Could Gail Bones regret staying in Oxford?

Rumours abound that the Liberal Democrat county councillor for Headington and Marston has put her Iffley Village house on the market for £1.5m.

Apparently not. A cursory call revealed she was staying put in the city, but with the Government being recommended to introduce a higher tax band for palatial pads, could she be stung in the pocket?

Mrs Bones thought the valuation had been made by an unnamed fellow councillor.

She said: "The last time he put a valuation on our house he claimed it was worth £3m...so much for Gordon Brown's economic growth."

Somewhat ironically, one person sure to be hit hard in the pocket if David Cameron's suggested "air miles tax" ever becomes a reality is fellow Conservative and Witney county councillor David Robertson.

You might have heard of Dave's potty plans to limit the number of miles an individual can fly in a year to 2,000 - just about enough to get to the Costa del Sol and back.

So, bad news for Mr Robertson then, who lists his interests as "football (watching), golf (occasional round), dining out and international travel".

A double whammy for Mr Robertson, who also drives a gas-guzzling Jaguar.

Deserved victory this week for the 500 Oxfordshire County Council care workers who won their dispute with the authority over plans to slash weekend wages.

However, a worrying admission from one senior County Hall source, who revealed the plan formed part of measures to save £600,000, but was "forgotten about".

The Insider's source said: "It didn't catch the attention of any cabinet member... it rose up and bit (them) before (they) really knew there was disquiet about the problem."

Talking of which, confusion appears to reign at County Hall over their well-publicised plans to de-clutter Oxford.

No sooner had unnecessary signs disappeared from the High Street than ugly banners declaring the authority was now rated "excellent" started to appear on almost every county council-owned building.

As if the scaffolding currently erected outside County Hall wasn't enough of an eyesore, someone decided to drape one of the green plastic banners over the front of the old County Hall building, in New Road - a listed structure. We are assured no planning permission was required in that case. One was also put at the foot of the sliding Oxford Castle mound.

Money well spent? Far from us to comment, but this publicity cost a staggering £3,685.50.

Moves are afoot to find ways of shortening the sometimes tedious and tortuous meetings of the full Oxford City Council at the Town Hall.

Suggestions include a limit on the number of questions a city councillor can ask and the amount of time allowed to talk.

A great start. How about putting a contraption in the council chamber to harness all that hot air - they could probably power the city for a year.