Cuckoo in the nest: the IWCA in the council chamber
Council leaves vulnerable tenants in the lurch over Christmas
Tenants who were overcharged rent for 10 years were left thousands of pounds short over the Christmas period by Oxford City Council, even though it was ordered to pay back the money six months ago.
Last year the Leys Independent reported that a four-year campaign by an Oxford pensioner, with the support of the IWCA, had finally succeeded in getting the city council to admit it had been overcharging tenants due to wrongly applied gas charges.
Figures were presented to council officers and on several occasions questions were put to the leader of the council about discrepancies in the rents. At each stage council officers refused to admit they were wrong.
Eventually the local government ombudsman undertook a review of the council’s charges and recommended a refund. The Marston resident who complained was awarded £4,000 plus £1,000 compensation for ‘his time, trouble and frustration’.
Now the council has been forced once again to admit that it still hasn’t refunded all the affected tenants.
In response to a question submitted to the city council meeting on 22 January, the council’s Housing portfolio holder stated that 100 tenancies were being looked into to check how much was owed.
IWCA councillor Stuart Craft said, ‘Oxford City Council has had over six months to put things right. Before the ombudsman got involved the council repeatedly tried to get out of refunding people. Now it seems it has been trying to do the same thing with those vulnerable elderly tenants that it believes won’t come forward or complain.’
‘For these tenants the overcharged rent could run into hundreds or thousands of pounds. The council should have done the decent thing and ensured they were refunded in time for Christmas.’
Last chance for Bridleway 75
Oxfordshire County Council agreed last month to apply to the magistrates court to close Bridleway 75, which runs through the BMW plant between Garsington Road and Horspath Road.
BMW has been trying to get this path blocked for several years so it can expand the factory. In order to minimise objections to closing the bridleway the company managed to gain planning permission for a replacement footpath and cycleway running along the Eastern Bypass.
The IWCA has been campaigning on behalf of factory employees—who use the route as a short cut to work—and local residents to keep Bridleway 75 open.
However, local New Labour county councillors Barbara Gatehouse and Val Smith have both spoken out in support of BMW’s plans to close the path. Cllr Smith’s intervention at the South East Area Committee in August last year was no doubt crucial in ensuring her Labour colleagues in the city council voted in favour of the planning application for a new footpath and cycleway.
This will allow BMW to argue that pedestrians and cyclists have an alternative route if Bridleway 75 is blocked—even though it is a much longer way round. Magistrates will now decide.
Leys Independent, issue 35, March 2007
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