Cuckoo in the nest: the IWCA in the council chamber
IWCA motion secures Parks Rangers for all Blackbird Leys parks
IWCA councillor Jane Lacey submitted a motion to the full council meeting on 2 October calling for permanent on-site park keepers in all Blackbird Leys parks to allow these facilities to be fully enjoyed by the whole community. While Parks Rangers now have a limited presence in Blackbird Leys Park, they don’t cover Spindleberry or Gillians Park.
As Jane pointed out in her motion, the parks ‘have not only resumed their former role as havens for drug dealing and usage, but have now become magnets for off road motorcycles/mini-motos and other antisocial behaviour.’
In response to the motion the council agreed that Park Rangers should be provided to all parks across the city, including those in Blackbird Leys. However, an amendment proposed by the Labour group and supported by the Lib Dems ensured that the demand for a permanent on-site presence of park wardens in Blackbird Leys parks was dropped.
While the IWCA welcomes the extension of the Park Rangers scheme to Spindleberry and Gillians Park, we remain concerned that the sporadic presence of these staff will not be enough to keep the parks safe and pleasant for local residents.
Why were Blackbird Leys councillors silenced over bridleway?
BMW’s efforts to close Bridleway 75—the footpath that runs through the car plant between Watlington Road and Horspath Road—have been rumbling on for several years.
As part of the latest, and most determined attempt, BMW has sought and gained planning permission for a replacement footpath and cycleway running between the two ends of Bridleway 75 but around their factory, along the Eastern Bypass.
The IWCA launched a campaign to keep the bridleway open back in 2003, after it was asked to get involved by BMW employees—who use the route as a short cut to work—and local residents. The path is also used by workers at Stagecoach, DHL and other companies on the Pony Road trading estate as well as by people on Blackbird Leys who cycle or walk to Shotover and the sports facilities on the Roman Way. One major concern is that many car factory workers have said they will use their car for work if the bridleway is closed off. This will add to traffic problems on the already congested Watlington Road.
This time, however, IWCA councillors were prevented from having a say on the matter after the application to close Bridleway 75 was left off the agenda of the South East Area Committee meeting earlier this month.
It is not yet clear who was responsible for this. Nonetheless, we do know that Labour county councillor Val Smith has previously given BMW her full support to close the bridleway. Her husband, the local MP Andrew Smith is also an enthusiastic supporter of BMW so we can guess that the Oxford Labour Party is keen to give BMW the go-ahead.
If this is the case then it is very convenient for Labour that the matter wasn’t referred to the South East Area Committee, where the IWCA’s three councillors would have been able to voice their opposition to the closure. Instead the decision on whether to recommend acceptance of BMW’s proposal was left entirely to the Cowley Area Committee, which has an overwhelming majority of Labour members.
Labour’s attack on children’s football clubs
Readers of the Oxford Mail may have seen an article last month warning that new contracts issued to football teams by the city council could force them to stop playing.
Among the new measures are: a £50 deposit per game, fines if changing rooms are found to be dirty after a match, £5 fines for every 10 minutes a match overruns and £29 if a team is caught training on a council pitch without permission.
The Mail reported that the Blackbirds club has been forced to move all its equipment from changing rooms at Blackbird Leys Park and has been ordered off pitches it has used for training sessions for the past 40 years.
Most children’ football clubs are run by volunteers and perform a valuable role in the community. Yet this council’s penny-pinching exercise seems to be designed to discourage any such activity.
The Oxford Mail didn’t mention who was responsible for the new measures. The Leys Independent can reveal that it was New Labour’s Mary Clarkson, Portfolio Holder for Leisure & Cultural Services in the previous council administration.
Leys Independent, issue 34, October 2006
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