Headington Headlines

Headington Headlines #110

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 29 April – 5 May.

There was an election on Thursday – two if you live in Churchill Ward. Turnout ranged from 35% in Headington & Quarry county division to 18.5% in the Churchill ward by-election. Labour were clear and unsurprising winners in all the OX3 areas apart from Headington & Quarry where two existing councillors, one Labour, one LibDem, were competing in a division with new boundaries covering part of each of their existing territory. Roz Smith (LibDem) @RosalindRogers narrowly beat Dee Sinclair @Delia_Sinclair by 31 votes, a majority of 1%. All the results for Oxford are on on my blog or more legibly on this pdf.

About half the new spaces being created at Thornhill P&R opened on Monday – that’s about 250. The remainder are due to be ready by July.

At the Headington roundabout the ‘safe’ cycle route from Thornhill proved impassable for disabled fundraiser @Claire80Lomas as she arrived in Oxford on her hand-bike on a 400 mile cycle challenge. Claire was the person who completed the London marathon in 17 days last year wearing a robotic suit. Her domestique @charliecoffee wasn’t impressed with the “cycling city”‘s response either.

@FoodieonTour, aka Jacqui Thorndyke, blogged about Headington Farmers’ Market.

The Ruskin Arts Festival was on Saturday 4 May, the same day as a street festival at the top of Kennett Road to mark the start of Oxfordshire Art Weeks.

Oxford author @GriseldaHeppel spoke about her book “Ante’s Inferno” aimed at 9-12 year-olds to girls at @HeadingtonSch.

A project to bring Latin and classical studies to a wider section of the community is to open in Cheney School later this year.

@HeadingtonPlan has a facebook page.

A big list of active topics on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week:

  • Thornhill Park and Ride Expansion Plans.
  • CoNDem nasty hypocrisy
  • Bury Knowle Park big swing on a pole thing
  • Free family bus ticket on Arriva (can be used on 280 service in Headington)
  • Local elections, May 2013
  • Shop at end of Kennett Road
  • A Neighbourhood Plan for Headington
  • Oxford’s Polish School celebrates 10 years of Achievement!
  • Oxford’s 1st Polish Business Fair
  • North-East Area Forum
  • Redevelopment of Northway
I try to cover news from the OX3 postcode in Headington and out as far as Barton, Sandhills and Risinghurst (see map). To feed into next week’s summary you can comment on this article, or tweet either with the hashtag #ox3 or @mentioning @TonyOX3.

Headington Headlines #109

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 22 – 28 April.

Nothing. Yes, it’s official. Nothing interesting happened in Headington/OX3 this week. Headington Headlines is blank. No robberies, no shops opening or closing, no roads being resurfaced, no strange smells drifting in from elsewhere. On twitter just the usual stuff from Brookes students finding Headington Hill a challenge. Even the e-democracy forum was unusually quiet. So that’s it.

Well, apart from the Headington Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group meeting on Wednesday. The unconfirmed minutes are on the Headington Plan website. I’ve summarised the online information sources on my Neighbourhood Plan page.

You might also be interested in this article which @headingheritage posted about the medieval wall paintings in St Andrew’s Church.

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

  • Thornhill Park and Ride Expansion Plans
  • Public Democracy
I try to cover news from the OX3 postcode in Headington and out as far as Barton, Sandhills and Risinghurst (see map). To feed into next week’s summary you can comment on this article, or tweet either with the hashtag #ox3 or @mentioning @TonyOX3.

Headington Headlines #108

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 15 – 21 April.

A man was arrested in Bury Knowle Park at around 2.15pm on Friday after a shooting incident in Bristol earlier in which the same man is thought to have been involved. The arrested man was taken to the JR Hospital as a medical emergency “after taking medication”.

St Mary’s Church hall in Bayswater Road, Barton has been declared to be becoming unsafe and will have to close by July next year.

The County Council cabinet approved the expansion of St Joseph’s School (Headley Way) to a full 2-form entry from its current 1.5-form.

Martin Young got planning permission for 29 Old High Street but says he won’t be starting work as he would prefer to go ahead with the plans in his newest planning application, ref 13/00880/FUL. The change of use application for 255 Marston Road from a plumbers’ merchant to a taxi office was refused.

A couple from Waynflete Road, Barton were given suspended 12 month sentences and 250 hours of community service for attempting to smuggle a baby into the country from Nigeria.

Work has started on the access to Thornhill Park & Ride. Disruption is expected until August. The lower part of Staunton Road at the junction with Headley Way is also closed from today (Monday 22 April) for about two weeks for work on a raised surface, and Jack Straws Lane is closed too.

My favorite Headington-related tweet this week:

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

  • Bus Users’ Forum | Thu 4th Apr | Town Hall | 18:30
  • St Joseph’s school expansion
  • Road defect reporting in Oxfordshire now using FixMyStreet.com
  • Thornhill Park and Ride Expansion Plans.
  • Planning application for 255 Marston Road
  • Headington Pollution
  • Public Democracy
I try to cover news from the OX3 postcode in Headington and out as far as Barton, Sandhills and Risinghurst (see map). To feed into next week’s summary you can comment on this article, or tweet either with the hashtag #ox3 or @mentioning @TonyOX3.