Summer town and St Margarets developments

[FM RUBIN]

Apologies for any cross posting... but thought I'd forward..

If we don't comment we can't complain afterwards...

Better to have a go than not.

Best

Frances

(Guy - else send to the HRRA circulation list as it is not always duplicated - thanks!)

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Summertown & St Margaret's Neighbourhood Forum <marion.mo...@gmail.com>
To: fmr...@btinternet.com
Sent: Friday, 1 July 2016, 22:53
Subject: Newsletter July 2016

Newsletter July 2016 Date for the diary, Wednesday July 20th   We now have our first draft plan and we are busily working on this. As soon as it is available we will be sending it out for you to read and comment on before we go out to pubic consultation in September.  We are holding a meeting for Forum members (that’s you) to tell us what they think. It is to be held at :    NOA, Diamond Place, at 7pm, July 20th In the meantime, please put the date in your diary. There will be no celeb speakers this time: just a focus on what is and is not in the plan and lots of space for your reactions which we need. Volunteers wanted   As always the work we are doing is being run by a group of volunteers and we need more. We will be holding our AGM in the Autumn and welcome new faces and energy. In the meantime we would especially welcome volunteers who can help keep our website up to date : http://www.summertownstmargaretsforum.org.uk In the next phase we are going to need help from editors. We have to edit our character assessments to be a little more consistent on tone and format; and we need an editor to help us make sure our plan is well enough written so that it conveys its meaning well. If there is anyone out there to help, please contact one of the committee. Thanks for your help   At our last public meeting we made an appeal for funds. Thank you to all of those who responded on the night and have since sent in cheques. We are very grateful. Sometime after that we received a further grant from Locality (acting as agent for government funding) and this will keep us going until the Autumn. Despite being volunteers, we are taking consistent planning advice as well as paying a publicity person. Their time is what consumes most of our resources and this is essential to  guide us through the labyrinthine process of neighbourhood planning. We cannot stop fundraising and will continue to need support as we go forward.   City council consultation   It felt very inconvenient that the City Council should decide to consult on its next City Plan at the same time that we were wanting to consult on ours and we did discuss this with them. However, here we are with a consultation on what the next Local Plan 2016-2036 may look like when it emerges in 2018-20.  If you haven’t received an email about it, you may like to register and respond online. It is at www.oxford.gov.uk/localplan. Here they set out the broad issues they are looking at and seek your reactions by August 5th. There is much here that exactly chimes in with the draft plan we are working on and that is reassuring. Here are a couple of thoughts you might want to have in mind if you respond to their consultation.   They correctly highlight the growth in population and jobs and they are expecting this to continue to 2036, the end of the plan. In our opinion, this drumbeat for growth is one of the factors that is putting so much pressure on our infrastructure: do we have to have growth at all costs? Must it be a fundamental assumption for everything we plan? Can we ever hope to catch up or are we always going to be coping with insufficient resources to meet the demand? They talk of the housing crisis which certainly reflects our experience in north Oxford. They talk about a mix of home sizes being needed. But they make no mention of building smaller homes: 1 and 2 bed units rather than the 4 and 5 bed homes being built currently.   Much of the pressure on land and housing is created by the growth in student numbers in Oxford especially evident in our area. They suggest that new student halls (limited to the universities) are the way forward. Inevitably student accommodation consumes available land and influences house prices ever higher. How should we balance the demand for more students with the need for more affordable housing in the area? They suggest better use of transport routes and include limits on workplace parking which would make sense for our area. They also suggest making Banbury and Woodstock roads might become one way. How would this affect us ? There are many good ideas included at this stage. We would encourage you to respond to their consultation while it is open. Copyright © 2016 Summertown and St. Margaret's Neighbourhood Forum, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

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