Headington Headlines #332

Your weekly round-up of local news for 21 – 27 August.

Brian Aldiss
Brian Aldiss

Science fiction author and Old Headington resident Brian Aldiss OBE died last week a day after his 92nd birthday. For a full account of his links to Headington see the article about him on headington.org.uk.

There was confusion when electoral registration forms were delivered with return addresses and online registration links to Haringey instead of, or as well as, Oxford.

Friends of Lye Valley @friendlyevalley submitted their comments on relevant sections of the City’s Preferred Options. The report is not yet on their website but you can see a copy here.

Dunstan Park (at the top of Foxwell Drive/Dunstan Road) is shown in the City’s Preferred Options as ‘For further investigation’ – ‘Housing’. Oxford Civic Society added a supplement specifically about Dunstan Park to their comprehensive comments on the Preferred Options consultation. They say it should be re-classified as a ‘Rejected Site’ in the ‘Green Infrastructure’ category (‘Rejected’, i.e. not considered for development).

In March last year a scheme was announced (see “Health and Fitness in Barton Park“) under which NHS money is going to be used to encourage residents of the new development to lead healthy lifestyles. Now The Oxford Mail reports one of the first initiatives may be to give people discounts on their grocery bills if they lead ‘healthy’ lifestyles. The article also mentions ‘free bicycles’. Whether it will really happen remains to be seen. Also I can’t help thinking that the money could be better spent on health projects in Barton rather than in glossy Barton Park/Mosaicland.

Speaking of which, Mosaics/Barton Park launches its marketing campaign in two weeks’ time on 9 – 10 September. We’re promised an ‘interactive 3-D model’ of the development.

The latest planning application on 29 Old High Street was refused on Thursday.

My favourite Headington-related tweet:

Big Narstie is a well-known grime artist. Here he is adressing the Oxford Union in May this year, supporting the motion that “Kanye (West) is more relevant than Shakespeare”.

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

  • Barton Park Prices