DURING a debate on voter apathy last month city councillor Gill Sanders was dismayed to learn Oxford’s Nepalese community is not eligible to vote in local elections.

In fact only British, Commonwealth and European Union citizens are among those who can have their say on choosing their local councillor.

But was the Labour councillor’s concern for this community down to dreams of a fairer democracy in Oxford?

Maybe. Or was it because they are “good cooks”. On that basis, the French and Italians surely deserve the vote?

CAMPAIGNERS against a controversial planning bid by TV’s Kevin McCloud must have been reeling when they spotted a mysterious decision had been made ahead of schedule.

Haboakus, a joint venture between Mr McCloud and housing firm Greensquare, wants to raze the former Cowley Community Centre and build 40 state-of-the-art residential units.

The plans have been controversial, and are expected to go to committee for a decision, so you can imagine The Insider’s surprise when a “decision notice” was uploaded to the city council’s online planning portal.

But, like most things on the council’s website at the moment, it had been uploaded by accident and related to a completely different bid.

The council should think itself lucky it wasn’t confidential information this time...

CONFUSION of environmental proportions was caused when DEFRA and the Environment Agency tried to make a routine announcement last week.

Every year, the two agencies put out a list of flood alleviation projects proposed for each area of the country.

But when the press release filtered through to news inboxes across the country, incorrect information was included.

When reporters clicked a link to a spreadsheet of new projects, they were instead taken to a list of old schemes, which were all funded last year.

When questioned about the problem, both the EA and DEFRA blamed each other and the link was rectified, but only after an hour of journalist head-scratching.

It’s good to know the future of our beloved planet is in such safe hands...