HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

Oxford Indymedia

Newsletter Number Two from East Oxford Community Centre Action Group

East Oxford Community Centre Action Group | 31.05.2008 18:56 | 2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces | Culture | Free Spaces | Social Struggles | Oxford | World

East Oxford Community Centre Action Group
21st May 2008
Newsletter Number Two
Threats Documented…
Property development on the site of East Oxford Community Centre,
Property development on the site of East Oxford Games Hall,
Demolition of most of East East Oxford Community Centre site including the Social Club bar

East Oxford Community Centre Action Group

21st May 2008
Newsletter Number Two

Threats Documented…
Property development on the site of East Oxford Community Centre,
Property development on the site of East Oxford Games Hall,
Demolition of most of East East Oxford Community Centre site including the Social Club bar

The Web site www.whatdotheyknow.com (search for “oxford city council”) has published a freedom of information request from Jonathon Leighton asking for details of property development at the community centre. The council’s response includes 3D representations of options for property development on the three council-owned sites, which were presented to the Area Parliament on 19th March 2008, and a detailed report from the consultants Ridge dated 22nd November 2007.

The 3D plans show demolition of most of the East Oxford Community Centre site, including the bar, the bar pump room/stockroom and the social-club space. In addition the upper rooms (meeting room one and the LUWO community office), the Chinese Community Advice Centre and the whole of B Block and the large yard are also shown as demolished and redeveloped.

The report states “The 3 sites that have been considered in this study form valuable pieces of real estate in the heart of East Oxford. The objective is to release some of this value in order to pay for new community facilities”. The “site values” for the three sites have been “redacted”; in other words the Council is censoring the value of publicly owned land that it wishes to redevelop.

The draft unconfirmed minutes of the East Area Parliament on 23rd April 2008 (published with the agenda for EAP on 21st May 2008) state “Members of the Parliament stressed that they had felt a lot of anger and frustration when discussing the East Oxford Community Facilities and the ZED Development at the last meeting. They had serious concerns that the suggestions appeared to have progressed without members’ support, or consultation with the public. It should be noted that this “development” was not wanted by members of EAP”.
However, the action sheet for the EAP meeting held on 19th March 2008 states: “(3) Note that, although core issues related to this project would be determined by Executive Board, some community level issues could be decided by the Area Parliament, and that in any case East Area Parliament wished to see any report on this issue before it was submitted elsewhere; (4) Request that costs of the project be sought and laid before the Area Parliament”.
Action sheets record the legal decisions made by the Council and the officers who will carry them out. They must be published within two days of committee meetings. They are subject to a review process called “call-in”. These decisions are not marked as “called in” on the Council’s website, so, despite the minuted corrections of members of East Area Parliament, they stand. The Ridge report makes frequent reference to “initial consultations with the planning authorities [Oxford City Council, the landowner] and the fact they “have indicated that a development of this sort would be viable”.

Continued:
Where’s yer writ then? Where’s yer injunction?
A number of oral allegations have been made that the first East Oxford Community Centre Action Group (EOCCAG) newsletter was defamatory. Tim Murphy offered Councillor Simmons the opportunity to correct any errors of fact; more on which see below. At the time of writing no libel writs or solicitor’s letters have been received.
Anna Wagstaff, secretary of the Oxford National Union of Journalists said. "The future of East Oxford's Community Centre and the public sports hall are clearly matters of great public interest. The local community must have the full facts about the proposed multi-million pound property development in order to reach an informed view. Fact-based publications produced in good faith make an important contribution to the discussion surrounding this issue and should be welcomed. We would strongly object to any heavy-handed attempt to silence voices raising legitimate concerns and we will be monitoring this issue closely."
MP asks Council to Investigate Concerns Raised in EOCCAG’s First Newsletter
The Oxford East Constituency MP, the Rt Hon Andrew Smith MP, was sent the first newsletter. The East Oxford Community Centre is in his constituency. He replied:
“I have written to the Chief Executive of the City Council seeking his view on which aspects of the events you are complaining about are ones in which the City Council has responsibilities and which come down to a dispute between members of the Association.
“I have also underlined there is an important public interest in the availability of community centre facilities and their continuation under the options under examination for the future of the site.”
If you wish to raise any concerns related to the East Oxford Community Centre or the other sites under threat of development contact your local member of Parliament and ask them to intervene.

Andrew Smith M.P.
Email:  andrewsmith.mp@virgin.net
Tel: 01865 305080
Fax: 01865 305089
Office: Unit One, Newtec Place, Magdelen Road, Oxford, OX4 1RE

Dr. Evan Harris M.P.
Email:  info@evanharris.org.uk
(Emails to Dr. Harris will not be processed without a postal address)
Tel: 01865 245584
Office: 27 Park End Street. Oxford, OX1 1HU

Factual Correction and Apology

Dr Annie Skinner, a local historian has pointed out that the community centre building, while being a former school was not the poor school. We apologise unreservedly to Dr Skinner for any offence caused to her historical sensibilities.

P & P East Oxford Community Centre Action Group,
Room One, East Oxford Community Centre, Princes Street, Oxford
Email:  eoccag@gmail.com

East Oxford Community Centre Action Group
- e-mail: eoccag@gmail.com

Additions

Comments

Hide the following comment

Rumours??

03.06.2008 09:15

Who are the people behind this group? I've heard a rumour that one of them is a local property developer who has just finished some flats near Cowley Road. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Joe
Concerned resident, East Oxford

Joe


Publish your news
-->

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Oxford Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech