08 march 2018 oxfordshire guardian city

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Your guide for your leisure time in & around Oxfo rdshire

GROUP

City & Kidlington Thursday, March 8 - Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Weekly leisure guide for in and around Oxford

Out& About

Enjoy a girls night out with Kathy Lette all-round bonne vivant take you on a journey

oxfordshireguardian.co.uk

Tributes to ‘living legend’ Sir Roger

Terence Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy comes to The Playhouse

Free

Driver high on drugs when he killed pensioner

Young baker’s cake sale raises lots of dough

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£1.8m to make beds available to all the city’s rough sleepers By George Welch ‘MORE needs to be done’ to combat growing numbers of people sleeping rough on the city streets. Oxford City Council announced last week it wants to increase its budget supporting rough sleepers and single homeless people by more than £400,000 to £1.83million for the forthcoming financial year. It said the increase is needed due to the growing numbers sleeping rough and changes to funding for housing related support services. Councillor Mike Rowley, responsible for housing at the council, said: “We aim to spend more than £1.8m on tackling rough sleeping and preventing single homelessness in the next year. “Our budget proposals demonstrate our commitment to helping homeless people off the streets, even as we face a national homelessness crisis and cuts to services elsewhere.” He added: “We believe our proposals mean a bed will be available next year to any rough sleeper with an Oxford connection who wants to come inside.” The increase comes as Oxfordshire County Council this year cut its funding for housing related support from £1.5m a year to £500,000 for 2019/20. There were 61 rough sleepers counted on the city’s streets during a 2017 street count, a significant increase from 33 in 2016. It is believed there could be up to 89 rough sleepers in

Oxford on any given night. Helen Denyer, regional head of homeless charity St Mungo’s, welcomed the increase. She said: “St Mungo’s outreach team in Oxford helps people who are rough sleeping to move away from the streets. Any increase in spending on preventing and tackling homelessness is to be welcomed. Homelessness is not inevitable. “Money spent on critical interventions and helping people sustain their accommodation before becoming homeless is crucial, as is support to help people recover from homelessness and get back into accommodation and work.” The city council claims to have prevented 1,107 families from becoming homeless in 2016/17. At least 150 beds are necessary to meet the needs of Oxford rough sleepers, based on snapshot counts taken between 2015 and 2017, and the council has promised 181 beds for the year ahead. Emergency night shelter for rough sleepers in Oxford, activated on February 22, came to an end on Monday following the end of a prolonged cold snap as the ‘Beast from the East’ brought sub-zero temperatures from Russia. The budget proposal will be considered by the council’s housing panel today (Thursday) and by its executive board on March 20.

Pupils fly the flag for Duchess’s visit Picture: Charlotte Knee Photography

THE Duchess of Cambridge chatted to children at Pegasus Primary School in Oxford on a visit to find out about the work of

the school in providing emotional support programmes for children and staff. She was shown around by

headteacher Francis Murphy and greeted by excited flag waving pupils on Tuesday. See pages 6 & 7 for more

More printed copies than any other weekly newspaper in Oxfordshire (16,103 audited JICREG pending)

OPEN G IN O M RN sic & u M h it w nt Moveme

Nursery School

OpenMorning Wednesday 21 March 09:30am-11:30am

We encourage parents to book their Open Morning attendance. Go to: www.cranfordhouse.net/openmorning

Cranford House Nursery School Cholsey, Oxfordshire Ox10 9HW


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