Local residents have spoken out against plans to redevelop the site of a defunct gym on Cowley Road to create twelve en-suite student flats.
For the plan to go ahead, it must be sanctioned by Oxford City Council, but four councillors, including Council Leader Bob Price, have referred the matter to the Cowley Area Committee for discussion.

Price said, “We are never certain on the dimensions on planning applications like this in East Oxford, or the impact they will have on the community. So members often call in proposals like this so we can look at them closely. It gives the public and council members a chance to look at everything in detail, and potentially ask for necessary changes.”

He cited the concerns felt by local residents as, “collection of rubbish, maintenance, noise and parking,” adding that, “all plans need to be looked at carefully in respect of the area, especially in a crowded community like that on Cowley Road.”

The developers have sought to placate local residents by assuring them that students accommodated in the new apartments will be forbidden from bringing cars with them.

Elizabeth Mills, Chairperson of the Divinity Road Residents’ Association, complained that this policy is “completely unenforceable.”

Earlier this week, residents also held meetings with the University over other plans to demolish three buildings in order to make way for a new medical research centres.

Members of the local community fear that the £57 million development will only fuel the traffic problems.

Some students have branded the current outcry over accommodation mere “scapegoating”.

“They’re just taking the opportunity to whine about the students,” said Tom, a second year student at Brookes’ Headington Campus, who lives near the Cowley Road, and brings his car with him to university. “It’s a student area; if you don’t like students, maybe you shouldn’t live here”.

Elizabeth Mills, however, worries that “the University is turning Cowley Road into a student union. More houses for families need to be repossessed from students, who do not contribute to the local community.”

Julia Hamilton, a Visiting Student at Mansfield College, sees the increasing levels of student accommodation as a positive development.
“At the moment private buy-to-let owners have this monopoly offering substandard housing at a premium because students have no choice but to take it,” she said.

“Perhaps if students were offered nicer accommodation, there would be more of an incentive to look after the local area.”

A residents’ meeting about the plans was held on Wednesday night and public consultation over the application continues.

At an OUSU meeting on Wednesday evening two motions were passed in favour of ethically manufactured student stash.

Cherwell originally reported on the dubious ethical credentials of university branded clothing last term, and since then the campaign has been consolidated under the name ‘Buy Right’, part of OUSU’s Environment and Ethics committee.

It aims to ensure the Oxford crest does not appear on any clothing which has been made my people who have been exploited in sweat shops.

Sean Robinson, a student at the Queen’s College who proposed the motions, said that the fact that both motions passed unopposed “shows the support this issue has amongst the student community”.

The first motion resolved to “encourage common rooms to mandate Environment & Ethics reps to be responsible for ensuring that … all clothing that is bought by the common room or groups related to the common room is ethically produced”.

The second motion noted that “it is not uncommon for (often female) factory workers to be sexually abused at their work place, not have the right to unionise, receive no healthcare and/or education, earn wages as low as five pence per hour, work up to 18 hour shifts and 80 hours per week”.

The motion mandated the E&E committee to campaign for Oxford Limited, a business subsidiary of the University responsible for the global licensing of the Oxford brand, to affiliate with the Workers’ Rights Consortium (WRC). The WRC is an independent US organisation which monitors companies in order to protect the rights of workers in garment production.

Robinson told Cherwell, “If Oxford Ltd want, as they claim, to ensure good conditions for their workers, why are they keeping those conditions secret? Harvard have done it, Princeton have done it: 188 colleges and universities have signed up to the Workers Rights Consortium: why won’t Oxford?”

Campaigners have drawn attention to the cause with fundraisers such as a 2011 calendar various sports teams and societies posing nude with the slogan, “I’d rather go naked than wear sweatshop”.

Robinson said, “The campaign is gaining momentum with many things scheduled this term such as a make your own stash event and the release of an ethical procurement handbook for JCRs”.

Oxford University will invest over £11 million to re-house the Jericho Health Care Centre in the site of the former Radcliffe Infirmary as part of the University’s plan to “accommodate new teaching and learning space over the next twenty years”.

Proposals for the move described the existing healthcare facility in Jericho as “a building that has become unsuitable for the services it provides.”

The new health care centre will have three GP Surgeries as well as “training, education, visiting consultant services and approved complementary health services”.

Students have agreed about the inadequacy of the existing building.
“I think the facilities that exist currently are inadequate to meet student demand” commented a second year Medic at St Peter’s.
“Every time that I’ve tried to book an appointment, there’s always a delay.”

A player for the University rugby team said, “It will be good to extend healthcare facilities outside the hospital.

“It’s quite inconvenient for a lot of people to go all the way to the JR for physiotherapy. I recently did in my shoulder and moving follow-up care to Jericho would save me a lot of time.”

The University purchased the the Radcliffe Infirmary site in 2003 in order “to provide facilities befitting its international reputation as an institution of learning that will positively reflect upon the historic city of Oxford”.

The new centre is part of a purchase arrangement with the National Health Service which legally obliges the University to provide a site for a health centre.

A spokesperson for the University commented, “The new health centre is being built to honour an agreement arising from a condition of the sale of the Radcliffe Infirmary site to the University, and space in the building will be leased to support the costs.”

“The result will be a larger health centre with modern facilities, a very considerable improvement on the present surgery, and this will benefit all patients.”

The surgeries were contacted but were unavailable to comment.

On Saturday supporters of the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign gathered in Oxford to hold a “jumble sale with a difference”.

Instead the traditional car-boot sale fare, the campaigners sold items synonymous with the expenses scandal of last year, such as rubber ducks and toilet seats. The jumble sale aimed to encourage an “out with the old” attitude, consigning such scandals to the past.

Organisers hoped to raise awareness and encourage voters to support the referendum on adopting the Alternative Vote. The supporters believe the Alternative Vote will make it easier for voters to directly hold MPs to account, as they would have to get 50% support from their constituents to secure election.

Chris Carrigan, Chair of the Yes to Fairer Votes Oxfordshire campaign said, “The New Year is here and voters have a historic chance to throw out the old politics of scandal and jobs for life.”

Duncan Moore, an activist and Biochemistry student at Oxford, said, “The Alternative Vote may be a small change, but it will make a big difference to people like me who have to look at the electoral maths as much as the policies when we decide how to vote.”

Andrew Mell, the group’s press officer, told Cherwell that among those campaigning, “there was very much a mix of town and gown”.

He said they were looking to organise similar events in order to raise awareness before the referendum.

Every member of St Anne’s College who went on the Varsity ski trip at Christmas was summoned to see the Dean this week.

The request follows stories in the press of the antics in the Valley Rally contest, a competition on the final day of the trip to win a free skiing holiday. The winners of th contest, members of St Anne’s College, were mentioned specifically.

Students participated in a number of challenges in the competition, including smashing an egg in the most imaginative way possible, posing naked for pictures in front of a crowd of hundreds of people, and eating “yellow snow”.

In a recent email, the St Anne’s Dean, Dr Geraldine Hazburn, stated that although she understood there were varied levels of involvement with the story that ended up in the papers, she wished to speak with everyone nonetheless to discuss the behaviour of those concerned.

During the meeting, which took place on Monday evening, the Dean attempted to counter the tales being circulated by asking students for some positive feedback and what had been good about Varsity.

The meeting has been described by students as not disciplinary, and just intended to garner information about the trip so that the students could be represented in a balanced way to College authorities. Dr Hazburn declined to comment to Cherwell about the situation.

It is understood that students were told they had violated College regulations. It is stated in St Anne’s College Regulations that “No junior member shall intentionally or recklessly engage in conduct likely to bring the College into disrepute.”

“In cases where there is an allegation of behaviour in breach of the College Regulations the Dean shall investigate the matter.”
The question has arisen among some students as to whether such regulations should apply to incidents occurring both outside term time and outside the country.

“I don’t think it’s a matter for the College to be dealing with”, remarked one student who went on the Varsity Trip.

“Other universities go on these trips and I’m sure they get up to worse stuff. The scandal will blow over.”

Some believed it unfair that all students had to go and see the Dean. Despite a large number of students initially signing up, many had dropped out of the contest after learning what the challenges would involve.

One student said, “I was there for the skiing. I wouldn’t have participated in any of these competitions”.

However, the JCR Constitution of St Anne’s, written by students, says that members must “respect the undergraduate community embodied by the JCR”.

An undergraduate at St Anne’s said after the meeting that “at first I was unsure why she called it, but now I think it is good that she did”.

The Varsity ski trip has expanded greatly in recent years and is now attended by around 2,500 Oxbridge students every December. Competitions have always been a part of the event, which has been running annually for 88 years.

A man was jailed for a year on Wednesday for grabbing the wheel of an Oxford Tube coach, causing it to overturn.

The incident occurred on the M40 on the 30th August last year. Thomas Roby, 21, of Cavell Road, Oxford, pleaded guilty to the charge of to causing danger to road users by interfering with a motor vehicle.

One passenger required hospital treatment, but none were seriously injured in the crash.

The Court saw CCTV footage which showed Roby grabbing the wheel, then falling over as the bus toppled.

The incident preceded another crash which occurred in December, when an Oxford Tube coach overturned, resulting in 17 people being rushed to hospital, five of whom required surgery.

Best selling authors Mark Haddon, Philip Pullman and Mary Hoffman will be among Oxford writers taking part in ‘read-in’ events taking place in Oxford libraries tomorrow.

The read-ins, organised by the Oxford Anti-cuts Alliance, will be held in eight libraries around Oxford, including the Central Library in the Westgate Centre.

They have been organised in response to proposed cuts in library budgets, which would see 20 of Oxford’s 43 libraries close, and will include speeches and poetry from authors, librarians, councillors and trade unionists.

Oxford-based Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night, emphasised the importance libraries play in communities, describing them as the ‘NHS of the Mind’. He will be speaking at Blackbird Leys Library as part of the day-long protest.

Oxford’s 600 taxi drivers have been told that they may have to install CCTV in their cabs.

The move is designed to make both passengers and drivers feel safer, although there have been some fears that passengers would resent the invasion of privacy.

The cameras will cost £400 each but should not affect the cost of fares.

A police spokesperson said, “The installation of CCTV cameras into the city’s licensed taxis will make a night out in the city centre an even safer proposition and provide valuable evidence for officers investigating allegations.”

One taxi driver told the Oxford Mail that the measure would “reduce the chance of us being attacked. I don’t drive nights but, with CCTV, I would.”