.

Oxford León Association and Trust AGM

This was another last-minute engagement due to the Lord Mayor being unwell.  I was invited to speak and indeed did so the minute I was through the door!

I am a great advocate of town-twinning activity and in my time so far on the council have made some great friends in Bonn, another City with which Oxford is privileged to be twinned.

The link with León in Nicaragua is different to all Oxford’s others because Nicaragua is a developing country and this Association and Trust raises funds for important projects in that country. It’s a real credit to everyone involved that the link has been alive and doing great work since 1986 – nearly 30 years. I am pleased that two of my councillor colleagues, John Tanner and Mike Rowley were able to visit León as part of the delegation back in February.

Of course fundraising should also be fun and indeed many in Oxford had great fun earlier this year swimming at Hinksey Pool, our wonderful heated outdoor pool just down the road, in the sponsored swim. It raised much needed funds for a pipeline to carry clean drinking water into a Nicaraguan community where the previous supply was contaminated with Arsenic.
I know there are plans to bring two young people from León to Oxford next year and I think that’s a really great thing to do to strengthen then link. I’ll certainly do what I can to get the City Council to support this.

I also thanked the Association for the gigantona (giant puppet woman) that was a gift from León to Oxford. I know it was used in the Cowley Road Carnival this year and provided great entertainment and delight for many people – I hope Oxford can use it much more as time goes on!

We were treated to a Skype link conversation with some volunteers actually in Nicaragua and indeed some rather delicious Nicaraguan Rum.  I also bought some fair trade coffee that had been got as part of a project running also in Léon.  There was also a raffle but I didn't win anything!

Opening of Andrew Wiles Mathematics Building for the University of Oxford

This event was a last-minute stand-in as the Lord Mayor was ill.  It was a great privilege to see this building and its opening as it really is stunning. Speeches were made by the Vice Chancellor of Oxford University and by David Willetts, the UK Minister of State for Universities and Science, as well as the Head of the Department, Sam Howison.  I was treated to a wonderful tour by the department's head of administration and hugely enjoyed the visit.  The building is quite amazing in that it has all sorts of mathematical quirks built in, including the Penrose paving, based on a non-repeating pattern discovered by famous Mathematician Sir Roger Penrose, and two "crystals" which are based also on mathematical structures.



The building provides more than 300 offices in a range of sizes, identifiable space for graduate taught course students and 4th year undergraduate students working on projects, an extensive suite of teaching and seminar spaces as well as a range of meeting rooms, breakout spaces and a large departmental common room. It provides workspace for a diverse community of more than 500 mathematical researchers and support staff, including faculty, research fellows and postgraduate students. It is a centre for the academic life of approximately 900 undergraduates.

The project incorporates Ground Source Heat Pumps which will supply heat in winter and cool the building in the summer. This is achieved by submerging pipes deep into the ground that can transfer the temperature to the building by use of pumps. The Institute building was designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects.

Music and the Deaf Concert

This is possibly the most inspiring event I've been to yet as Deputy Lord Mayor.  It was a concert in aid of the charity Music and the Deaf, at the Town Hall.  This charity is unique in that it enables the 10 million people in the UK with hearing loss (1 in 6) to enjoy the world of music.  Dr Paul Whittaker OBE is the Artistic Director of MATD and has been profoundly deaf all his life.  He was admitted to Oxford by Wadham College to read music in 1983 after rejections from many other UK Universities on the misguided basis that "deaf people can't do music".  Paul founded MATD in 1988 and has I thinkemphatically proved how wonderful music is to deaf people and how they contribute just as much to music as those with non-impaired hearing.  I'm sure he has changed and enriched thousands of lives through his amazing work and commitment.

The concert was really good both in terms of being fun and being musically excellent.  I hugely enjoyed along with the Mayor of Witney, the Chief Examiner of the London College of Music and Steve Webb MP.    It was just stunning to hear some Mozart piano duets played by two profoundly deaf men and Paul Whittaker's command of the pipe organ was just wonderful.  I parituclarly enjoyed Paul's rendition of Noel Rawsthorne's Hornpipe Humoresque.

Opening RADECS 2013

This evening was a fairly brief event for me in that I was invited to the Town Hall to the opening drinks reception of RADECS 2013, a large conference that took place in Oxford this year.  It is the The 22nd European Conference on Radiation and its Effects on Components and Systems.    My brief was to give a bit of history on the Town Hall and the Civic office of Lord Mayor. Did you know that The present Town Hall is the third on the site and its foundation stone was laid in 1893 by the Mayor Thomas Lucas and without mention of the first builder - a Mr A Chappell of Lambeth - who was declared bankrupt in October 1893. The present design by Henry T Hare was built by Messrs Parnell and son of Rugby for £94,116 (note, Oxford’s average house price is now £356,299) . The official opening of the Town Hall was on Wednesday 12 May 1897, by HRH the Prince of Wales Edward VII.

The Lord Mayor of Oxford is a very old tradition, with the first recorded names going right back to the 12th century. There is a long unbroken line of Mayors of Oxford right up until 1962 when the dignity of Lord Mayor was granted to Oxford by Queen Elizabeth ll.  In Oxford, The Lord Mayor represents the City at civic and ceremonial events and spends a great deal of time promoting the City, the key initiatives of the City Council and supporting a wide range of Oxford based voluntary and other organisations.

The Lord Mayor generally carries out in excess of 300 engagements each year. These engagements cover a wide spectrum of events from high profile Royal visits and leading the City's annual Remembrance Sunday service, to small community group meetings and charity events.  The Lord Mayor also chairs meetings of full council.

International day of Peace

This event was held jointly by the Oxford Islamic Information Centre, The Oxford Council of Faiths, The United Nations Association (Oxford) and the Global Ceasefire Project.  It was a good coming together of those passionate about peace and there was an excellent speech by the Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, Tim Stevenson OBE, and I was invited to say a few words on behalf of the City of Oxford.

Although the last world war ended almost seventy years ago I think we can all agree that the world sometimes feels like it is not a very peaceful place, with terrible things going on right now in Syria, Afghanistan and many other parts of this our world so I am grateful to all the work all organisations like those that organised today's event do to promote global peace.

On a national level, in these times of economic difficulty it can be very tempting for people to start blaming their problems on other groups of people and we have seen some of that with the far right and the far left in unfortunate clashes that I think do nothing to bring peace and understanding to our country or our communities. What an amazing example however the members of the mosque in York set earlier this year by offering tea and a game of football to those who were trying to intimidate them. We all have much to learn from that.

On a more local level, I am extremely proud to live in a City where we are largely at peace with each other. Faiths co-exist and there are generally good relationships between councils, employers, universities, other places of education and churches. It’s wonderful to be able to celebrate that with the friendship walk each summer and I think it sends a very strong message both of intent and warning to those who might try to disrupt peace in our City and beyond.

English Youth Ballet - Swan Lake in aid of Oxford Children's Hospital

I attended a performance of Swan Lake by the English Youth Ballet this evening at the New Theatre, Oxford.  It was absolutely stunning and I hugely enjoyed it.  It was an honour to meet Janet Lewis MBE (English Youth Ballet Director) and to learn a bit about the wonderful work of the English Youth Ballet.  The performance this evening was special because it was in aid of the Oxford Children's Hospital.  After the performance there was a speech by Janet Lewis as well as by a young girl who is a patient of the Children's Hospital.  I also gave a speech thanking everyone for such a wonderful performance, commending the work of the Children's Hospital and encouraging people to give generously to such a worthy cause.

The performances of Swan Lake in Oxford by the English Youth Ballet feature around 120 talented young dancers from around Oxfordshire who were selected for the performance in an audition in May.  EYB raised £2,700 for Stoke Mandeville Hospital Children’s Ward last summer when it gave 3 performances in Aylesbury.  English Youth Ballet (EYB) is one of the UK’s largest ballet companies and previously won The Stage Award for special achievement in regional theatre.  The company brings together the finest professional principal dancers from London and around the world with local ballet students selected for their talent and potential.

What a wonderful evening!

UCare's meet the researchers event

UCARE (Urology Cancer Research and Education) is an independent charity committed to improving the treatment and care of cancer patients through research and education.  I went along this evening to an event where three researchers spoke about how funding from UCARE has really helped them to make progress in cancer research and treatment.

UCARE (Urology Cancer Research and Education) is a local independent charity founded by a group of clinicians, patients and supporters who care about fighting urological cancers, those of the kidney, bladder, prostate and testes.

Treating people with urological cancers continues to be a major challenge, 20% of all new cancers diagnosed each year will be a urological cancer; 54,000 new urological cancers are diagnosed each year – 10,000 cases more than breast cancer. Despite the frequency of diagnosis of these cancers, they receive little detailed or sustained media coverage and consequently no information enters the public consciousness.

We know that with early diagnosis more people than ever could survive the disease. Awareness of the signs and symptoms of these cancers remains woefully low amongst the general public. With early detection and diagnosis many more people could survive. There are known to be gaps in cancer survival rates between the UK and its European counterparts, and it is recognised that the primary reason for this is late diagnosis.
Research and awareness go hand in hand, so the health care needs of the community are at the forefront of the UCARE charitable object. Our part in educating the public on what to look for in the signs and symptoms of urological cancers, to help people make improved life style choices, and to give advice on seeking early intervention is vital. Since health awareness campaigns in the UK encouraged women to ‘know their bodies’, mortality rates for breast cancer, have fallen dramatically. Women are aware that they must seek early intervention. A higher public profile has resulted in more funds for research leading to new and more effective treatments and we aim that UCARE will have the same impact for urological cancers.

I didn't have to speak at this event but was really impressed at how sometimes quite modest funding can enable work to continue or be started that enables much larger amounts of funding to be achieved from larger bodies.  Oxford is one of the world's leading centres of cancer research and treatment so I was very pleased to be at the event to represent the City of Oxford and offer its full support to the excellent work of UCARE.

Private View of Francis Bacon / Henry Moore: Flesh and Bone

This was another special treat at the Ashmolean Museum.  I was representing the City as the Deputy Lord Mayor and was really impressed by the work that has gone into putting together this fantastic exhibition.

We heard a good speech by Dr Christopher Brown, the Director of the Ashmolean, and some remarks by the co-curators of the Bacon Moore exhibition. Then daughter of Henry Moore, Claire, gave a great speech and formally opened the exhibition.  I had had a look around the exhibition before the speeches and it is truly impressive being in a tall gallery and with a fantastic juxtaposition of paintings by Bacon and sculptures and drawings by Moore.

Oxford Hindu Temple & Community Centre Project 5 year celebrations

I attended this event today at Deputy Lord Mayor at Kennington Community Centre and was welcomed by Dr. Gyan Gopal and heard the 5-yearly report of the project from him as well as enjoying sharing worship and offerings with those present and a good talk about how beneficial it would be to Oxford Hindus to have a permanent temple.

One of the many things I love about our wonderful City of Oxford is its ethnic, cultural and religious diversity so I was particularly pleased to attend these celebrations. I am impressed that OHTCCP has such a strong organisation with so many committee members who clearly do so much for this Hindu community.

As a person of faith myself I know how important the discipline, community, shared responsibly and time for prayer and reflection that come with faith are to a healthy and fulfilled life. I am really pleased to see how many communities in Oxford take their faith so seriously and how much of a positive influence it has on their lives and the lives of those around them. Well done to OHTCCP for its work to advance Hindu religion and culture and promote spiritual teaching and observances that serve to enhance understanding of Hinduism.

In Oxford it is great that faiths work together so well through the Oxford Council of faiths and I’m always pleased to join the annual friendship walk that happens earlier in the summer. It’s a great achievement that this community also has a stop for Hindu prayers as part of the walk.

I wish the Oxford Hindu Community every success in its aim of acquiring premises for a Hindu Temple and a Community Centre to cater for the religious, social and cultural needs and activities of its members and I hope the fundraising strategy and efforts produce resources to realise that dream soon.

Fracking can frack right off!

I've received quite a few standard format emails about fracking so I thought I'd post a response here.  The emails all say:

"I’m very concerned about the prospect of fracking - or hydraulic fracturing - in our area.

Fracking has been linked to contamination of water supplies and atmospheric pollution, as well as increased traffic to construction sites. The government has promised lower energy bills if gas and oil from fracking is produced, but even the fracking companies admit this is unlikely to happen.

I would like to know if any companies are planning to carry out fracking in this area and whether any relevant licences have been sold. If so, I would be grateful if you could let me know your position on the matter and what steps I can take to register my objections.

If there are no current plans or licences, I would be grateful if you could keep me informed of any future developments."

My response is:

"Absolutely! I see fracking as environmental vandalism of the worst type. My view is crystal clear: We DO NOT need to burn more hydrocarbons, even if it is safe to get them out of the ground. And it probably isn't. We need to use less energy and use renewables more. I've just commented on a facebook post that starts: "The "Greenest Government Ever" shackles Councillors, requiring that they approve planning applications for fracking 'in the interest of the national economy'. This appalling edict places residents close to fracking operations at risk in the interest of fat-cat profits for the few. The government should wake-up to the methane and chemicals that fracking introduces to the water supply." and added "...not to mention the CO2 it puts into the air. I will NEVER be voting to support fracking. We all need to use less energy and governments need to be investing more in renewables, not taking cheap options that will further wreck the planet."

I have a large solar PV installation on my roof and, since it was installed, have been buying less that half the electricity I used to buy. At home we try to use as little energy as possible and my partner and I both cycle whenever and wherever we can.

I hope that makes my position clear! If you hear anything about local fracking before I do please do let me know and I will object as rigorously as possible."

There is also a response from Oxfordshire County Council which is somewhat reassuring although it's concerning that there might be some parts of Oxfordshire that contain shale gas.

"The British Geological Survey has identified parts of Oxfordshire as having geology that potentially may contain shale gas. Oil and gas exploration and production (including shale gas) are subject to licensing by the Government. There are currently no licences covering Oxfordshire. The Government is planning to launch a new round of onshore licensing in 2014 (14th licence round) and we understand that parts of Oxfordshire may be included.

Oil and gas exploration and production (including shale gas) also require planning permission. The County Council as mineral planning authority is responsible for determining planning applications for oil and gas exploration and production. There are no current applications for oil or gas exploration or production in Oxfordshire and we are not aware of any forthcoming proposals. Any planning application for fracking or any other form of oil or gas exploration or production would be considered by the County Council against relevant national and local planning policy. National planning policy for oil and gas is contained in the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework, March 2012. In addition, the Government recently published ‘Planning practice guidance for onshore oil and gas’, July 2013, which covers shale gas and fracking. This includes guidance on how mineral planning authorities should consider any environmental impacts of planning applications for oil and gas exploration and production."

I will be keeping a close eye on developments on this!

Filipino Community of Oxfordshire 10th annual sports festival

This is the second event I have attended with the Oxfordshire Filipino Community and I received a wonderful warm welcome just as I did the last time.  The day started with a small procession and then we moved into the sports hall at Oxford Brookes for speeches, singing of national anthems, flag-raising, some traditional dancing and singing, and welcoming of all the teams. Every team member was named and all teams got to fly their own banners.  It was good to see some Thames Valley Police PCSOs in the procession with the Uk flag the Union Jack and also hoisting it up a flag pole after I had helped to hoist a Philippines flag.

Today was the 10th annual sports festival of this community and it’s a great joy that for the first time this year the Nepalese community of Oxfordshire joined in for a friendly competition.  It was great to see so many different events happening today in including men’s basketball and volleyball for both men and women.  All these are so important for building camaraderie, community cohesion and sportsmanship among our communities and I could see they were a huge amount of fun for all the people and families present.

Graduation at Kidsunlimited day nursery

This was certainly one of my more unusual engagements!  I was invited to attend the graduation ceremony for all the children leaving the Oxford Business Park Kidsunlimited Day Nursery. I'd never heard of graduation for four year olds before but it was a really lovely ceremony. It started with all the little people singing a some songs to the parents and staff and then I was invited to say a few words and present the leaving certificates with kidsunlimited teddy bears.  I decided that a short speech would be needed for such a young audience so spoke briefly about the importance of giving children a good start in their education and thanked staff and parents for doing that. Then I produced a song for parents to sing with me, to their children and the staff.  It goes like this (to the tune of row, row, row your boat):

Clap, clap, clap your hands,
Graduation’s here.
Now we must say goodbye.
To friends we’ve had this year.

Clap, clap, clap your hands,
We've worked the whole year through
Now we must say goodbye,
To you, and you, and you.

Clap, clap, clap your hands,
Graduation's here.
Now we, all will go,
to primary school next year!

I'm pleased to say parents did a good job of singing along!  I presented the certificates one by one to the children and then we had a lovely cream tea provided by the nursery and I had a good chance to chat with some of the staff and parents about their experience of the nursery and the children.  I think it's great to mark this important change from nursery to primary school in a child's life with this sort of ceremony and really enjoyed it.

(picture provided by the parents of the child in the foreground and used with their permission)

 

Thames Valley Police and Crime Panel

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300"] image tweeted by @biloddy[/caption]

I attended this meeting today because I am the opposition shadow for crime and community safety on the council. Oxford's member on the panel is Cllr Pat Kennedy, the Oxford City Executive Board member with that portfolio.  The panel's job is to hold the Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley to account.  This Commissioner's area covers Oxon, Berks and Bucks so is rather large - it has one member from every principal local authority in the area, giving a membership of:

Councillor Bill Bendyshe-Brown (Wycombe District Council), Councillor Mark Booty (West Oxfordshire District Council), Councillor Noel Brown (Chiltern District Council), Terry Burke (Independent Co-opted Member), Councillor Anita Cranmer (South Buckinghamshire District Council), Councillor Trevor Egleton (Buckinghamshire County Council), Councillor Jesse Grey (Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead), Councillor Bill Jones (Vale of White Horse District Council), Councillor Pat Kennedy (Oxford City Council), Councillor Kieron Mallon (Oxfordshire County Council) (Vice-Chairman), Councillor Iain McCracken (Bracknell Forest Council), Councillor Tony Page (Reading Borough Council), Councillor Barrie Patman (Wokingham Borough Council), Councillor Pam Pearce (Aylesbury Vale District Council), Councillor George Reynolds (Cherwell District Council), Councillor Bill Service (South Oxfordshire District Council), Councillor Mohammed Sharif (Slough Borough Council), Rajinder Sohpal (Independent Co-opted Member), Councillor Cec Tallack (Milton Keynes Council) and Councillor Quentin Webb (West Berkshire Council)

It elected a chair and vice chair today for the year, and we heard the Police and Crime Panel Annual report as well as the annual report from the commissioner himself.  There was a bit of a silly debate about the Commissioner's expenses where the panel decided it was not its remit to decide if the Commissioner should have a driver or not.  There was a report from the Oxford Safer Communities Partnership, which I think does great work in our City an update on issues particularly of importance to Oxford as a City.  There was an update on operation Bullfinch from Chief Constable Sara Thornton and Superintendent Christian Bunt and they also gave an excellent overview of the work Thames Valley Police is doing to develop multi-agency approaches to child sexual exploitation.

At the end of the meeting Cllr Kennedy and I asked about the closure of the custody suite at St. Aldate's police station meaning that all prisoners would now have to be taken to Abingdon.  I felt assured by Supt. Bunt that this was a sensible move as the Oxford facilities are awkward being at the top of the building and rather past their sell-by date.   He said he would circulate a short memo to councillors addressing concerns about the risk of new arrangements meaning police officers might take longer to get back on the streets after an arrest and I was reassured that vulnerable people arrested in Oxford then released from Abingdon would not be just put on the street with no means to get back to Oxford.

You can follow the PCP on twitter as @ThamesValleyPCP and the commissioner as @TV_PCC

 

Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra Gala Concert

I had the pleasure this evening of attending the Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra Gala concert. It was a really wonderful evening and I very much enjoyed all the music. An amazing orchestra and some incredibly talented young musicians who showed incredibly skill and control of their instruments. It was my pleasure to take Maurice Dixon, a vice principal at Oxford Spires Academy, with me as my guest as I know he has a keen interest in music.  I think it's really important to get children involved in music as science has show that it really helps brain development and teaches all sorts of important social skills.

There was a reception with the chairman at the start and Maurice and I greatly enjoyed the concert.  The programme included:

R Strauss:  Don Juan
Bruch: Violin Concerto  No. 1 in G minor
John Rutter:  Sprig of Thyme (with Oxon Schools' choirs)
Britten:  Four Sea Interludes

Opening Oxford's branch of Wren Kitchens

[caption id="attachment_933" align="alignright" width="300"] Gavin, Paul, me, Greg[/caption]

Today's trip was what you might call my first commercial civic engagement. I was invited along to open the Oxford branch of Wren Kitchens, which is in Botley Retail Park in the unit that was Comet until the demise of that company last year.

I was welcomed by Paul Russell, the new Store Manager; Gavin Challinor, the Area Manager; and Greg Ashdown the Regional Manager.  I had a walk around the new store and was impressed at the quality of all the kitchens and bedrooms on display and pleased to hear that all the kitchens and bedrooms are sourced and manufactured in the UK, and in the North where job are certainly needed.  This store is, I think, the 37th branch to open in the UK in a bit less than four years.  We discussed how it has brought about 30 jobs to Oxford and how Wren has found it hard to recruit as Oxford has such high employment already.

We took a few pictures, including getting me in an apron posing with Hazel Middleton from Neff who was on hand all day to bake snacks and demonstrate the Neff ovens.  What a fun job!

I was also pleased to receive a cheque from Greg for £100 to go to the Lord Mayor's chosen charities for the year.  That seems reasonable in return for the mayoral visit to the opening.  Having units in a retail park thriving and busy has a very good and positive knock-on effect on footfall and thus other businesses in that park.