Headington Headlines #377

Your weekly round-up of local news for 16 – 22 July .

The LibDems held Headington Ward in the by-election on Thursday. The new councillor is Stef Garden @SGarden13. Full results here.

Here’s a feel-good story in @TheOxfordMail about the new mural in the Marston underpass.

A man was racially abused and assaulted in Bury Knowle Park at about 7pm on Saturday 14 July. Police are appealing for witnesses.

Responding to this incident, a group called Oxford Stand Up to Racism with support from Oxford Labour organised a rally in Bury Knowle Park on Sunday. Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds and local councillor Martyn Rush gave speeches.

The Further Education Commission, an arm of the Dept for Education, has issued a critical report on Ruskin College. A history of poor financial performance over the past several years coupled with shortcomings in administrative staffing and systems has led to the possibility of Ruskin having to merge with another educational institution. The FEC’s report makes several recommendations which need to be implemented urgently.

Also from Ruskin College, my favourite Headington-related tweet this week:

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

  • No to racism in Bury Knowle Park – Community walk
  • Bath buildings Headington

Headington Headlines #319

Your weekly round-up of local news for 22 – 28 May.

I’ve updated my list of election hustings of interest to Oxford East voters. Please let me know of  any others, or if you hear of any candidates confirming they’ll be there who aren’t already listed.

After The Slade, the next phase of Access to Headington will be Headley Way and Cherwell Drive. There’s a public exhibition of the planned works on Monday 5 June at Northway Community Centre, Dora Carr Close, between 2.00 and 6.00pm.

A young woman pedestrian suffered ‘life threatening’ injuries in a traffic accident on the A40 near Headington Roundabout on Friday morning. The air ambulance attended but the casualty was taken by road to the JR hospital. The A40 eastbound was closed for about an hour.

Zippo’s Circus, which was due to make its regular visit to South Park at the end of June, has cancelled. It seems there’s another circus booked in the University Parks immediately beforehand.

Kids of all ages in Marston have a brand new zip wire to play on. It’s in Croft Road Recreation Ground, and has been a pet project of Independent Councillor Mick Haines.

An HMO in Holley Crescent, also available for short-term let on AirBnB, has been labelled a ‘death trap’. The owner is already in trouble with the City’s Environmental Health Department.

The man arrested for the murder in February (see HH 305) of Domingos Ramalho in Windmill Road pleaded guilty at Oxford Crown Court.

The change-of-use application for the ex-Connell’s Estate Agents to become a hot food takeaway (see HH 311) has been approved.

My favourite Headington-related tweet:

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

  • Frontier Estates Multiple Site London Road / Barton Road
  • Travellers

Headington Headlines #316

Your weekly round-up of local news for 1 – 6 May.

As my commemorative blog post reports, all the heatpipe roadworks in Headington’s residential streets are finished. Work on Churchill Drive is scheduled to end on 26 May.

All my posts about the project are under the ‘Energy Project’ tab in the main menu, and there’s a page of links and contact details here.

In local election week the big news for Headington is that the Headington Neighbourhood Plan @HeadingtonPlan was approved by referendum with an 86% ‘Yes’ vote. It was no change in the County elections here in OX3, and new councillor Mark Ladbrooke was elected for Labour in the Barton & Sandhills Ward by-election following the death of Van Coulter earlier this year.

Read my posts on the results on these links:

The Conservative candidate to stand in Oxford East is Cllr Dr Suzanne Bartington. She is currently Town Councillor for Witney’s East Ward.

Suzanne Bartington
Suzanne Bartington

And yesterday evening the Green Party announced that their candidate for Oxford East is Larry Sanders.

Larry Sanders
Larry Sanders

The vandalised Narnia carvings outside Headington library in Bury Knowle Park have been repaired.

On 27 April between 12:00-1:00 pm police ticketed 15 drivers for exceeding the 20mph speed limit in Old Road (via @RuthWilk).

My favourite Headington-related tweet:

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

  • Headington Plan – what’s next?
  • Revised Proposals for the Development of Holy Trinity, Headington Quarry
  • Iphone found