access2H

Headington Headlines #406

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 11 – 17 February.

Oxford Ink, the tattoo shop in Roundway, Risinghurst closed without warning, apparently owing rather a lot of money in unredeemed gift vouchers, deposits and refunds. This tweet was posted on 6 February.

Just to clarify, this isn’t the tattoo shop that used to be in Windmill Road. The Windmill Road business was Black Mamba Tattoo @blackmambatatto but they closed in 2017.

The Community Governance Review, which starts the process which could lead to a Community Council for Headington (see last week’s Headlines), was agreed by the City Council on Wednesday.

There is an exhibition of early colour photography (autochrome) by Headington resident Ethelreda Laing and modern work by students at Brookes in Headington Library in Bury Knowle Park. It runs until 2 March. More about Ethelreda here on headington.org.uk.

It seems Frontier Estates, who attracted much local criticism over the development of Beech House, are at it again. They apparently want to build student accommodation on the corner of Jack Straw’s Lane and Marston Road. This post on the e-democracy forum says there will be a public exhibition on 28 February from 5 – 8pm at the United Reform Church on Marston Road.

A bungalow in Ethelred Court, Old Headington, caught fire in the early hours of Friday morning. The roof was destroyed. No-one was inside the house at the time as the owner was away, so fortunately there were no injuries.

The Wood Centre for Innovation @WCFI_OI, based at the new science development run by The Oxford Trust @TheOxfordTrust at Stansfeld Park in Quarry, is advertising for small start-ups to take office space there.

As Access to Headington work continues on Headley Way, a series of junction closures has been announced while the junctions are being reconfigured. The closures will affect in turn Fortnam Close, Woodlands (both sides), Franklin Road, Copse Lane, Coniston Avenue, Bowness Avenue and Derwent Avenue, starting with Fortnam Close on 4 March. See this separate post for details.

My favourite Headington-related tweet:

Active posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week.

  • Exhibition of Student housing proposals at 1-7 Jack Straws Lane and Marston road Frontier ESTates

Access to Headington Road Closures

TonyOX3

As @HeadingtonNews tweeted earlier today, there are going to be road closures around the Headley Way/Cherwell Drive junction over the next three weeks while the roads are resurfaced following the reconfiguration work around the junction.

The official notice in the paper doesn’t make it clear exactly when the roads will be closed. An e-bulletin from the County Council dated 12 October gives more detail, saying that the closures will be overnight between 7pm and 6am, though not necessarily every night.

Work continues at the Marsh Lane/Cherwell Drive junctions and the John Radcliffe Hospital access. The traffic management here continues to be narrow lanes with give ways to keep traffic moving with off-peak lights used as necessary.

Planned night time road closures for surfacing
When: 15 October to 9th November
Time: 7pm – 6am
Where:
PHASE1: Marsh Lane completely closed (except residents access) between Headley Way and Ashlong Drive for 5-9 days, Headley Way on traffic lights;
PHASE 2: Marston Road completely closed (except residents access) between Headley Way and Oxford Road for 5-9 days, Headley Way on traffic lights;
PHASE 3: JR Access on temporary lights, after Phase 1&2 are complete.

The bulletin goes on to say:

Marsh Lane junction
Construction work has progressed well at the Marsh Lane / Cherwell Drive junction.

The site team has completed the major road widening, traffic signals ducting and footpath work on Marsh Lane and the Northern sections of Cherwell Drive. They have also completed various road crossings for ducting and drainage into the new traffic islands in Cherwell Drive and Marsh Lane.

Over the next few weeks the team will continue working on the southern side of the junction outside the fuel station and adjacent to the Marston Road junction. This work includes traffic signal ducting, road widening, drainage and footpath construction.

The team has constantly tried to minimise the disruption to traffic by removing traffic lights whenever possible. However, the construction of the central islands has required the need for traffic lights in order to complete the work safely.

John Radcliffe junction
The team has finished the traffic signals ducting in the North West corner of the junction and have been constructing the road widening and footpath surfacing along the Southern side of the junction which is around 150m long.

They’ve worked well with the gas company to complete the final section of a large gas main improvement scheme at Staunton Road under the same traffic management. We have also requested that they complete some works ahead of schedule at the London Road end of the project; this is now complete.

So if you travel in the area after 7pm through to 6am be aware that your journey may be disrupted any day from now until 9 November. The official diversions are quite long, especially when Marsh Lane is closed: the diversion for this is via the Banbury Road and the A40.

Headington Headlines #389

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 8 – 14 October .

The city council is expected to award a contract next week for a total of seven bungalows to be built at two sites – Mortimer Drive in Marston and Bracegirdle Road in Wood Farm. They will be owned by the council and let at social rents. The new homes will be built off-site (I think we used to call these ‘prefabs’ a long time ago) by a specialist contractor. The Council’s report says they “will be the first delivered in Oxford under the recently signed housing deal attracting £55,000 per home, greatly reducing the cost of their provision to the Council”.

The BP petrol station at the Headley Way/Cherwell Drive junction was out of petrol for several days. Delivery trucks couldn’t get onto the site because of Access to Headington works. Ironic, some might say.

There was a distraction burglary, or attempted burglary, on Friday last week (5 October) in Mattock Close. Three men got entry after one said he was from ‘the water board’.

A memorial bench to ‘one of the best-known Irishmen in Oxford’, Billy Munnelly, has been installed in the Croft Road recreation ground in Marston.

The planning application to build two houses fronting onto Woodlands Road (see HH364) has been refused. The Notice of Refusal sets out the reasons – basically trying to squeeze too much into an unsuitable site.

There were no new posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week.