Headington Headlines #358

Your weekly round-up of local news for 19 – 25 February.

The doctor whose fitness to practice was found to be impaired following the death of Connor Sparrowhawk at Southern Health’s Slade House has been suspended for a year.

Increased car park charges for Headington were approved by the City Council on Monday. They come into force in a few weeks’ time. Here again are the new charges for the car park behind Waitrose.

Table of Proposed charges for 2018
Proposed charges for 2018

It doesn’t say much for local democracy that these new charges are directly opposed to a Community Policy in the Headington Neighbouhood Plan, which says

“BRC1: CHANGES TO CAR PARKING CHARGES At off-peak times only, the car parks on St Leonard’s Road and Old High Street should provide free parking for 30 minutes followed by stepped parking charges”.

These Commmunity Policies are not statutory, but express how we want to see Headington change for the better over the coming years. The City has chosen to ignore it.

Oxford City Council is asking itself to give itself planning permission to build four retirement homes on a playground in Wood Farm.

Headington’s latest public artwork is a new piece by Saad Qureshi. His sculpture “Assembly” is in the courtyard of Oxford Brookes’ new Clerici Building, accessed from Gipsy Lane. Qureshi is an alumnus of the university.

"Assembly" by Saad Qureshi
“Assembly” by Saad Qureshi
Photo: Oxford Brookes University

For a full list of all Headington’s public art see headington.org.uk

My favourite Headington-related tweet:

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

Headington Headlines #357

Your weekly round-up of local news for 12 – 18 February.

Here’s @RuthWilk‘s damning account of how private companies run rings round the City and County enforcement procedures, in this case in Latimer Road.

A woman from Headington is one of a pair who plan to canoe from England to the Black Sea to raise money for charity.

The Friends of St Nicholas Primary School in Marston are raising money to pay for the children of the school to repaint the mural in the underpass at the Old Marston end of Marston Ferry Road. Donations welcome!

The car park behind Waitrose has been resurfaced.

Agents acting for Christ Church College have submitted a ‘Scoping Application’ for a potential Barton Park-sized development on College-owned land northwest of Barton Park. There will be many hurdles to get over if this development ever gets agreed, not least that the land is Green Belt and isn’t allocated for development in South Oxfordshire DC’s new local plan. The application (ref P18/S0399/SCO) is on the SODC website.

Christ Church College land
Christ Church College land

Intermittent Access to Headington work goes on while the County sorts out the money for the Headley Way phase of the full scheme. The small roundabout at the main enrance to the JR has been removed and replaced with a temporary roundabout pending conversion of the junction to traffic light control when the scheme goes ahead.

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

    • Over 60? Views on sharing photos online? participate in an Oxford Brookes university research project
    • Guide Centenary
    • Headington accommodation

Headington Headlines #356

Your weekly round-up of local news for 5 – 11 February.

The latest proposal for Headington car park charges going to the Council’s Executive Board on 13 February is £2 for the first hour. It’s currently £1.70 for the first 2 hours.

Table of Proposed charges for 2018
Proposed charges for 2018

The same car park has restricted parking this week – the Council is resurfacing it.

The frustrating on/off saga of Access to Headington work on Headley way continues. According to Ruth Wilkinson and the County itself, work at the entrance to the JR will be carried out starting this week at off-peak times. This despite the fact that funding for the scheme as a whole has not yet been sorted out. Work on The Slade has been going slowly because of the cold weather – it affects the curing of the surfaces (in oother words it doesn’t set properly).

A car allegedly driving the wrong way round Headington roundabout crashed with a lorry on Tuesday.

The White Hart in Old Headington has been chosen as CAMRA’s city pub of the year.

More yellow line parking restrictions are coming to parts of Barton and Roundway.

Nawabi Indian restaurant in Girdlestone Road overcame the setback of a 1-star hygiene rating last year by getting 5 stars in a recent re-assessment visit.

The Six Bells in Headington Quarry is closed; it may re-open in April.

Police are appealing for witnesses to a robbery in Blackburn Close (behind the Shell station) on Friday. A man was threatened and his van hijacked by two men in a black Corsa.

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