State of the Spendlove car park

Fri 3 Mar 2017, 17:26

Please note that the Town Council will be meeting next Wednesday and will consider Car Parking and Recycling Site and we will be discussing many issues raised here.

As this is a special meeting it is not open to the public but if there are points that you would like us to think about then please let either the Town Clerk or any of the Town Councillors know

Fri 3 Mar 2017, 11:44

Hi Everyone
I am James Batty, Snr Site manager for Beard,
I appreciate the problems at Spendlove, and we do our best to park on site when we can to avoid over crowding.
I try and advise my guys not to park on Enstone Road for safety reasons as it is so narrow, and if I parked 10 cars up there it would probably upset all of the residents and restrict the width. I will continue to monitor. Regards james.

Fri 3 Mar 2017, 09:21

I went the other day to take our cardboard and paper to the large bin. There was a massive and almost empty cardboard box with about three newspapers in it, filling the red bin. Whoever put it there could not be bothered to even fold the box down. (They probably then parked their car for the day in a nearby bay, and went down to the station to get a train to work.)

Tue 28 Feb 2017, 13:08

Thank you Liz for clarifying a number of issues. I would like to return to my original point.
How can it be right for the Conservative and Labour members of WODC to vote to spend £25,000 of public money on letters to every household and fly-posted propaganda on street posts across West Oxfordshire.
There is a presumption that I agree to spending this money. I don't agree but, anyway, was there not a WODC voted restriction on fly-posting?
One rule for us and no rules for them?

Tue 28 Feb 2017, 12:49

Just for clarity who deposits the recycling at the spendlove Site? I assume Charlbury residents, or should we be blaming the "illegal" station parkers for this as well. I use this site and if the bins are full take it away until they are emptied again. If you have an obsession with saving money you will obviously get a reduced service. The other option is consume less and don't make the waste.

Tue 28 Feb 2017, 08:20 (last edited on Tue 28 Feb 2017, 08:21)

I recently persuaded WODC to give a grant to a new bus co-op to help it with set up costs. It's been set up to commission services across the district, so there is a glimmer of interest in things other than free parking.

Mon 27 Feb 2017, 21:21

Bus services can actually be subsidised by either county or district (the relevant legislation is the General Power of Competence, introduced by the Localism Act 2011). OCC withdrew all bus subsidies largely because of the mounting social care bill, while WODC has chosen to subsidise parking rather than public transport.

Mon 27 Feb 2017, 21:21 (last edited on Mon 27 Feb 2017, 21:23)

All of the three are OCC's responsibility. A debate about how we improve these services must include looking at how the councils are organised. As regards loss of seats, I have no idea how that would pan out as it would depend on how the new boundaries were structured. No idea how for example it would affect me, but I consider savings and improvements to services to be the important issues.

Mon 27 Feb 2017, 20:53

In the interest of some genuine clarity in the debate, which of the following specific areas (extracts from Liz Leffman's email) is WODC, rather than OCC, responsibility?

..the state of our roads, our children's centres and bus services?

And other than losing Green and Labour seats in Oxford City, what difference would result from a unity authority?

Mon 27 Feb 2017, 20:28

Meanwhile pending recycling solution, it would help tremendously towards better use of space if people would simply flatten cardboard boxes. Maybe some of the signage fund could be diverted to notices asking people to do this...

Mon 27 Feb 2017, 19:53 (last edited on Mon 27 Feb 2017, 19:56)

Our view is that a unitary authority could save a significant amount of money and remove a lot of confusion about who provides which service. Whether that can work with Oxford City as part of the mix is debatable but other counties such as Wiltshire have a structure that excludes the main city (Swindon) so no reason why it shouldn't be possible here. We have to make sure that we have a structure that allows things like planning to be handled at a local level though.

Mon 27 Feb 2017, 19:22

Out of interest which proposal do the Lib Dems prefer (and why) ?

Mon 27 Feb 2017, 18:54 (last edited on Mon 27 Feb 2017, 18:56)

It's not about differences between political parties but about infighting between two Conservative led councils - WODC are adamantly opposed to OCC's proposals.

Mon 27 Feb 2017, 18:49

Not sure that this is political as West Oxfordshire (Con) and Oxford City Council (Lab) seem to have the same position.

Mon 27 Feb 2017, 18:48 (last edited on Mon 27 Feb 2017, 18:50)

Have sent Richard's post and photos to WODC - it is a horrible mess. Here is the letter I sent to the Witney Gazette today. As you will see I am pretty cross about this!

"Over the past few days, signs have appeared in the car park in Charlbury, where…

Long post - click to read full text

Mon 27 Feb 2017, 17:28

I must question why, as a Council Tax payer, my money is being used by WODC to fly-post in a political campaign.

Mon 27 Feb 2017, 16:59

Excellent point Richard....I'd certainly support retaining WODC but this is an easy win to demonstrate their commitment to Charlbury.

Mon 27 Feb 2017, 16:48

Walk into the Spendlove car park and you will see this new sign, put up by West Oxfordshire District Council to defend themselves against Oxfordshire County Council's proposals for a single council:

It says: "A single 'One Oxfordshire' council would put free parking and many other West Oxfordshire services and benefits at risk."

One of WODC's main responsibilities is waste and recycling. Recycling collections are going to be fortnightly rather than weekly from this October, and will be carried out by Ubico, the company owned by WODC and its partner district councils in Gloucestershire.

Just a foot away from the WODC sign (you can see it on the left, by the yellow bin) is this scene:

There are complex arguments for and against the OCC unitary proposals, but this is embarrassing - Charlbury's car park, the first sight that many visitors will have of the town, in a Conservation Area and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty... and it looks like a slum. Liz L, as our district councillor, has been working for years to both get a replacement recycling centre and to get WODC to empty the Spendlove bins frequently, and yet this still keeps happening. If it's bad now, what will it be like in October when the collections are fortnightly?

Come on, WODC - if you want our support, you have to show that you can get the basics right.