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[THAMES VALLEY COMMUNITY
MESSAGING - Oxford - B_01/07/09]
The hot weather we have experienced over the
last week is set to continue for a while.
Please make sure your home is secure
particularly when it is left unattended. Insecure doors and windows are
one of the easiest means for a burglar to enter your home.
Please check your doors and windows before
you go out and when you go to bed.
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Tuesday 23 June 2009
Review of Public Conveniences
Oxford City Council’s, City Executive Board are discussing a
report that will look into conducting public consultation about
the Council’s public toilet provision with the aim of closing
some toilets and improving others.
Councillors will discuss the report at Oxford City Council’s
City Executive Board on Wednesday 1 July.
If the report is agreed it is proposed that officers begin a
two-month public consultation process focusing on improvements
to existing public toilets such as Gloucester Green and
potential closure of up to seven public conveniences, including
Castle Street.
The consultation will look at a package of measures including a
community toilet scheme, installing automatic public toilets,
refurbishment and charging for improved toilets, and closure of
some facilities.
The consultation will include Oxford residents, shoppers,
tourists and other stakeholders. They will be asked their
opinions on their current experience of the Council’s public
toilets as well as their thoughts on the range of options for
the future. It is anticipated that the consultation will take
place in July and August.
A
further report will then be prepared for City Executive Board to
consider in September
when
the results have been evaluated.
There are currently 27 public conveniences in the city and the
budget for maintenance costs for 2009/10 is £385,456 for the 23
that are operated by City Works.
The full report can be found on the following page of our
website:
http://www.oxford.gov.uk/council/meeting-diary.cfm/document/23368/
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Food Hygiene
Scores on the Doors arrives in Oxford
11 Jun 2009
Seventy-three premises have been rated as five star
properties in Oxford under the new Scores on the Doors
rating for their food hygiene standards.
Scores on the Doors is a nationwide scheme which rates
the food hygiene standards in food businesses including
restaurants, cafes, deli's, school kitchens, takeaways and
street trader's food vans.
The initiative aims to help people make an informed
choice about where they eat and buy food from.
The 73 five star premises include the Malmaison Hotel,
Holiday Inn on Woodstock Road, a number of Oxford colleges,
and the Mediterranean Fish Bar on Cherwell Drive.
There were 335 four star premises, 233 three star
premises, 159 two star premises, 38 one star premises and 22
no star premises.
Scores on the Doors has been launched across the
county with Cherwell District Council, South Oxfordshire
District Council, Vale of White Horse District Council and
West Oxfordshire District Council working together to
implement the scheme.
The results for Oxford City will be unveiled on
Tuesday 16 June when the website goes live.
The score a food business gets will be based on the
results of inspections carried out by council environmental
health officers. This score is then translated into a star
rating for each business.
Councillor John Tanner, Board Member for a
Cleaner, Greener City, says: "We want tourists, students
and residents to check the Scores on the Doors before they
choose where to eat. Scores on the Doors is about raising
standards in all our eating places in the city.
"I am pleased that the majority of Oxford food
premises are either good or excellent. I'm sure that in
these tough times all Oxford's food businesses will continue
to strive to be excellent. The handful who have got no
stars will either have to improve or face legal action from
the Council.
"To be a world-class city we need world class
restaurants of the very highest standards. Fortunately, from
cosmopolitan Cowley Road to Oxford Castle and lots more, we
have some excellent places to eat so bon appetite".
More information about Scores on the Doors can be
found on the Scores
on the Doors page of our website.
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1 July 2009
NEW
MILLIONAIRE FROM
LANCASHIRE
IN
JULY'S JACKPOT
DRAW
·
Still
over 1 million tax-free prizes awarded worth a total of over £33 million
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July's Premium Bond
millionaire
A man
living in Lancashire
Bond Number:
138WC727458
Winning
Bond bought in May 2008
Total
holdings: £30,000
|
In Lancashire, just over 510,500 people hold Premium Bonds worth over
£890 million. There are over 10,300 unclaimed Premium Bond prizes in
total worth over
£604,550. This is the 11th time that the £1 million jackpot has been won
in Lancashire.
In March, NS&I announced that from the April prize draw onwards, one of
the two monthly £1 million Premium Bond jackpot prizes would be replaced
by a wider mix of other prizes in the monthly draws.
Similarly, a new £25 Premium Bonds prize has been introduced to the
draws alongside the existing prizes (ranging from £50 to £1 million).
These changes have been introduced because Premium Bond holders say that
maintaining the chances of winning tax-free prizes on a regular basis is
particularly important to them.
In July's draw ERNIE paid out over 1.1 million
prizes, together amounting to more than £33 million in value. There were
40,569,597,098
eligible Bond numbers in the draw.
Prize and value breakdown in July 2009
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Value of prizes
|
Number of prizes |
|
£1,000,000 |
1 |
|
£ 100,000 |
2 |
|
£ 50,000 |
4 |
|
£25,000 |
9 |
|
£10,000 |
20 |
|
£5,000 |
41 |
|
£1,000 |
675 |
|
£ 500 |
2,025 |
|
£100 |
19,866 |
|
£50 |
19,866 |
|
£25 |
1,084,424 |
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Total prize fund value
£33,808,000
|
Total number of prizes
1,126,933
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Premium Bond facts
The current Premium Bonds prize fund rate is 1.0% tax-free2.
The current odds of each £1 Bond number winning any prize are 36,000 to
1, so with average luck, an investor with £30,000 in Premium Bonds could
win 10 tax-free prizes a year. At the end of June 2009, over
23 million people had a total of over £40 billion invested in Premium
Bonds.
Premium Bonds can be bought online at
www.nsandi.com,
by telephone on 0500 007 007 (see note 5), by post and over
the counter at Post Office® branches, and brochures can be picked up in
WHSmith in 400 of its High Street stores and 155 of its travel stores.
Like all NS&I products, Premium Bonds offer investors 100% capital
security, backed by HM Treasury, as well as the sense of fun that comes
from potentially winning tax-free prizes.
Since the first Premium Bonds prize draw in 1957, over 191 million tax-free prizes worth over £12
billion have been paid out.
Prizes range from £25 to £1 million.
There are currently over 599,000 unclaimed Premium Bond prizes, worth
over £35 million. There is no time limit for claiming prizes. Premium
Bonds investors can check to see if they have won by visiting
www.nsandi.com
and using the Premium Bonds prize checker. |