COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTIONS St CLEMENTS WARD

Your chance to vote for an
INDEPENDENT
Councillor on June 7th.

DAVID LEAKE


SAY NO TO COUNCIL TAX RISES AND ROAD CLOSURES

 


St. Clements ward is totally controlled by the Green Party - 3 City Councillors and one County councillor, Craig Simmons, who is up for re-election this year. Listed below are some of the policies and ideas they have given their support to over the past few years, along with their Labour and Lib/Dem allies on the County Council. I wish to state my OPPOSITION to these policies:
1. Giving full support to county council tax rises that are over three times the rate of inflation. This year up by 7.2%, last year up by 8.4% and the year before up by 11.8%.


2. Supporting the Oxford Transport Strategy (O.T.S.) which amongst other things has closed the High Street to all traffic except buses and taxis, with the result that much of the diverted traffic has ended up on streets in this ward instead.


3. Leading the way with proposals to close all the roads either side of Cowley Road to through traffic without supplying any sensible alternatives for essential transport needs.


4. Allowing our roads and pavements to suffer obvious neglect so that cycling and walking are not the safe and healthy alternatives that they should be.

WHY I OPPOSE THESE POLICIES AND WHAT I PROPOSE INSTEAD.

1. If elected I would vote to keep tax rises in line with the level of inflation, which right now is only 2.1%. The other parties will vote against such a proposal saying essential services will need to be cut, which of course is absolute rubbish. What needs to be cut are some of the inessential services, like playing around with the O.T.S. and the totally unnecessary schools re-organisation for a start, as well as things like paying rent on city-centre car park spaces for county council employees. Councillors and council officials always forget to tell you that it's YOUR money they are spending, making out they're doing us a favour when they spend large sums of money, but it is us, under threat of jail if we don't pay their tax, that are doing THEM a favour in giving them the money in the first place. Now is a good time to remind them of this fact when, and if, you go out and vote


2. I would re-open the High Street to ALL traffic on a strict 20 m.p.h. limit, a limit which is not being observed by the buses and taxis right now although they agreed to it when they were granted the freedom of the street. The Oxford Transport Strategy has to my mind been a total waste of the £25 million it cost to set up. According to the council's own figures, traffic levels within the ring road have not been reduced, in spite of their promising that, "It will be terrific without the traffic".
Closing roads does not reduce traffic, it merely causes lengthy diversions and increased pollution as people seek alternative routes. The council are unwilling to admit that their expensive scheme has failed except on one or two streets and even on these the benefits are dubious; Broad Street for example looks a total mess, and the High Street has become a giant bus and coach park. In fact the only real beneficiaries have been the privately owned bus companies, for whom it seems the council cannot do enough, and the taxi firms. I fail to understand why a taxi is allowed to drive up the High Street and yet a private car is forbidden. They both look the same to me: treat them the same.


3. I will oppose the plan put forward by the East Oxford Parliament (comprised of Greens, Labour and Lib/Dem councillors) to close ALL the roads off Cowley Road to through traffic. This idea has come about because of concern over the high traffic levels on some of our streets, but closure is not the answer. First of all we are not being offered any alternatives (bus companies have always refused to come though these streets), but my main objection is that it's so hypocritical. It is saying we don't want anyone who doesn't live here driving through our streets, but we want to be free to drive down theirs. For the same reason I would re-open East Avenue and Union Street. I know that might not suit one of our car-owning Green Party councillors who lives in East Avenue and who insists on driving down my street to get to the Cowley Road, but that's just too bad. I suppose he does it to show how much he cares for my environment. In spite of much talk of an Integrated Transport Strategy from our councillors and their officials, all we have been given (and promised) so far is a random collection of piecemeal measures that have created nothing but chaos and inconvenience.


4. If pavements were cleared of obstructions and kept well maintained, and cycling was not a dangerous game of dodging the pot-holes and getting squeezed by buses (have YOU ever cycled over Magdalen Bridge?), more people would walk and cycle. The way things are it's hardly surprising that so many people do drive, but surely it shouldn't be so difficult to at least fix the surfaces on which we walk and cycle and thereby encourage people out of their cars. This should be a number one priority, and as I actually live in the ward and walk and cycle through it daily I am in a position to see what needs doing, which in spite of having four Green councillors does not seem to be the case at the moment. (With an election coming up I see that some of the roads are getting sort of fixed. But compare this with the quality of the work done in North Oxford and you'll see what a poor deal we get in East Oxford.)



CUTS AND CYNICISM


I recently read in a newspaper a comment from a Labour MP that the Conservatives stood only for cuts and cynicism. I know he meant it as an insult and I'm not a Conservative (I can do without Mr. Hague and Mr. Bush's nuclear shield and Anne Widdecombe's drug policies for a start), but I can understand the sentiment. Yes I am for cuts - cuts in tax rises and bureaucracy - and yes I am cynical. Or more likely just a realist. Even democracy can seem a bit of a joke; to let the masses think they have a say, when in reality it's other forces that decide most of what really happens (recent planning decisions are a good example). But at the moment our electoral system is pretty much all we've got and as I don't agree with any of the other parties on council tax and transport in Oxford, and I think there are other people who share some of these ideas, I'm just offering you a choice.
And by the way, if at present you don't pay Council Tax and / or you don't need a car … you will one day, so you may as well get ready for it now.
I have a real affection for this ward, and for the whole city. I've lived here over twenty years, walked in South Park each morning looking through the trees and over to the spires before cycling to work in the city centre (I'm the gardener at Corpus Christi College), and I've seen my children be born and grow up here, educated in the local schools. I also at times drive around Oxford because quite often public transport is totally unsuitable, something that some councillors can't seem to accept … why else are they so keen on closing roads? I'd like to think that there's an argument for having a truly Independent councillor who will support or reject ideas without caring which party puts them forward. I may be wrong of course and you might read this and think I'm talking a load of rubbish, assuming you've got this far anyway. Well, you've got four other parties to choose from if you want to vote. In 1998 and 1999 I stood as an Independent/ Open Roads candidate in this ward campaigning against the O.T.S. before it was introduced. On both occasions I came 3rd., behind the Greens and Labour but in front of the Conservatives and Lib/Dems. If you voted for me then may I thank you now. I'm not going to have the time to call on many of you before election day but if you want to contact me, my address and phone number are at the bottom of this page.
Thank you for your time,

Published by DAVID LEAKE 146 Divinity Road Oxford OX4 1LR Tel. 721402
Printed by KALL KWIK Printing 18A New Inn Hall Street Oxford OX1 2DW