Headington Headlines #400

Any hopes of HH400 being a bumper edition were dashed by a quiet Christmas break. Here are the few things that triggered my radar from 24 December – 6 January.

An incident that started with police trying to stop a car in Oxford High Street on Christmas Eve ended when the car crashed into a stationary taxi outside Andrews Estate Agents in Headington. A teenager was later arrested. The light-controlled crossing outside Sainsbury’s was damaged on the way, and the public phone box outside Andrews was demolished. It was finally removed on Thursday last week. @HeadingtonNews was on the spot with a camera to cover the story.

The annual mummers’ play in Headington Quarry on Boxing Day was well-attended as usual.

Headington resident and Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens @ClarkeMicah wrote about a bad experience while cycling on the London Road bus lane. His experience may have been extreme but won’t surprise regular cyclists.

Several Headington roads were mentioned in a report in the Oxford Mail about rat-running, but I’m not sure what the alternatives would be. Does Lime Walk count as a rat-run for people getting from the London Road to the Churchill or Old Road Campus? To my mind getting drivers to observe the 20mph speed limits would be a big step forward for safety and the local street environment.

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

  • Massive student development proposed by Brooke [sic] in Headington Conservation Area