Author Archives: adminimport

If we get a gym in West Way…

I’m becoming more concerned about how Doric’s plan for a pay-as-you-go gym will affect the Brookes sports services. In particular, I worry about the long term financial viability of the popular swimming pool used by hundreds of local people.

The Brookes Sports Centre is largely supported by community memberships. Only a small percentage of money comes from students and the university. These local memberships subsidise the cost of the pool, just barely.

I fear a loss of memberships at Brookes would mean the pool would be no longer affordable.

That would be an irreplaceable loss to our school children and other people who swim there.

Doric update

There is none. No plans posted yet on the Vale site. Maybe everyone’s on holiday? Maybe it’s been cancelled and they forgot to inform us?

Maybe Doric didn’t send all the bits in that were expected with their application and the Vale are having to chase them?

For goodness sake. It’s been over 5 weeks.

(Update 30 Jan 2014 – I heard from the plannng officer yesterday. There are a couple of technical reports expected today, and that should be it.)

Oxford Bus Route 4

I happened to run into the Route 4 Manager from Oxford Bus Company. He got onto the bus as I did. We got to chatting, as you do.

We talked about the problems at the corner of Lime Road and Laburnum Road (see what I wrote about that here).

We talked about their decision to discontinue the 4C service (more info here).

We talked about the friendliness and helpfulness of the drivers. I think they are both of those things, usually. Do you?

We talked about how the online timetable is unreliable for the Lime Road and Arnolds Way stops. (Try it here.)

And we talked about some roadworks planned in Oxford for Easter time. A sewer pipe replacement is planned, requiring the closure of Park End Street just past (to the east of) Frideswide Square. He wasn’t sure exactly what they’ll do, but it seems likely all route 4 buses will have to go around Oxpens Road to get to the city centre. A few bus stops will have to be temporarily closed. Inconvenience is assured.

 

4A bus turning into Lime Road, and more

Probably you’ve noticed the chewed up verges on the corner of Lime Road and Laburnum Road. No doubt you’ve seen the traffic jams there as thoughtless builders park where the bus wants to go and where lorries are trying to manoeuvre their way into the development site. What a mess!!

Here’s whats’ happening.

  1. Bovis approached the Oxford Bus Company and Oxfordshire Highways to see if they could stone over the verge just on the buses’ turning corner, outside No 2 Lime Road. They both said, ‘Yes!’ Bovis plan to do this soon and will restore the grass verge when they are done. (Have you noticed that the verge opposite Rectory Homes’ Woodbank development has been restored with protective cones placed to help prevent more damage? Now they need to repair the kerbs and pavements!)
  2. The builders’ on-site parking was supposed to be finished last Friday, the 24th Jan. The week before that, it was promised on the 17th Jan. It seems to be in use now, as on road parking has eased considerably.
  3. There are FIVE construction projects in Lime Road and Arnolds Way at the moment. I include the work to refurbish No 28 Lime Road, because there are multiple vehicles working on that house. Woodbank opposite 2A Lime Road. Harcourt Place (as I guess it’s called now). The house refurb at 28, five ‘executive flats’ just past the school on the south side of Arnolds Way, and 5 executive homes just opposite that. Only Bovis have onsite parking. All the rest of them are parked on the street.
  4. Lorries hauling their loads away from the building site lose mud off the back, keeping the street cleaners working. Last week some big clots of mud fell onto Yarnells Hill. Astute and aware residents snapped photos and complained to me. But within the hour Bovis had sent the street cleaners to sweep it up.
  5. I’ve had a report that the tarmac and underlying concrete in Lime Road is cracking. I haven’t been up to see for myself. Does anyone have a photo they can send me? It’s outside 3, 5, and 7 Lime Road, I hear. I’ll report that to Bovis and to County (for highways).
  6. I complained twice to the site manager about builders vehicles parked on the bridle trail, or on the pavements and verges near the site office, preventing pedestrian passage. They were quickly cleared. It’s improving. At least now it’s not the same people doing the illegal or inconsiderate parking. The site manager is probably getting tired of my text messages.
  7. I noticed, and cringed at, the loud music blasting the neighbourhood from 8 til dusk. Someone else must’ve complained though, because it’s stopped.
  8. Boundaries on the south side, adjacent to upper Yarnells Hill, will be addressed. Bovis are in communication with residents there.

All in all, there are problems, but when they’re reported, Bovis respond. They aren’t trying to make us miserable, just to build scores of new houses as fast as they can.

I wish I had a projected end date, so I could count down the days until completion.

 

98-100 West Way set a precedent

12 Flats at 100 West WayWhen the Vale planning committee approved the development of flats at 98-100 West Way, their decision included the argument that the new build was not overpowering its neighbours, nor was it an overdevelopment of the site.

I disagree.

Now, in a similar application for 6 flats on the property at 102 West Way (just next door to the left of this larger development), the planning officer cites the building at 98-100 West Way as a precedent. The officer says it was not overbearing and is recommending permission be granted for 102 West Way.

West Way flats loom over bungalowHere are photos I took in August 2013. To me, the bungalow at 96 (I think it’s 96) is completely overhwhelmed by the flats.

What were the Vale planning committee thinking? Maybe you might ask Cllr Eric Batts of North Hinksey, who sits on the planning committee.

I think it was poor decision. As a precendent for future West Way residential development, it’s beyond disappointing.

 

Still no Doric Plans to View

When I spoke with Stuart Walker on the 15th Jan 2014, his best estimate was that they should be up by the end of the week. I pointed out he had said this before. He said, yes, unfortunately things don’t always go smoothly. I asked him if he could post those docs that are complete, and continue to post them as they came in. He said, no. They all need to go up at once.

He still promises to contact me immediately when the plans are ready and posted. I believe him.

Now, it’s the end of the weekend, and the plans haven’t yet been posted.

It’s anxiety-producing, that’s for sure.

But remember that the official consultation period doesn’t begin until all plans are checked and posted, and the formal consultation letters have gone out to residents.

I will post a notice here when that happens, and send an email to everyone on my email list. (If you want to join my email list, you can sign up here.)

 

Oxford Bus discontinues 4C route

Oxford Bus Company has decided to discontinue the 4C service that runs between Dean Court and Wood Farm, from 26 Jan 14.

From what Mr Southall, Operations Director for Oxford Bus Company, says here, I expect radical improvement in reliability of the 4, 4A and 4B buses. I also fear we dare not complain about their services, or they will cancel the other routes.

The North Hinksey Parish Clerk, Alan Stone, provided this letter he got from them.

Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2014 16:04:39 +0000
Subject: Re: 4C Bus Service
From: phil.southall@oxfordbus.co.uk
To: nhpcclerk@msn.com
Dear Mr Stone


There are no changes happening to service 4 until 26 January 2014. 
At the moment I have notified the local Councillor for the area so 
that she is aware of our plans in advance of wider publicity. A 
press release has now also gone out in the Oxford Mail and The 
County Council is also aware of our plans. We have put notices on 
the buses and at bus stops to inform people in more detail about 
the changes. Timetables will also be available from tomorrow.




Coming to the reasons for the change, I have received a lot of 
complaints about the reliability of service 4 over the last twelve 
months so my team has reviewed where the problems are happening, 
at what times and what can be done to try and resolve them. 
Whatever we do with the service the increasing congestion on the 
Botley Road and getting through the City Centre are always going 
to be key challenges on the route. All we can do for these elements 
is to review what the average running time is an adjust the time-
tables accordingly and we have done this for the new timetable at 
certain times of the day.




However, in addition to the above the two other main problems 
identified have been:


1) Buses getting stuck at Wood Farm due to inconsiderate parking.


2) Buses on the Botley side of the city having a different experience
on each trip as one bus an hour goes to Dean Court, two buses an hour
go to Cumnor on an uneven frequency - one of which extends to Abingdon
and three buses per hour terminate at Elm's Rise. This means that 
buses run together more often than we would like when delays occur.




To resolve point 1) we will be changing the route in Wood Farm.




To resolve point 2) I plan to revise service 4 to serve Elm's Rise 
every 20 minutes and Cumnor every 20 minutes (with one an hour extending
through to Abingdon) giving the co-ordinated service every ten minutes 
from where service 4A joins Cumnor Hill at Arnold's Way. Unfortunately 
this means that Oxford Bus Company will no longer be serving Dean Court 
and the service 4C service variant is being withdrawn. The patronage 
on this section of route is much lower than on the other sections.




What this means for Dean Court residents is that those living closer 
to the north of the area can walk through to Cumnor Hill and receive 
a bus every 10-minutes into Oxford on services 4/4A. Those living towards 
the south of the area will have to use the frequency Stagecoach services 
that stop on Eynsham Road. All stops are within 400m, the 'acceptable' 
walking distance that planners use when looking at services and as is 
laid down by Central Government. It is not true to say that all the 
issues are at the other end of the route.




I can assure you that these changes have been made to try and improve 
the reliability of service 4 overall. I do appreciate that residents 
of Dean Court may not be happy with the changes but when planning 
services we have to cater for lots of conflicting demands whilst 
trying to keep services a simple proposition for our customers.




I should also point out that when an operator makes a commercial decision 
that they cannot provide a service in any given area, there is a statutory 
obligation on Oxfordshire County Council to assess if there is a 
'social need' for a replacement service and I would encourage you to 
contact them to see what the outcome of this decision is.




I'm afraid that this decision cannot be reversed as we have given the 
statutory 56 days notice to the Traffic Commissioner to change the service.




Yours sincerely


Phil Southall


Operations Director

					

		
		
	

							
	

				

			
						

				Lime Road Update – 10 Jan 14
			

								


				

			
What a busy, noisy, messy week we’ve had up here! I look forward to Rectory Homes finally being finished. That will ease some of the strain.


Is it called Harcourt Place now? If I say, ‘Harcourt Place’ , will you know what I’m talking about?


Here’s the update for this week. I’ll be having a regular Friday talk with Bovis.


    

  1. The tarmacking didn’t get finished before Christmas, so some of it was done on 4th Jan (two days before they were supposed to be back!) I registered our discontent. In my opinion, one of the main things is to do what you say you will.
    2. 

  2. From today, they’ve promised us no more parking on the bridle path. I saw two bricklayers lorries parked there this morning, and some lady walking her dog had to step off into the rough to get round them.
    3. 

  3. Today, I’m told that from next Friday the 17th, builders will all be able to park on site. I’d expect that to ease the situation on Laburnum Road and Lime Road. With residents, OBU-HH students and builders all trying to park on Lime Road, when a laden lorry comes down there is just no way to get by!
    4. 

  4. This morning, I heard the Beep Beep of a reversing lorry at 7:15. I complained about jumping the gun (work is supposed to begin at 8am). To my mind, 10 minutes might be acceptable. 45 minutes is not. Some people aren’t even up yet at that early hour. I expect this might become more of a problem as sunrise comes earlier. They’ve apologised to us — this morning a lorry showed up at 7:15. (Boo.)
    5. 

  5. Remember we’ve been warned this period will be exceptionally noisy and messy, because they are hauling out rubble. That’s why the road cleaning vehicles have been so prevalent. They are noisy and splashy and not that much help.  Usually they would come once a week. While the hauling is happening, since lorries drop mucky bits on the road, they’re here all day. That will ease after next week.
    6. 

  6. They apologise for damage to the verges. They will be repaired on Monday 13 Jan 14, and in future as necessary.
    7. 

  7. Boundaries at the southern edge (near Yarnells Hill and the Denes) will be attended to. Meetings with residents have been held.
    8. 

  8. Plans for the path that’s to join with Oxford Brooks University’s paths will be planned and consulted on with the university. There were plans originally, but they didn’t join up. Bovis says that will be taken care of.
    9. 



I guess it’s helpful to have regular communication with them. Feel free to contact them yourself. Gareth.Neale@bovishomes.co.uk is the Construction Director. Alan.Cook@bovishomes.co.uk is the Technical Director. I find both men to be very approachable and nice. Stuart is the site manager, no email, but phone him on 07584 475435 and he’ll try to help. But do remember he is under the kosh to get homes built. Or contact me and I’ll do my best to help.

					

		
		
	

							
	

				

			
						

				Doric update – 10 Jan 2014
			

								


				

			
I know I’m supposed to put a photo with every blog post, and keep them short. But I don’t have many photos, and I do have a lot of information! I hope you’ll read this post anyway.


Doric seem to have begun a charm offensive. I was invited to two meetings with Doric and their reps this week. The first, Weds 8 Jan 14, was about communications and community relations. Partially in response to the letter written by Cllr Matthew Barber encouraging Doric to meet with community representatives, and probably partially a planned part of their after-filing PR machine, we will see approaches to West Way Community Concern, local traders, local councillors and the media to increase and improve communications.


This morning, Fri 10 Jan 14, their planning consultant met with some councillors and Vale officers from the property team at the Vale offices. We had a chance to see some of the detailed plans for the first time. Not all, though. There are a lot, and we had two hours with them this morning.


The plans are expected to be available for public viewing early next week. (It’s taking a bit longer than expected for the planning team to check everything.) Consultation will begin after that.


Here’s some of what I learned. As on X Factor, these are in no particular order.


    

  1. Parking isn’t underground. It’s at street level with buildings above it. It won’t be visible from West Way. It backs up to houses on east end of Arthray Rd.
    2. 

  2. Height has been reduced from the original plans by as much a four storeys. One remaining 7 storey building is in the corner nearest Westminster Way and is the student accommodation and hotel. The other is somewhere near the centre of the development, but I didn’t catch the details.
    3. 

  3. There is a 100 room hotel, envisioned to be something like a Premier Inn. It’s in the same area as the student accommodation, facing Westminster Way.
    4. 

  4. The ‘medical centre’ could be GPs, or a satellite office of a Beaumont St practice, or dentist, or combination of them.
    5. 

  5. There are small, medium and larger shops.
    6. 

  6. There are flats for elderly in the west end near the church and community hall (in cooperation with Sovereign, discussions in progress.)
    7. 

  7. There are offices. They might be something ala Regis, with shared administration or meeting rooms for public hire.
    8. 

  8. Food store is 48k net square feet. 76k gross.
    9. 

  9. Parking to increase from 380 to 560 spaces. (The 380 includes spaces at Grant Thornton.)
    10. 

  10.  There is a gym overlooking West Way. Above the shops.
    11. 

  11. They moved shops back off the road (West Way) and staggered the line so it looks less like a prison and more like different buildings. It’s an improvement, IMO.
    12. 

  12. Main access is up at the western-most end. Community buildings and care home facilities and Baptist Church are there.
    13. 

  13. Pedestrian access via Church Lane (is that the right road name?) off Arthray Rd. Next to no 32.
    14. 

  14. Construction would be phased to minimise loss of local services.
    15. 

  15. They expect a planning decision late summer-ish.
    16. 

  16. Construction would take about 16 months.
    17. 



From some answers that were not given very clearly, I surmise:


    

  • They haven’t entered into firm partnerships agreements for food store, student housing manager, hotel, occupiers of shops, gym, restaurants. The only firm name given is CineWorld.
    • 

  • They haven’t been overly successful at discussions with current traders. They say, “We’ve offered, but not much take up.”  Some local traders report they haven’t been approached.
    • 



All in all, Doric have made significant changes as a result of community lobbying. (Well done WWCC, all letter-writers and petition supporters!) They still, however, plan to move the vicarage further away from the church, replace Field House flats, and demolish Elms Parade. And their poor image in the community has left them with a big mountain to climb to get to any sort of good will.


There will be several hard copies of the plans, one set is earmarked for the WWCC shop. Another will go to each parish council; I don’t know where those will be displayed. I expect these will be distributed next week.


We requested two things today:


    

      

        

      1. An Executive Summary document, one that would be a good summary and starting place for people who want to understand what’s proposed without going through the detailed docs.
        2. 

      2. A 3D model. The photos you will see with the application are from a fly-through software package, but are still 2D and it’s difficult to know where you’re ‘standing’ to get the view before you. (I don’t fully understand where a 3D model would be displayed — another question to ask.)
        3. 

      

    



Those were the highlights. Today’s briefing was two hours.