Fire Service
The report following the public consultation on changes to Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue service has been published. It showed that there was significant concern about some of the suggested approaches. So the possible closures of Henley, Woodstock and Eynsham stations has been taken out of any action plan for the foreseeable future.
I appreciate that people are sceptical about consultations, but the County Council does genuinely listen. Consultations aren’t a referendum, but when residents and stakeholders make constructive and evidence-based comments, they are always carefully considered, and make a real difference to the outcomes. Thank you to all the residents (including on-call firefighters) who contributed to the process.
We still need to make sure that fire crews are in the right places at the right time, bearing in mind that most activity happens in day time rather than at night, and that road incidents are much more frequent than fires. And we do need a full quota of on-call firefighters in Eynsham.
Roads
Gully Clearance: officially, a full sweep of Oxfordshire’s gullies has been completed. In practice, some have been missed – either because of parked cars, because they are not marked on county records, or because of simple error. If gullies in the village have been missed, please let me know and I will chase this up. If it’s just one or two in the village, the easiest way to do this is to report it on FixMyStreet and send me the enquiry.
Potholes: With the better weather, the County Council team is getting on top of things, though there is clearly much still to do. In the past month, more holes have been fixed than reported, which is exactly what you would expect at this time of the year. As ever, it is easier to notice the holes than the mended roads, but if, for instance, you use Lower Road or the Eynsham to Botley Road, you will see them fixed. The A40 near Eynsham, including the hazardous turning lane by the Evenlode, was patched last week, with temporary repairs prior to a proper resurfacing. It is disappointing it took so long to get it done, but there are a lot of roads in the county.
Please find a graphic summarising recent statistics. (The Oxford Clarion has a long read on the subject, if you're interested.)
Road Resurfacing: the county has announced £8 million of resurfacing and surface dressing works for April-June. This is part of the long-term strategy to shift road maintenance spend towards preventative maintenance in order to reduce pothole formation and repair costs. Further sites will be announced later in the spring, and the sites can be seen here.
Flood Prevention Grants
Grants of up to are available to help tackle flooding. Last year, there were more than 80 applications of which 40 were funded. Last year’s grants funded surface drainage improvements; natural flood management schemes; ditch clearances and ditch construction; culvert inspections; water pumps; track repairs to reduce surface water flooding; the installation of timber dams; and flood sensors. Details here.
There is also a call out for Flood Wardens, which you can reach via the same link. Given the recent flooding in Barnard Gate, I would recommend exploring the options.
Flags
Oxfordshire County Council has issued a Cease and Desist order to Raise the Colours Oxfordshire to prohibit the placing of flags on highways property such as lamp-posts following repeated abuse of members of the public, blocking the highway, and threats against council staff. A man has since been arrested. It is unlawful to fix items to highway furniture. A reminder that the County Council flies the Union Flag every day, alongside the Oxfordshire flag and “special occasion” flags.
HWRCs
There has been a lot of discussion about the new booking system for the Household Waste sites. The system has been introduced for three reasons:
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Redbridge HWRC is about to close for renovation, prior to it falling onto the railway. It is the most used HWRC in Oxfordshire, and while it is closed, we expect additional use of the other sites, and are trying to prevent overcrowding.
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There has been abuse of the HWRCs by people disposing unlawfully of trade waste. Trade Waste has to be charged and you can be sure that businesses have been charging their customers when taking trade waste, even when they then pocketed the money. The booking system will make this abuse much harder.
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All the neighbouring authorities have a booking and charging system, meaning that Oxfordshire residents have to pay to use their HWRCs. We are reciprocating, so that non-Oxfordshire residents pay £15 per visit. This is to make the system fair for residents as well as to cover the additional costs we bear when handling their recycling and waste.
There is no evidence that a booking system causes fly tipping. As mentioned, all the neighbouring authorities have a booking system and there is no evidence that they have a worse fly tipping problem than Oxfordshire had. Fly tipping is criminal behaviour, and I don't believe Oxfordshire residents are going to turn into criminals because they have to go online or phone the call centre to book a slot at a HWRC.
We will keep the policy under review, and certainly once Redbridge is reopened take a decision on if it needs to continue.
Support for oil users
The government announced support for people who use fuel oil. The county and district councils are waiting for details and will then advise how residents can claim. There are a large number of people in the area who use oil and I hope the situation will be clear soon.
Contacting the County Council
While everything can be done online, including things like blue badge applications, vehicle related matters, and HWRC booking, for those who prefer not to go online, the helpdesk is on 01865 519800 for all enquiries. The County Council has invested in making the call centre award-winning, and more importantly user friendly.
Contacting me
Please do. It is always good to have comments and questions. dan.levy@oxfordshire.gov.uk