Headington Headlines

Headington Headlines #75

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 20 – 26 August —

Oxfordshire County Council which runs Thornhill and Water Eaton park & ride car parks is proposing to introduce charges for parking longer than 11 hours (parking is currently free). The plan is to charge £3 for parking from 11hrs up to 24hrs and more thereafter. The move is intended to deter/raise revenue from people who use the car parks for commuting into London. The proposals are open for consultation: you can give your views here. Report from BBC Oxford.

New tenants have moved into @Bill_Heine‘s shark house in New High Street. The Oxford Times carried a profile piece. You might find the very last sentence surprising!

Teenager Abu Bakkar who had been missing from his home in Barton was found safe and well on Wednesday.

Twelve cyclists were each fined £30 for cycling on Headington pavements.

What seems to have become the annual Foodies’ Festival took place in South Park over this weekend.

I blogged about Thames Water’s plans to extend the reservoir on Old Road at the top of Shotover (Horspath reservoir). Wheatley folk are understandably concerned about the construction traffic and have registered their views on the planning application. Some balance from the areas of Oxford which will benefit (Headington/East Oxford) wouldn’t go amiss – links in the blog piece.

My favorite Headington-related tweet this week:

Headington and Wilk give voters a real choice. My story; hometownstation.com/index.php?opti…

— Mark Archuleta(@Mark_Archuleta) August 21, 2012

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

  • Thornhill Park & Ride: proposed charges for 11+ hours
  • walking dogs in Bury Knowle Park
  • It’s no fun visiting BKP Library if you are disabled!
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 #74

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 13 – 19 August —

@TVP_Oxford are appealing for information on three separate incidents. There was another robbery/burglary in Sherwood Place, Barton on Sunday 12 August. Also over that weekend there were three thefts from vehicles in Cheney Lane. Then in the early hours of Tuesday morning there was an assault & attempted robbery in Hollow Way.

@oxford_brookes released a set of architectural pictures (and some pictures of tea) showing off their new Abercrombie Building.

The Sikhs have started using the old Sharpe+Howse plumbers’ merchants building on the London Road as their new Gurdwara (temple).

Three separate development projects – two in Marston/Northway – involving Kevin McCloud have been delayed for the third time.

On Armistice Day in 1950 four trees were planted around Marston to commemorate those from the district who died during the Second World War. People have been worried that the one outside the old Friar pub would be felled or damaged when Tesco build their planned store there. Independent councillor Mick Haines is using some of his discretionary Ward money to install a plaque marking the tree in an attempt to protect it permanently. The Oxford Mail article mentions the locations of the other trees.

Barnado’s Viking House children’s care centre in Saxon Way announced the opening of a new ‘sensory room’.

@RuthWilk reported a good turnout for the Ward Focus meeting on Tuesday to discuss parking and related issues.

Caffè Corsica was open again by Wednesday. @amhogarth and @joe_bwab were among the first to try the pizza: they reported enthusiastically.

Work was done to raise and resurface the pavement and entrance to the service road on Old High Street between Monaco and Waitrose. Hopefully it will mean an end to the puddle, but more work is still needed on the drainage around the main crossroads.

Thames Valley Police held a Family Fun Day at Oxford Brookes’ Headington campus on Saturday.

My favorite Headington-related tweet this week:

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

  • Puddles outside Waitrose
  • walking dogs in Bury Knowle Park
  • Street lighting which remains on all the time
  • Empty shops in Headington
  • Save Bury Knowle Barn and Stables!
  • When is a cycle lane not a cycle lane?
  • New Lime Walk and All Saints junction “improvements”
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 #73

TonyOX3

There’ll be no Olympic gold letter box in Headington, but here’s my weekly round-up of what else was happening over the period 6 – 12 August —

Andrew Topping, manager of estate agents Breckon and Breckon is heading a new lobby group “to help keep the area’s shopping district vibrant”. The group is a reincarnation of an earlier group, Business Headington, which lapsed a while ago. The new group has adopted the same name.

A woman had her handbag snatched in Sherwood Place, Barton on Wednesday 1 August. @TVP_Oxford appealed for information.

The Headington Shark celebrated its 26th birthday on Thursday with a street party organised by @Bill_Heine. I put together a storify timeline about it, including some pictures.

Earlier on Thursday the BBC’s Frank Gardner reported live from Sandfield Road on the 1 o’clock news, covering the story about body parts retained at the JR Hospital.

The Oxford Family Sports Day took place in Bury Knowle Park on Sunday (yesterday).

My favorite Headington-related tweet this week:

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

  • Empty shops in Headington
  • Puddles Outside Waitrose
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.