Crown and Thistle Premises License Review

This was a long hearing today that I chaired with Cllrs Van Coulter and Clark Brundin joining me on the panel.  There was several local residents present, some supporting the pub and some against it.

The pub is owned by Greene King and has a new-ish tenant who is the  Designated Premises Supervisor. I think it would be fair to say he faced a few problems and problem customers when he took over the pub and that he has worked hard to manage and reduce the problems of noise and antisocial behaviour, with perhaps not quite as much success quite as soon as everyone, him included, would have wished.

I find it difficult that these hearings  are set up to be rather adversarial when they are actually trying to reach common ground between the licence holder and the relevant and/or interested parties.

This was a situation where it seems that communication had broken down between residents and the pub, even though the tenant lives there and so is a resident himself!  I hope we went some way to re-opening those channels  of communication and that the two councillors who requested the review will be able to help facilitate that.    I was pleased and grateful that the solicitor acting for Greene King and the tenant appeared to be trying to be conciliatory as did the opposing residents and the requestors of the review.

After much hearing of evidence and discussion we imposed several measures, many suggested by Greene King, to mitigate the problems but were conscious that to do too much would stop the business from being viable and all present had agreed that would be a bad thing.  Measures we took include (but are not limited to) the tenant will do a DPS training course; SIA-approved door supervisors will be in place when there is regulated entertainment and for as long as Thames Valley Police deem necessary; the tenant is to organise at least bi-monthly residents meetings with the Police, Greene King area manager and the City Council Licensing Manager present; and a noise limiter is to be fitted to make sure that neighbours are not disturbed by music from inside the pub.

We also asked for a prominent sign on the front of the pub giving a Greene King contact for residents to use if there were any further problems - although I did urge people to contact the tenant manager directly in the first instance.  I do think that taking complaints too high too early can often be a contributing factor to breakdowns of communication.

I hope that these measures, and the others we imposed, will enable local residents to have their peace restoredwhile also enabling the tenant to run a viable and community-orientated business.  Particularly, I hope the door staff will be able to prevent all the trouble outside and around the pub.

Please note this post does not form an official record of proceedings and should not be treated as such.  The decision notice from the City Council is the definitive document.

O'Hanlon House Service Users Meeting

I attended the weekly service users' meeting this morning at O'Hanlon House (which you might know as the night shelter but it is SO much more than that).

The meeting was run by Lucy Flanagan, one of the centre managers and there were several service users present.  We talked about what a councillor is and what councillors can do for their residents/electors.  I was also asked about who can become a councillor and what the process is.  I explained how nominations and elections worked, and the critera for being eligible to stand (resident in area, work in area, own property in area or registered to vote in area - all for the last 12 months).  I also explained a bit about what political parties are and how they work with and as part of local authorities.

I also explained how the electoral roll is no updated monthly and how O'Hanlon house could make sure its residents are registered to vote as soon as possible.  This is important not only for voting but as evidence of identity these days.

Service users had a few queries about when facilities could be used and a few issues which I thought were very well dealt with by the staff present.  Concerns were raised about the much-feared cuts to be announced on 20th October but there is not much anyone can say yet.  I hope the City Council continues to fund the wonderful place as it is hugely deserving of it, and if it is forced to reduce service or even close this will only result in the City Council having to spend much more money on its statutory homeless duties.  I don't believe that's any way to be treating its citizens.

It's wonderful how much is done for any by the residents of O'Hanlon house and I really do hope that national and local funding won't be reduced too much in the cuts that are going to have to be made because this is a really worthwhile service.

Every time I visit O'Hanlon house I am more and more impressed by its staff and users' work and the friendly welcome I receive.

Street Pastors: Commissioning and our first night on Oxford's Streets

What an exciting night!  I was commissioned along with around a dozen other Oxford Street Pastors yesterday evening and New Road Baptist Church.  We were addressed by DCI Colin Paine of Thames Valley Police and by Revd Paul Rush of the Ascension Trust, that sets up each Street Pastors Scheme.  I'm pictured here with Ruth Wilson, a member of St. Columba's United Reformed Church, like me.  There were people from many local churches and denominations being inducted as Street Pastors.  Rob and Gemma Winn from Wesley Memorial Church have worked very hard in setting up the scheme and we are very honoured to have Pearl Lewis from the Salvation Army as our coordinator.

We started at 10pm and walked around Cornmarket Street, George Street, Park End Street, Hythe Bridge Street, Frideswide Square and St. Ebbes.  We met and spoke to lots of people.  Many were just interested in what we were doing, some wanted to know where to find a cab, a few women had tired feet and had taken their shoes off and so were grateful for the Street Pastors flip-flops that we were handing out.  One group of us got into a really deep conversation with someone about problems at home and were the first people this person had felt able to talk to about it.   We picked up quite a few glass bottles off the street and put them in bins thereby reducing the likelihood of their causing injury or being used as weapons.    We spoke to quite a few homeless people who seemed genuinely pleased of the conversation and attention. There were some humbling stories.

I think we successfully stopped a fight from happening by going up and chatting to a group of young men who I think had had one to many drinks.  Street Pastors is not about breaking up fights - that the Police's job - but it is amazing the effect seeing a person wearing a clear Street Pastors uniform has on people.  They want to chat and their aggression just seems to evaporate.  Quite the opposite reaction that people unfortunately sometimes have to the Police.

Towards the end of our session we met a very drunk young man who couldn't stand up and was rather ill.  We helped him, giving him water, and making sure his friends knew how to look after him and were not going to leave him.   We finished around 3.45am after an incredibly rewarding evening.  I can't wait to go out again!

We were really grateful for the support of Karen Crossan, Oxford City Council's nightsafe manager; and of Thames Valley Police for being so friendly and supportive.  You may ask why I am writing about this in my council blog.  Well apart from the fact that most of our pastoring happens in my ward, Carfax, I think doing things in the community, whether they be as a response to faith or not, is very important for councillors if we are to stay in touch with our constituents.

On a theological note, I think that doing things together with other denominations of Christians is extremely important and is absolutely the way we grow together in common understanding of our calling.  Sure - we have differences of opinion on some things but I think we are all agreed that we are called to share God's love, care and listening with all those we meet on the streets in our 10pm-4am sessions.

Gagging attempt by Labour City Council IT department? Or just a mistake?

I received a slide pack today to read thorough about the Council's ICT policy. All councillors (members of Oxford City Council) are asked to sign it to say they will comply with it. I'm afraid I'm not happy about it at all.

Most of it is all good common-sense and common-decency stuff but there are two bits that worry me as a member of the council rather than an employee.  The first is about privacy:

I am not at all sure I want council staff to be able to examine data that is confidential to  political parties or worse, about constituents. Elected members work for our constituents, not the Council!

The other concern is about the blogging policy.  I am of course  more than happy not to divulge confidential information but this blog already has links to the council website and criticism of some council policies and decisions.  As a representative of the people of Carfax Ward I feel it is entirely appropriate that I should be able to express those views in a public blog.

Us councillors are here to work for and represent you, our constituents.  Our job is to represent you to the council as an organisation.  It is NOT to represent the council to you!

I have made my concerns known to the Head of IT and will update this post if and when I get a reply.

The launch of the Blavatnik School of Government

I attended the launch of the Blavatnik School of Government today at the Examination Schools on the High Street in Oxford.  It was a very grand affair and one of those cross-hat things where I am attending as a Councillor even though I'm also a member of The University of Oxford.

We had inspiring speeches by the Chancellor, Lord Patten of Barnes, the Vice-Chancellor, Dr Andy Hamilton, Leonard Blavatnik himself and Dr Ngaire Woods.  We also had a pre-recorded video message from Bill Clinton.  Lord Patten commented that the lighting in the room made it look rather like a nightclub and I have to say I agreed!

Proceedings then moved to the formal signing of the agreement to open to school and for Mr Blavatnik to give a record-breaking £75M towards the establishment of the school.   This was followed by a reception which was an excellent chance to meet many foreign dignitaries and diplomats and many interesting academics. I also met and spoke to Oxford West and Abingdon's new MP for the first time.

I really appreciate the opportunity to attend these events as a councillor.  Next week I'm going to listen to concerns and issues at the wet (i.e. alcohol allowed) room of O'Hanlon House, an excellent project used by many of Oxford's homeless folk.  Oxford is an amazing City of contrasts and I find experiencing them first-hand very humbling.

Full Council: Core Strategy and New Executive Board Member

We had a full council meeting at 4pm today.  It was primarily to discuss the council's response to the Core Strategy.  The leading group had tried to get our leader to jointly sign a letter with the leader but our group was of the view that this is far too important an issue to sign off behind closed doors so we asked for a full council meeting.  The main areas of contention were the numbers of new houses in the strategy, whether the Northern Gateway should be included and whether the employment land allocation needs reviewing, in the light of how much land earmarked for employment use has been fallow for such a long time.

The amendments to the response proposed by our group were:

Delete "8,000 new homes" in line 2 and substitute with "9,000 new homes" to read:

(1) Endorse the housing figure in the Core Strategy of at least 9,000 new homes between 2006 and 2026 and confirm that this level of growth is considered appropriate in the absence of the target from the South East Plan

After point (1) insert the following paragraph:

Council urges the Leader and the two Members of Parliament for Oxford to campaign immediately for a recognition that the housing needs of Oxford City over the plan period cannot be met solely by building within the city; and that a mechanism to meet economic, social and environmental needs of the economic unit of which Oxfordshire and the neighbouring Local Planning Authorities (unitaries and District Councils) should be formed as a Local Economic Partnership.

and

After point (1) [and amendment 2] insert the following paragraph:

Council calls for a new employment land study to be undertaken before any targets for quantity and diversity of jobs are enshrined in the Core Strategy
The Labour group outvoted all these amendments and I must say I have never seen them quite so tetchy.   I felt that the meeting was essential so that the Council's response could be debated and voted on in public but unfortunately some administration members had said they thought it was "silly politics.  The building and development plan for the next 20 years in Oxford doesn't seem like that to me!

Healing in Carfax?

I was in town today doing chores and was slightly alarmed to find a group of Christians performing healing on Cornmarket Street.

This work is a partnership between Oxford Vineyard Church, St Aldates Church, Living Stones Community Church and Emmanuel Church.  It happens in Oxford City Centre every Saturday from 1pm to 3pm according to the flyer.

Now don't get me wrong, I am a committed Christian and entirely approve of taking faith out onto the streets (I am after all about to start serving as a street pastor) but I just feel slightly uncomfortable with the claims the flyer is implying about the healing.  While I'm sure faith can cure serious diseases in some cases I can't help thinking that this sort of open air practice, with a huge banner, rather belittles and trivialises all the medical research and treatments that there are into such terrible diseases.  What do you think?  Comments welcome on this post.

RIP Temple Cowley Pools

After about an hour of propaganda from the consultants and the council officers the City Executive Board (CEB) unanimously decided to close Temple Cowley Pools and sell off the site.  This is a sad day for Oxford and I feel hugely sorry for the Save Temple Cowley Pools group, particularly Nigel and Jane, who have worked so hard and with such sincerity to try to save the pools.  I was particularly disgusted at the way at least one member of CEB sat and scowled at those making such well-considered and serious points.  I also didn't think it was very polite of the member who arrived late to clomp through the room in extremely loud shoes not once but three times while a member of the public was trying to address CEB.

I also note here that Cllr Malik, councillor for Cowley Marsh,gave apologies and was absent from the meeting.  What a shame there was nobody at the meeting to represent those who have Temple Cowley Pools at the heart of their ward.

The only good thing is that Stephen Brown (leader of our group) immediately called in the decision to the Value and Performance Scrutiny Committee of which he is chair. I don't think it will change anything but it will at least give the CEB members some time to reflect on the gravity of their decision and the disastrous impact it will have on Temple Cowley and the surrounding area's residents.

Lib Dem Group Meeting

Another group meeting tonight with lots on the agenda.  We discussed the outcomes from a recent Group away day and our response to the Core Strategy that will direct planning and development control until 2026.

As usual we worked through the paper's for next week's City Executive Board.  That promises to be a busy and controversial meeting as it will consider the future of Temple Cowley Pools.

I am really enjoying getting to know the new LibDem councillors since I was last on the Council in group meetings and I'm pleased to see good consensus building in the group on most issues and the very definite support for and confidence in our leader, Stephen Brown.

Back from Hols and a Temple Cowley Pools Meeting

Well I'm back and refreshed after a lovely three weeks' camping in France where the weather was fantastic.  My first council meeting was another public "consultation" about Temple Cowley Pools.  It was held in the Town Hall on 17 August and ran from about 7pm to 9.30pm.  There was a big panel of presenters including City Council officers and folk from MACE, the consultants the City is using to advise it about pool provision in the City.  I reckon around 100 members of the public attended.

Cllr John Tanner chaired the meeting which started with 30 minutes of so of presentation from Richard Smith of MACE and several others.  MACE did seem to spend a long time trying to convince the audience why they were the best for the job.

I put "consultation" in quotes because it is abundantly clear that the council officers have already decided what they will recommend to executive board (CEB) that makes the decision on 1st September.  One of the executive directors, Tim Sadler, even said as much! The chair said that the 1st Sept CEB would be a "public meeting".  That will be interesting.

Here is the financial "argument" the consultants were trying to put.

After the presentations many questions were asked and raised and it was quite a useful information gathering evening, even if it felt like the answer had already been decided.  A big flaw I think in the argument is that I believe the number of people living in close proximity to Temple Cowley Pools has been vastly understated.  I asked MACE to check the figure.  It also omits all the people who work near it on Cowley Business Park.

We had several excellent speeches and I was particularly impressed by the work Jane Alexander had done to work up a plan that would cost about £3million.  MACE did at least agree to discuss that with her but I doubt it will happen before 1st September. Here's Jane's proposal.



The comments from the Cowley Marsh councillors was interesting. One of them just wanted everyone to know how good he had been to arrange the consultation meeting and the other one suggested a vote of all present about whether they wanted Temple Cowley Pools to be closed and replaced with a new facility at Blackbird Leys.  The chair did that vote by show of hands at the end of the meeting and the result was about 5 in favour and almost everyone else there against.    An overwhelming disagreement with what the City Council officers were recommending.

You can read much more about this at http://www.savetemplecowleypools.webs.com/

and join the Facebook Group.

Labour may have a majority administration at the moment but if they close Temple Cowley Pools I can't see that lasting.  There was talk of it not happening for another two years so I have a nasty feeling they'll wait until just after the next local elections in 2012 to do it. We'll see.

Luther Street Neighbours Meeting

A fascinating meeting today that showed all the signs of being extremely useful. It had people from Oxford Homeless Pathways who run O'Hanlon House, PC Paul Phillips from Thames Valley Police, The Practice Manager and a Senior Receptionist from the Luther Street Medical Centre, a housing officer from A2Dominion, that runs Luther Court, me and a county councillor for the area.

Lots of  useful links were made and I felt there was much good will and willingness towards partnership working.  I'm glad to have attended and made the links.  I'm also extremely impressed with the breadth of services that Oxford Homeless Pathways provides for the people of Oxford.

Compulsory planning training

Today we had a 90 minute session about planning and how the law and all the various guidance works and importantly, what are and are not material considerations in making planning decisions.

We looked at a real case and how it had first been refused by officers and that decision upheld at an appeal but then on a second application with changes a new appeal was allowed by a planning inspector.

Councillors are in a difficult position because on the one hand we want to represent our constituents and decide according to their wishes but on the other hand we must abide by planning law because if we don't we can lose appeals and planning inspectors can award costs against us if they think we've refused something unreasonably - and that of course is a waste of public money.  Colin Cook put it nicely saying that it is the quality (i.e. is it a material consideration) of opposition rather than the quantity (300 people just not liking something) of opposition that matters in taking planning decisions.  It is for this reason that the planning training is compulsory as it's important that councillors get these decisions made as well as possible.

Central, South and West area committee

We met at the town hall this evening.  It was a long meeting, appropriately enough held in the Long Room.

There were lots of members of the public present and we heard about many issues. Some residents who live on Stable Close near the railway line and sidings and staff car park were being disturbed by train diesel engines being left idling for hours (something to do with the braking system) and by shunting and very antisocial small hours of the morning.  We also heard from a resident on Hamel Walk who was having trouble with an access route to his area that some developers were blocking off at times.  It sounded like the City Council had failed to put a proper enforceable legal agreement in place to ensure right of access was preserved for occupiers of the social housing on Hamel Walk.

We considered several planning applications - the most interesting was the one by Oxford University which would make internal changes to the Radcliffe Camera and the Old Bodleian.  It would open up some of the underground store for public access and would alter the level of the (1970s) paving in the schools quadrangle of the old Bodleian to improve level access to the building and remove the need for the unsightly temporary ramps.  I had to declare a personal interest in this application as I am a senior member of The University of Oxford.  As these are very well known buildings I don't consider that I have any more or less interest in the success or failure of the planning application than any other member of the public so I did remove myself from the meeting and did vote.  I did make the point that if lots of heavy vehicles were to be using the junction of Parks Road, Broad Street, Holywell Street and Catte Street then EXTREME care must be taken and enforced to ensure no nasty accidents with any of the hundreds of cyclists a day that use that junction.  There was a nasty and fatal accident at that junction not long ago and I don't want a repeat.

Full Council

Well this is always a bit of a theatrical experience.  Lots of political gesturing and lots of people who are normally perfectly polite being a little less than civil. We started with announcements and the one I want to mention is the forthcoming retirement of Jude Skipp, the members' support officer and Lord Mayor's secretary.  Jude is a wonderful woman and the council will be a poorer place without her.   She started work for the City Council in 1971 - the year I was born!

We then heard some excellent addresses by members of the public about Temple Cowley Pools.  Nigel Gibson and Jane Alexander spoke especially well.  I was amazed to hear that 120 people had turned up to the public meeting at Temple Cowley Pools to ask for it to be saved but only about 12 turned up at the meeting in Blackbird Leys where a new pool was being proposed.

We moved on to questions from the public and 24 had been notified. Quite a few people didn't turn up to ask their questions which I think is a shame as councillors had put time into preparing answers and the large number of questions were part of the reason the briefing note was 49 pages long!

Next up was City Executive Board recommendations.  The interesting one was the new governance arrangements forced on local authorities by the previous Labour Government. We had to choose between having an elected mayor and having a "strong leader". We chose the latter and that means the leader of the council has lots of power and can essentially hand-pick her or his cabinet.  The proposal for an elected Mayor was not supported as Oxford City had voted fairly convincingly against it in a referendum in 2002.

We broke for tea then and returned after 40 minutes for members' questions on notice. There were another 24 of these and they were used to quiz the administration further about Temple Cowley Pools.  The IWCA councillor was particularly nasty to Antonia Bance and it felt like he accused her of racism and homophobia, which knowing Antonia as I do, are both ridiculous.  I may disagree with her politics but she is most certainly not a racist or a homophobe.  The questions I liked most was the one from Graham Jones to the leader about how much the "Your Oxford" council publication costs to distribute and circulate.  I know that many of us see it as an administration propaganda device rather than being useful at actually getting to the most excluded people in our City.

The longest item in Council was the motions.  The Greens in particular seem to have had their creative hats on overdrive this time.  Of course with a majority administration the motions rarely change anything but they do enable open discussion of important items.  The notable motions were the one to recommend to the remuneration panel that councillor allowances be frozen for the next couple of years; a rather nasty motion about senior officers' salaries (rather embarrassing as they were all there for the discussion) and an important motion from Jean Fooks about biodiversity and applauding the work of the Oxfordshire Nature Conservation Forum.

Sadly I think the Greens won the bad behaviour award this time.  The leader of the Green group trampled all over the allowed 3 minutes for speeches and had to be reprimanded by the Lord Mayor.  Another Green councillor had a rather unfortunate outburst about Green attitudes to students that had to be stopped by the Lord Mayor standing to silence her.

We finished around 10pm - a long evening after a full day at work.

A new report on Temple Cowley Pools

It looks like the council officers may be having a rethink.  This was published yesterday by the Council's press office:

Temple Cowley Report

A report into the future of Temple Cowley Pools has been delayed after a draft report on the feasibility study raised a number of cost and affordability questions regarding the options. 

These are being pursued with Mace, the lead consultant, however, at present the report is incomplete and not ready to be published.

In the context of the challenging financial circumstances that we find ourselves in it is vital that cost and affordability issues are clear.  Only then can officers properly advise councillors on the affordability and risks of the options and place this in the overall context of the Council’s capital programme and budget.

The report was due to be discussed at Value and Performance Scrutiny yesterday (Wednesday). It was also due to be discussed at City Executive Board on 12 July.

There will be an opportunity for the scrutiny committee to consider the feasibility study and report to the City Executive Board prior to its meeting.

Tim Sadler, Executive Director, City Services, says: “We are disappointed that there has to be a delay but the financial circumstances are changing so rapidly that officers have to reassess the position carefully before advising councillors on this major strategic decision. We will also publish the feasibility study as soon as it is ready.”

Another group meeting

We met at 6pm today to discuss how we would approach everything on the agenda for Full Council on 12th July.  It's important that political groups do this so we can agree our line on the important issues at Council so that our constituents and the press get a clear and consistent message from our party.

We had a bit of discussion about how to handle the fact that our party is now part of the government.  We reminded ourselves that there has not been a Lib Dem-Tory merger and that it is OK not to agree with everything the Government says or decides.

Licencing hearing: My first premises licence review

I was part of a licensing hearing today where the Police had asked the City Council to review and revoke the premises licence for R&H News on St. Clement's as it had failed three test purchases of alcohol to under 18s, carried out by Thames Valley Police.  The Police only do test purchases where there is local intelligence that there is an underage sales problem in a premises.  The test purchasers are not allowed to lie or use fake ID in the premises either.



The hearing was delayed by an hour because the licence holder's barrister was held up in a difficult case at the Magistrates' court.  After hearing the evidence both from the Police and the licence holder it became apparent to the panel that the problems were caused by the designated premises supervisor (who has to be trained and have a personal licence to sell alcohol) allowing inexperienced casual staff to sell alcohol. These people appeared not to be following proper procedures or checks before making sales.

The panel (me, Mary Clarkson and Rae Humberstone) decided that the public interest would be best served by making sure that only properly trained and qualified people were allowed to sell alcohol in this premises, which is in a sensitive area with an established problem of under-age and street drinking.   We did this by imposing a condition that only personal licence holders would be allowed to sell alcohol at R&H news and various other things such as maintaining a refusals book, having a policy of challenging anyone who looks under 25, and specifying documents that can be used as age proof.

We had to balance the desire not to put local people out of business with the need to protect minors from harm by ensuring that they cannot buy alcohol.  I believe our decision achieved that.

The licence holder has 21 days to appeal the decision and if he does not do so before then our decision becomes a binding part of his premises licence.  If he does appeal then he can carry on operating as he is now, until the outcome of the appeal (which would be to Oxford Magistrates) is known.   If the shop fails another test purchase or breaks any of the new licence conditions after they come into force then Thames Valley Police would be entirely within its rights to refer the premises back to the City Council for a further review of its premises licence.

St Ebbe's loses lapdancing case

It's reported today that St. Ebbe's church as lost its appeal against the City Council's licensing decision to allow regulated sex entertainment at the very nearby Thirst Lodge.  Costs of £12,000 were awarded against the church.

I don't have much to say about this but thought I should comment as it is in my ward.  Firstly, I don't think the City Council is here to be the moral guardian of Oxford, or its people, so should not make decisions solely on moral grounds. Secondly, I feel very sorry for both parties as they have both spent a large amount of time and money at an appeal that should probably have never happened.  The original decision was entirely soundly made and entirely within the licensing guidelines and the City Council's licensing policy.  Finally, I hope that both parties can now enter into dialogue and try to understand the depth and sincerity of each other's feelings and work out a way to coexist as neighbours as constructively as possible.

Oxford City Council Lib Dem Group Meeting

We had a good discussion about Temple Cowley Pools at the group meeting tonight.  Group meetings are confidential discussions but I am happy to report, with permission, that as a new member I discovered that the group view is that we will support keeping the current pools open unless evidence arises that it is a threat to health and/or safety of the public. We will not support the construction of a competition pool on any site at this time.

A walk around the ward with PC Paul Phillips

I met with PC Paul Phillips today and we had a walk around Carfax Ward.  Paul's been policing this area for 8 years now and clearly knows lots of people and is generally accepted and liked in the neighbourhood.

We talked about issues which include homelessness, drug dealing and binge drinking.  It was good to see Paul being firm but fair and polite with people being antisocial in the streets and we came across a couple of worries.  These were the £2 per pint of Stella all day at one pub and the complete blocking of the fire exit of another by a parked car - despite the sign!