Oxford Homeless Pathways (OxHOP) 25 years celebration

This was a joyous and extremely well-attended lunchtime event at the Town Hall.  It was celebrating 25 years of amazing work by all those involved in OxHOP.  There was a great speech by Lesley Dewhurst, the Chief Executive, who has been with OxHOP almost all of its life and some really inspiring and moving stories from previous and current users of all that OxHOP provides.

What I like about OxHOP is that it is a holistic service that helps people right from providing emergency shelter at O'Hanlon House (called the Oxford Nigh Shelter before it was rebuilt) to second stage homeless housing via Julian Housing.  The support, encouragement and dignity that OxHOP offers to some of the most vulnerable people in our great city is truly amazing and very humbling.  It was a pleasure to attend the event.

Planning Review Committee: Grove Street Housing

We met today to discuss this one planning application that had been called in.  I was glad the St. Clements car park planning application had not been called in as I considered that the decision had been made properly and thoroughly at the West Area Planning Committee.

The application was to demolish an already half-derelict club, the Grove Street Club, and replace it with four terraced houses (one with four bedrooms and three with three).  The West Area Planning Committee had voted approve the application but I was willing to agree with my North Oxford colleagues that a reconsideration was warranted as there were some serious concerns around sizes of gardens and lack of parking.

There was a presentation from the Planning Officer, two speeches against the application and one in favour from the applicant's agent.  After some discussion the committee voted 4 in favour of the application and 3 against.  I realised that as chair I could either abstain or vote against and use my casting vote to cause a refusal.  I didn't consider that the grounds for refusal were strong enough not to be quashed at appeal so I reluctantly abstained thus allowing the application to be approved.  Losing an appeal against an unreasonable refusal can result in costs being awarded to the applicant against the council and that does nobody any favours.

I had held the meeting in the council chamber as I believe it is better for smaller matters and makes the public feel more included.  Apart from the sound system being not put out at all for the planning officers and then set too loud I thought things proceeded well.  I was sorry the planning officers didn't enjoy presenting in the council chamber.  Personally I think it makes for better democracy for small planning applications.

Redevelopment plans for Luther Court

I went to an interesting exhibition today about a2dominion's plans for redevelopment of Luther Court. This is an area of social housing in a difficult and constrained part of the City Centre and it would be fair to say it has been the victim, and site of, a lot of antisocial behaviour over the years. It comprises of lots of rather small and poky one-bedroomed flats that I'm sure are not ideal for the well-being both mental and physical of their tenants.  Currently the accommodation all faces, and has its access from, the North East side facing onto Luther Street Medical Centre and O'Hanlon House.  I think it would be fair to say that the interaction of some potential clients unable to be accepted by the Medical Centre or O'Hanlon House, and some of the more vulnerable tenants in the current Luther Court has not always produced optimal outcomes.  (click the image below to see a non-squashed version of it!)



The new plan is to demolish the current accommodation and to rebuild it on more levels and facing South West onto Thames Street with access only from that side.  The new accommodation would include more two- and possibly three-bedroomed units suitable for small families and would be to much higher standards of building, light provision and so on.  There is a plan to include lots of secure bike parking and  some student accommodation.  The development would be completely car-free and residents would be excluded from having City Centre residents' parking permits.

I filled in a comment sheet and made the following points:

• While I welcome purpose-built student accommodation, particularly in the City Centre, I do think it works better if there is a resident warden to nip any behaviour or noise issues in the bud.  It was indicated that this would probably be done by utilising more mature residents in return for a reduce rent.


• I hope the development will utilise renewable energy including Solar Thermal and/or PV systems as these work incredibly well even in our climate and can make a real difference to social tenants struggling to pay ever-increasing fuel bills.  Anything that can keep people out a fuel poverty is a good thing in my book!


• I welcome this consultation event and encourage a2dominion to have lots more making sure local residents are informed and invited widely and that communication with all local stakeholders is maintained


• I asked also that a2dominion take into account the wishes of their current tenants in Luther Court carefully and sensitively.  I believe they will and offered to help in any way I can as ward councillor.

As these plans are worked up and come to the planning permission stage I will of course have to back away and keep an open mind about any plans that are actually submitted to the planning process in case I have to take part in a determination of the planning application at a committee.  At this stage though I think can honestly, and without prejudicing myself, say things look promising!

I am grateful to a2dominion for keeping me informed as a local councillor at this early stage of planning what could be a really effective and exciting new development.

St Clements Car Park: Call in FAILS

Well the 5pm deadline has passed and only 8 councillors requested a call-in. It needs 12 for a call-in so it fails. This means the council can go ahead and issue the refusal of planning permission but it does of course remain open to the applicant to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.

I think not calling this in was the right decision as I believe West Area Planning committee last week was run openly and fairly and got to its decision in a correct and proper way.

Battle of Britain day service

I was asked to attend this service today to represent the City Council as The Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor were unavailable.  It was a real honour to be asked and as well as commemorating all that the military of the time had given in the Battle of Britain in 1940 I was also asked to "inspect" the dozen or so young people present from the 150 (City of Oxford) Squadron of the Royal Air Force Cadets.  I also gave one of the gospel readings

It was great to chat to young people with a real sense of duty and direction and I was impressed at how impeccably turned out they were.  Seeing one of them process with the flag in the service reminded me of my childhood as a cub scout and then a scout as we used to do that in church at parade Sundays.  I think it's a shame so much of that tradition is fading away - it's great to remember our heritage and commemorate all our forces have done for us to make us the free country we are today.  I don't buy arguments about being disrespectful to other cultures.  We have a great country and I think we should celebrate that, welcome all to join in as they wish!

Well done Oxford ATC and well done St. Michael at the Northgate for hosting an excellent service which had just the right balance of reverence and accessibility!

The saga of St Clements - tweets and many emails

Some readers will know that I like to tweet (Twitter -  @tonybrett) about things going on in the council as I believe it makes for more open and accountable democracy.  As I was just an audience member at West Area Planning  I tweeted about it in some detail.  BBC Radio Oxford picked up on this and rang me at home at 0640 on Thursday morning for comments and an interview about the process.  I was happy to oblige although I must say getting a phone call at 0640 did make me think for a fleeting moment that someone must have died!  Thankfully that was not the case and I was able to explain how call-in works.

Since then there have been a lot of emails to all councillors asking us not to call in the planning application.  I am sending a standard response which I hope is explaining how things progress from here.  The decision was published on Friday morning which means there must be call in requests from 12 City Councillors if the application is to be re-determined at a meeting of the Planning Review Committee, which I chair.  At the moment I have seen five call in requests but there may be more that have not been shared with other councillors. Here's what I've sent (not the picture!) :

Dear <name>,

The application has not been called in.

Some councillors have requested a call in but as far as I am aware only five have done that so far.  The application will only be called in if twelve councillors have requested that by 5pm on Monday 19th September.

It is possible for the Head of City Development to call the application in also, within that same deadline, but there is no indication of that happening at this stage.

It is not my intention to support the call in as I believe West Area committee was run fairly and properly but we must accept that it is the democratic right of other councillors to do so if they feel that's what those they represent want them to do.

I am keeping an open mind about the acceptability or otherwise of the development as I am the chair of Planning Review Committee and will need to be able to chair a discussion openly and fairly if the call-in succeeds.

I hope this explains things at what I of course understand must be a stressful time.

Yours,

Tony Brett

West Area Planning Committee - St Clements

I attended this meeting tonight as I value seeing how others chair meetings and how discussion of planning applications proceeds.  Oscar is a good chair and it's good to learn techniques from him.

Among others, today's West Area Planning considered the controversial application to build student accommodation on the St. Clement's car park. There were some very impassioned speeches from many parties and it was clear that the opposers had really brought the cavalry with some very respected planning consultants, senior folk from local businesses and from the Queen's College.

There seemed to be several areas of discussion. These included access to Angel and Greyhound Meadow, proximity to Queens' College's listed Florey Building, the quality of the buildings proposed and the impact on local traders of the removal of the parking facility (in total during building and then reduced after completion).

Many councillors asked excellent questions and made very good and valid points both against and in favour of the application. Eventually there was motion to refuse planning permission, proposed by Oscar Van Nooijen (the chair) and seconded by Graham Jones (Lib Dem St. Clements' councillor). Five voted in favour of the motion (Cllrs Jones, Benjamin, Van Nooijen, Goddard, Gotch) with four against the motion (Cllrs Price, Cook, Khan and Tanner). The motion thus passed and planning permission was refused.

The council procedures mean that there is a 2 working day period during which the decision can be called in for a second (and fresh) consideration at Planning Review Committee.

Run down and abandoned buildings on George Street

I had a call from someone the other who had noticed some buildings on George Street in a terrible state.  They are all disused shop units and I agree with the caller that they really give a terrible impression of the City Centre so I am trying to find out who owns the building(s) and if there is a way to encourage or force them to do something about the awful eyesores that they have become.   All I have found out so far is that Oxford City Council does not own this building, but planning records indicate that the ownership lays with OXAM, OMCRG, 13-14 Broad St, Oxford OX1 3BP.

Internet searches seem to reveal:

Andre Stern, Karina Sonnenberg
OMCRG Broad Street Oxford,
OX1 3AY
GBR
tel: +44 1865 248 248
fax: +44 1865 249 249

I will continue to investigate...

Is Labour neglecting the Covered Market?

This is a piece of casework about which I won't say too much as I don't want to identify individuals.  Stephen Brown, my ward colleague has also been involved in it.  The story is that covered market traders can have a store room in the cellars below the market and that another trader has a leak in their floor which is causing damage to equipment and stock belonging to other traders as well as the obvious Health and Safety issues around slipping and mixing water and electricity.

I am very disappointed that the City Council administration appears to have been dragging its feet over forcing the offending trader to fix this problem for an extremely long time now.  This is despite large rises in Covered Market rents that traders are expected to pay.  If they paid their rents as slowly as the City Council is fixing this problem I think there would be trouble.

All I want is for Oxford Labour to play fair and make sure the traders get safe and dry storage in return for the huge rents they pay to the City Council, the owner of the Covered Market.

Blessing Service for St. Giles' Fair

I was invited to represent the City Council as Ward Councillor at the traditional service of blessing of St. Giles' Fair this year as the Lord Mayor, Deputy Lord Mayor and Sheriff were all unavailable.  It was an honour to do this, accompanying Bob Wilkes, the City Rector and Vicar of St. Michael at the Northgate; and Andrew Bunch, Vicar of St. Giles' Church on one of the rides in leading messages of welcome and a bible reading.  It was great fun to sing some hymns to the pipe organ that you can see in the picture, as well as singing some to the rather better-paced Salvation Army musicians!

Planning Review Committee: Old Road Campus

The second  Planning Review Committee that I have chaired.  This was a reconsideration of the East Area Planning Committee's decision to grant planning permission to Oxford University to build a new research building on the Roosevelt Drive site near Old Road.  I am a member and employee of Oxford University so I had to consider carefully whether I could approach the decision with an open mind.  As I work for the central IT department of Oxford University and have nothing to do (in my work, rather than councillor, capacity) with the estates department and have no vested interest in the Medical Sciences Division I decided that although I clearly had a personal interest in the matter it was not enough to prejudice me as there are many thousands of people in our City who have some relationship or another with Oxford University.

The meeting proceeded smoothly with some very well-considered and well-presented evidence and opinions both from objectors and applicants.  The Planning Officer, Felicity Byrne presented very well and brought along a County Council Highways Officer (Martin Kraftl) to talk about the possibilities with regard to controlled parking zones.  The professional advice was extremely useful, as always.

After quite a bit of debate and careful questioning of all parties there was eventually a motion to approve the planning application with some additional conditions and that passed so the permission is granted.   The additional conditions are:

• That the landscaping to the tree belt on Old Road includes new hedge and tree planting to the western edge, and mixed evergreens to the eastern end;


• That the hours for deliveries during the construction of the development be controlled to avoid peak hours and the beginning of the school day;


• That the external lighting to the campus be designed to avoid Light spillage, in order to prevent nuisance being caused to nearby residential properties;


• That details of the maintenance regime for the attenuation tanks to be used in the drainage systems be submitted for approval by officers.

I hope these will go as far as possible in alleviating some of the concerns of the objectors.

Old Road Campus Site Visit

This is another planning application called in to Planning Review committee.  This time from East Area Planning Committee.

Quite a few councillors visited the site and we also took time to view the scene from Bickerton Road and from the garden and some rooms of a local resident's house that she very kindly gave us access to.

This was again an extremely informative visit that I think will make sure planning review committee next week makes as informed a decision as it can.

Planning Review Committee is turning out to be quite a lot of work but I do think it is important to consider applications properly as they have a big and lasting effect on many people in our City.  The work is also enjoyable and interested and it's an honour to be the chair of such an important committee.  I am grateful to my Labour colleagues for allowing me to have it.

Planning Review Committee: Mill Street Student Block

And so we get to the Planning Review Commitee meeting that will reconsider the planning decision made at the last West Area Committee.  This is the first Planning Review Committee meeting I've chaired as the first meeting happened while I was in Bonn on the twinning trip.  I was very keen to get things right so ran the meeting as carefully and inclusively as I could.

I should point out that "review" is a slightly confusing name for this committee as its job is not to review the previous decision and the process followed to reach it, but rather to take a fresh look at the planning application and make a new decision based on all the evidence presented.

All objectors had time to speak as did the applicant's agent.  The planning officer (Murray Hancock) gave a very informative and useful report and though he was recommending approval, that is just one of the opinions we as a committee were to consider.  We had some debate among councillors and then a motion was put  seconded to refuse the application and this received almost unanimous assent.  The application was thus refused.

.

Mill Street Site Visit

One of the planning applications that was approved on 13 July at West Area Planning Committee was for some accommodation for students of a local college to fit in a strip of land between the back of houses on Mill Street and the railway, just south of Oxford Station.  At West Area Planning Committee councillors and officers had largely spoken highly of it and it was given planning permission (although not unanimously).

The council has a procedure after such decisions where if 12 councillors request it the decision is "called in" and get re-determined at Planning Review Committee.  That happened in this case.  I am chair of the Planning Review Committee so decided that we should actually visit the site to see how things would look from the neighbouring properties and well as from other angles.  Quite a few members of the committee attended the visit and we were accompanied by Murray Hancock, one of the City Council's senior planners, as well as some local residents and the agent for the applicant so he could let us onto the site.

I found the visit extremely informative and instructive and I think councillors much better equipped to made informed decisions in the actual committee meeting.

There was some controversy over the accuracy of pictures submitted and I was slightly amused at this one (although the whole issue is of course a serious one) as I think it looks like the mockup of the propsed building is floating in the air!

Electronic Committee Management

I attended a brief training session today about the new software the City Council is adopting to better manage information about committees and councillors.  I have to say I was quite impressed with it.  It should make finding things much easier for the public and it will hold us councillors better to account as it records meeting attendance too!

West Area Planning Committee

I attended this meeting today as I wanted to see the outcome of the planning application to change the use of three shop units in Gloucester Green to A3 food use.  The meeting was ably chaired by Oscar Van Nooijen and there was some good discussion on all the applications considered.  The biggest item on the agenda was the St. Clements' Car park application but that was deferred.

Much discussion ensued on the Gloucester Green application and the voting was a dead heat.  I am pleased that Oscar used his casting vote as chair to decline the permission as I think three extra late-night food outlets in that area would have caused intolerable problems for the residents of the flats on Gloucester Green (the Chilterns).

The meeting papers are available online.

Full Council

Today was Elise Benjamin's first full council as Lord Mayor and thus chair of the meeting.  It was not too long a meeting and had the normal political gesturing and grandstanding.  Following some actual and anecdotal evidence about a worrying trend of landlords pulling out of the HMO market, I made the following statement on notice:

"Lord Mayor, I want to make a brief statement about the implementation of new additional HMO licensing scheme. While I recognise and fully support the vital work of holding landlords to account and ensuring adequate and safe conditions for tenants I do want to sound a note of caution about discouraging landlords to stay in the HMO market.



Oxford is a lively and vibrant City and has a large population of young people trying to make their way after School, College or University.  Housing is scarce and expensive and living in HMOs is the only way many such people can afford to stay in Oxford.  I have seen one example (next to my own home) and heard of others where I wonder if perhaps this council is requiring more work than is strictly necessary on properties that are being used as-built (i. e. with no extra bedrooms or partitions, or rooms being used as bedrooms that were intended for other use), and to modern building regulations standards. While I of course understand the duty of care the council has to HMO-residents I hope that will be kept in balance with the need to maintain a supply of HMOs for those who are not able to afford to live in our wonderful City of Oxford any other way. Our City's economy is strong and healthy and this is due in no small part to the number of skilled professionals that live here.  I would hate to get into a position where they can no longer afford to live in Oxford because too many landlords have chosen to leave the HMO market.



It is a delicate balance and I certainly have no sympathy for landlords that don't look after their properties ensuring they are safe for their tenants, nor for tenants who engage in antisocial behaviour.   On the other hand I don't want to see tenants who are responsible members of the community who do not keep neighbours awake, do not have loud parties, do not abuse parking and properly manage their refuse and recycling to be the unintentional victims of a licensing regime that is meant to protect them, not drive their landlords out of the rental market and therefore them out of their homes.



I am grateful to officers for taking the time to discuss this issue with me in the last week or so and grateful for all the excellent work they are doing in bringing Oxford HMO stock up to a good and safe standard.  I also welcome the fact that the council has taken my comments on board and I'm sure officers will bear them in mind when making future assessments of works required to recently-built and/or non-overcrowded residential dwellings.  I will be asking the portfolio member for housing for an update in a question to council later in the year on progress in this important and delicately-balanced area.



Thank you"

Cllr Ed Turner gave me a constructive reply on behalf of the administration and I do hope the administration will make sure the HMO policy is applied in a sensible way in future - Oxford cannot afford to lose all its HMO stock.

Licensing Training

This was an all-day event for which I and lots of others took a day's leave.  It was led by Barrister Leo Charalambides of Ely Place Chambers Licensing Group.  We covered lots of ground and it was pleasing to hear a case that we had covered in the past referred to by Leo as an example of good practice that he often quotes when training others.

It was all quite technical, but also very practical stuff.  I entirely approve of the advice to know your own authority's statement of licensing policy well, and this particularly applies to me as my name is on it!

There was also some good advice about how to lay decisions out clearly, with their evidential basis, as this would hopefully make them more robust to appeal.

It was extremely useful having a day to reflect on licensing while not actually having a licensing decision to make and it was also fascinating hearing what a Barrister had to say when he wasn't representing an applicant in a license hearing.  I am grateful to Leo for being so frank, honest and helpful.

Planning briefing

This was an interesting session, put on for councillors about some new planning law that is currently being discussed in parliament.  It felt a bit odd to be having a theoretical discussion about something that's not even law yet but I guess it was useful nonetheless.

Code of Conduct Training

A 90 minute training session today reminding us about the need to declare interests and the need to be consistent in doing so.

We also learned about pre-disposition and pre-determination and the difference between the two.