10:00am Thursday 9th September 2010
By The Insider
COUNCILS are often criticised for playing the health and safety card too readily, so it is good to hear Oxford city councillor Mark Lygo puts his neck on the line for civic good.
Mr Lygo, the councillor responsible for play, was taking a closer look at the skateboard park in Meadow Lane to investigate council-supported plans to upgrade the jumps and ramps.
And in the name of research, Mr Lygo decided to give the sport a whirl.
“I was carted away in an ambulance when I tried to learn how to skate”, the red-faced councillor told his unsympathetic and guffawing colleagues.
“So I know there is good access for emergency vehicles.”
Mr Lygo was knocked-out after trying to perform a ‘drop in’.
The Oxford Wheels Project is trying to raise £300,000 to build a permanent skate park on the site, and has the full backing of Mr Lygo, who no longer has to declare a vested interest as a user of the facility He added: “Next time, I’ll just watch.”
City councillor Antonia Bance has showed a less than charitable attitude to bagpipe players. The Labour councillor for Rose Hill claims she has been plagued by the Scottish instrument and its distinctive drone, with buskers following her from Oxford to London.
She said: “I worked in Cornmarket for five years and I would have cheerfully wrung the bagpipe player’s neck.”
A move to the capital failed to remedy Ms Bance’s headache.
“I now work near Westminster Bridge, and there is another one. I would wring his neck as well.”
And we thought she supported the arts?
Oxfordshire County Council press officer Marcus Mabberley had a lucky escape just yards from his office last week.
Bounding across the zebra crossing in New Road, close to County Hall, he was nearly knocked down by a push bike, whose rider hadn’t registered his presence.
An angry Mr Mabberley threw up his arms in frustration and rolled his eyes, but the errant cyclist casually pedalled on without a backwards glance.
Head shaking clearly won’t get you anywhere Marcus.
You should contact the county council – the authority responsible for locating that crossing on a busy corner.
That’s what the Oxford Mail did a few weeks ago, after it was contacted by a string of concerned residents who claimed the crossing was dangerous because of its location.
Mr Mabberley’s press office colleagues told us: “The crossing and the raised hump makes drivers aware that people are crossing, slows them down, and makes the crossing safe.”
And if the humps don’t alert drivers to the crossing, the disgruntled, arm-waving press officer no doubt will.
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