Headington Headlines

Headington Headlines #391

TonyOX3

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

In case I’ve not mentioned it before, thanks to @TheOxfordMail reporters for being the source of many of the local stories I pick up and report here. Thanks too to all the lovely local people on twitter who pass on their stories, comments and discussions.

Thames Water says that a problem with ‘mis-connected drains’ putting domestic sewage into the Lye Valley has been solved. Although there’s some confusion about whether this particular problem was affecting the Lye Brook or the Boundary Brook, both streams suffer to a varying extent from surface drains which inevitably include polluting road run-off. It’s welcome news that mis-connected domestic drains have been rectified though; every little helps!

The Friends of Headington Hill Park have a rather nice new website friendsofheadingtonhillpark.org.uk. Just one question – how DO you pronounce FoHHP?

The expected planning application by Oxford Brookes to demolish and rebuild their Clive Booth Student Village accommodation has been published on the City Council’s website (ref: 18/02587/FUL). Comments are open until 30 November.

Headington Action @HeadingtonA has entered the @OxfordBusCo competition to ‘Brand a Bus’. Vote for them here – scroll down to find no. 18).

Oxford United Football Club @OUFCOfficial celebrated the 125th anniversary of their foundation as Headington United FC. The local paper covered the occasion well, including presenting this quiz where you can test your in-depth knowledge of the club’s history.

The City Council has finally resolved the outstanding problem of the condition of the Bullingdon Community Centre on Peat Moors/Bulan Road (see HH 326, 328, 330, & 359). The previous plan for partial demolition has now been replaced by a £1m scheme for complete demolition of the Centre, replacing it with a brand new building.

Staff from Connell’s Estate Agents in Headington came to the rescue of an elderly man whose car stalled on the London Road at rush hour.

And finally … continuing the good news theme, a special OX3 welcome to Henry George Stuart Fowler, age 10 days, who was born in the back of his parents’ car on the corner of London Road and Headley Way on Friday last week (19th).

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

  • Brand a Bus
  • Oxford Architectural History lecture

Headington Headlines #390

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 15 – 21 October.

If you’re affected by the overnight road closures around Headley Way/Cherwell Drive this post gives some more information about what’s going on.

Probably no-one was surprised that the Swan School planning permission was finally granted by the Planning Review Committee on Monday. The original reasons for refusal on strictly planning grounds were weak, and the objectors’ game was effectively lost when the County Council accepted the (in my view) dubious fudge over protecting cyclists on the Marston cycle path from motor vehicles crossing the path. On the plus side, Oxford needs more school places and realistically no other site was going to be found in a reasonable timescale.

Posh Fish was closed for a few days while they waited for new equipment to be delivered and installed. They’re open again now.

The proposed Controlled Parking Zone in Wood Farm, the plan for which first emerged in August (see HH379), has been announced by the County Council. You have until 16 November to send in your comments.

My favourite Headington-related tweet:

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

Headington Headlines #389

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 8 – 14 October .

The city council is expected to award a contract next week for a total of seven bungalows to be built at two sites – Mortimer Drive in Marston and Bracegirdle Road in Wood Farm. They will be owned by the council and let at social rents. The new homes will be built off-site (I think we used to call these ‘prefabs’ a long time ago) by a specialist contractor. The Council’s report says they “will be the first delivered in Oxford under the recently signed housing deal attracting £55,000 per home, greatly reducing the cost of their provision to the Council”.

The BP petrol station at the Headley Way/Cherwell Drive junction was out of petrol for several days. Delivery trucks couldn’t get onto the site because of Access to Headington works. Ironic, some might say.

There was a distraction burglary, or attempted burglary, on Friday last week (5 October) in Mattock Close. Three men got entry after one said he was from ‘the water board’.

A memorial bench to ‘one of the best-known Irishmen in Oxford’, Billy Munnelly, has been installed in the Croft Road recreation ground in Marston.

The planning application to build two houses fronting onto Woodlands Road (see HH364) has been refused. The Notice of Refusal sets out the reasons – basically trying to squeeze too much into an unsuitable site.

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