Headington Headlines

Headington Headlines #137

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 11 – 17 November.

The Oxford Mail finally picked up on a story that broke on twitter a couple of weeks ago (see HH #135), that a kebab shop is planning to open in the Café Noir site. Predictably they found people to say they weren’t happy about it.

Despite no-one liking it apart from the developers @BartonPark_ and (it is claimed) some unnamed people in Barton, the public announcement that Barton West is to be known as Barton Park went ahead. The Oxford Times made much of the name being chosen by children. Local twitter opinion was unimpressed.

À propos of the above, @BartonPark_ is the twitter account previously known as @BartonOxford. The underscore’s needed because it seems Barton Park is the name of a racehorse and @BartonPark is the account of a racing tipster. On the other hand @Barton_Park is an über-posh nursing home in Southport for people who own Bentleys.

The first of two drop-in sessions about the new school for Bayswick Barton West Park took place on Tuesday. The newspaper report doesn’t have much to say other than it happened. The other drop-in is on 2 December – details, and why I think it’s an important issue, here.

The company running the @oxonbike bike hire scheme in Headington and Thornhill (GrandScheme) has gone into liquidation.

Greenpeace staged a demonstration outside the Shell petrol station on London Road on Saturday evening, ptotesting about oil exploration in the Arctic. Peggy Seeger joined them.

Councillor Roz Smith @RosalindRogers planted a memorial tree for Paul Phipps, Risinghurst & Sandhills parish councillor.

Londis owner @sundersandher started a twitter discussion about who sells the cheapest milk in Headington. It seems Iceland have it by 0.5p a litre.

Oxford Brookes celebrated its 50th anniversary this week. For a while it seemed they had mislaid their foundation stone but @RuthWilk asked the Archivist who said it’s “kept along with patterned tiles from the Darcy Building in Estates” and it seems not publicly accessible.

BBC Radio 4 broadcast live from Holy Trinity Church, Quarry, yesterday (Sunday 17 Nov) to mark the C S Lewis jubilee. Listen here.

Back in April 2012 Oxford City Council said they intended to refurbish their five tower blocks. Consultations on what they plan to do have been announced. Those that affect OX3 are the Plowman Tower, Northway in the Tower Play Base on Tuesday 19 November from 12.30pm to 2.30pm and 5.30pm to 8pm and the Foresters Tower, Wood Farm in the Children’s Centre on Wednesday 20 November from 2pm to 8pm.

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

  • Who would like to be a friend of Headington Hill Park?
  • New school for Barton West
  • Hazardous glass in Holley Crescent
  • railings in Barton Lane
  • Kebab shop in Headington – article in the Oxford Mail today
  • New Headington bus routes
  • Survey: Germany & Germans
  • The Local Plan: What is it? Why do we have it? How can it change?
  • Headington event tomorrow 1-3pm – Silver Star Society Christmas Party, John Radcliffe Hospital
  • Headington bike hire scheme
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 #136

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 4 – 10 November.

Cllr @RuthWilk posted an update [no longer available] on the timetable for the Barton West development. It seems we’re going to have to start calling it Barton Park. What do you think of the name? An attractive commitment to a pleasant and open living environment, or a developer’s too-cosy attempt to sell to a middle-class market? I blogged what I thought (hint – I don’t like it) and made a storify timeline of what local twitter had to say (hint – twitter doesn’t like it either). There’s also some discussion about who was involved in choosing the name.

New parking charges come into force at Thornhill and Water Eaton today (11 Nov). £2 to stay 1 – 11 hrs. Full details including information about season tickets here.

@OxfordshireCC announced a consultation about the new primary school for Bayswick (aka Barton West or Barton Park). It will be an academy so who runs it is important. Consultation here, my blog about it here.

Both Risinghurst and South Park had their firework displays on Saturday.

People have been puzzled by the unannounced appearance of new City Council benches in the environs of Headley Way. Not even local councillors knew anything about them. The benches have been put in what seem to be very inappropriate places – here is @RuthWilk‘s picture of the one where the higher part of Staunton Road joins Headley Way. Suspicion is mounting that Banksy has turned his talents from street art to installations, in this case benches.

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

  • Hazardous glass in Holley Crescent
  • Volunteers Needed!
  • Risinghurst Fireworks Display 9th November 2013
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 #135

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 28 October – 3 November.

Headington and other OX3 areas came through the storm of Monday morning unscathed.

Morrisons opened on Monday as announced – it was even early, opening before 9:00.

A new business networking group for Headington has been started by @TheOxonProject. Its first meeting is today (4 Nov); details here.

The yellow-box junction of Wharton Road with London Road is to be reinstated with money from @RosalindRogers‘ Area Steward’s Fund.

It seems @oxfordkebabs is moving into the Café Noir spot on Osler Road.

Friends of Old Headington have let me put their response to the County’s Headington Transport Strategy on the blog. Any more?

The Sandhills underpass is being smartened up and decorated with artwork by Wheatley Park students.

The Chequers pub in Beaumont Road, Quarry has submitted a planning application (ref 13/02762/FUL) for “Demolition of existing flat roofed porch and erection of new pitched roof porch. Erection of raised decking area over beer garden at rear.”

A young man was robbed in Pullens Lane on Wednesday evening. Two attackers stole his rucksack containing an HTC mobile phone, a Sony camera, text books and a wallet.

It seems that anti-social student behaviour has been worse this new academic year than for several years. Brookes, the City Council and residents are all working to do what they can to bring it under control.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • Planning application for 255 Marston Road
  • Traffic in Headington
  • Some Concerns about Headington
  • railings in Barton Lane
  • Parking in Saxon Way
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.