THE OXFORD PAPER Your guide for your
Thursday, April 12, 2018 No.87
60p
theoxfordpaper.co.uk
Follow the Gruffalo in special concert Page 9
Win!
One of 5 pairs of tickets
Weekly leisure guide for in & around Oxford
Out& About leisure time in & arou
nd Oxfordshire
Solve the clues and explore the city Fun days out with the family
£1m refurb will improve Page 5 GP surgery Not tried Japanese food before? Shoryu is a good plac e to start
‘Better value’ promise as City takes over repair of potholes By George Welch ROAD bosses have been told to ‘get on with it’ after comparisons were drawn between some Oxford roads and those in poor and developing countries. The Green Party’s damning appraisal comes as Oxford City Council takes over responsibility for repair of major roads from Oxfordshire County Council. A team of councillors and volunteers found more than 20 ‘serious’ potholes, which they consider would cause a cyclist to fall and/or damage a bike, when they surveyed Cowley Road – the most cycled street in Oxford. Dick Wolff, the city’s transport shadow spokesperson for the Greens, said: “In my youth I travelled overseas and saw roads like this in poor, developing nations. “I never expected, in 2018, to be seeing the same sort of crumbling tarmac in Oxford.” The city council refused to comment due to purdah ahead of next month’s elections, but said it stands by its claims made when the new agreement was announced last month. This includes delivering a more ‘efficient’ service to deal with road maintenance, especially problematic potholes. Previously, the county council was responsible for maintaining main
roads while the city council would keep minor roads in order. The city council is now acting on the county council’s behalf to carry out all work in Oxford. The city council’s board member for planning and regulatory services, Cllr Alex Hollingsworth, said the restructure would provide a ‘more efficient and better value’ service. He added: “[We] will have greater involvement in prioritising work to better reflect local needs and… we can offer Oxfordshire County Council and taxpayers better value for money. “This new agreement will see a more seamless, simplified, delivery of highways services.” The city council’s portfolio now includes fixing potholes, cleaning and repairing drainage gullies, replacing worn lines and damaged signs and providing an emergency response to ‘high priority’ problems. It will also carry out more planned maintenance. Every problem reported through fixmystreet.oxfordshire.gov.uk now goes directly to the city council, which would then inspect and carry out repairs if needed. Cllr Yvonne Constance, cabinet member for environment and economy at the county council, said the agreement would “help get the best out of the limited resources we have available for fixing our roads”.
Players get the needle for a good cause PLAYERS from Wheatley Rugby Club might be used to a few cuts and bruises on the field, but there were no tears shed when the team gave blood on Monday. Players and staff from the club donated blood at the Give Blood NHS station at the John Radcliffe Hospital with smaller bandages
applied afterwards than a few of the team are used to wearing. The Oxford Blood Donor Centre, at Headley Way in Headington, relies on donors to attend drop-in sessions and is currently in urgent need of type O- and B- blood stocks. Donations dropped over Easter
and stocks were already low due to the recent bad weather. Extra appointments have been made available at the Oxford Donor Centre on Thursday April 19. To book an appointment call 0300 123 23 23 or visit: https://bit. ly/2IJWnsI