Rip-off parking charges at the ice rink

I received an email today from someone who lives away from Oxford and normally takes her daughter to Milton Keynes ice rink for regular skating practice.  That rink is currently closed for refurbishment so she brings her to Oxford.  Her email was about the fact that the City Council appears to have changed the parking arrangements such that there is no longer a free hour concession for those who pay the overnight midnight to 8am charge so charges don't stack up and make things unfair on early, regular and dedicated skaters and/or their parents.  It appears the concession was dropped silently and when challenged (point 3 on the sign below clearly says it was there) the sign was also removed silently.  This means that although the normal parking charge during the day is £4.10 for two hours, if someone parks between 7.30am and 8.30am, for example, they have to pay a £2.50 night charge for the first half hour of that slot and then another £2.50 charge for the second half hour as it is in daytime.  This is £5 for one hour as against £4.10 for two hours if they had arrived after 8am.

This hardly seems fair and hardly seems a sensible way for the City Council to be attracting more use of its sports facilities.  I have asked the service manager to look into this but have not had an answer after nearly a week so I am also asking the portfolio holder for City Leisure a question at full council next week.  Watch this space!

Traffic problems from 7th-21st April in Frideswide Square area

I've received notification that there are to be major works on Hollybush Row from 7th April that will probably cause traffic chaos for a couple of weeks.  Thank goodness it's the school holidays!

The issue is that there is a collapsed sewer with a fat-berg in it so the whole road is going to have to be excavated to sort it out.  Please let me know if there are any specific problems that I can help with.  You can click the picture above for a larger version.

50th anniversary of the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre League of Friends

I attended this event today to thank all the League of Friends volunteers, on behalf of the City, for all their work.  Sir Jonathan Michael, the Chief Executive of the OUH/NHS Trust also gave a speech and who will be unveiled a commemorative plaque for this event.

LOF at the NOC started with  a small tea bar and has grown magnificently to the present shop with its excellent range and a trolley service to wards with newspapers and confectionery etc.  I know it is a great comfort to patients and plays a very real role in their positive experience here and their recovery.  Some patients have no other visitors so a friendly LOF visit can have really positive effects on clinical outcomes.  The total of the excellent work this League of Friends has done since 1964 is incredible.  In 50 years its volunteers have:

• Gifted £1,126,200 to the hospital


• Buttered and filled 3 million rolls


• Served over 5 million drinks


• Given 500,000 man-hours of time (worth over £3,000,000 at minimum wage!)

These are great achievements and a real credit to the generosity and kindness of LOF volunteers at the hospital.