Headington Headlines #66

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 18 – 24 June —

The Sikh community’s application to establish a Temple on the London Road was approved by the City’s Planning Officers despite local residents’ concerns over parking congestion.

Headington Co-op has submitted an application (12/02373/PREM) to extend its licensing hours for the sale of alcohol on Sundays from 0600 to 2300, starting Sunday 22 July. This is in line with the government’s decision to relax Sunday trading restrictions for 8 weeks from that date so traders can cash in on the Olympics and Paralympics.

The @ACECentre charity based in Windmill Road has been saved from closure by joining forces with a similar operation in Oldham. The charity supports young people and adults who have communication problems. The closure threat was reported in April, attracting interest from Andrew Smith MP and PM David Cameron.

Pickwick’s Guest House sign has been re-erected after being blown down in the recent storm, so we’ll all know where to turn into Sandfield Road again.

There is now a pink bank for recycling small electrical items in the Waitrose car park. Having raised the query I can confirm that although energy-saving bulbs should be recycled because they contain mercury they should NOT be put in the pink bin (because they’ll probably break, apparently). Instead you should take them to Homebase, Robert Dyas (in the city centre) or Sainsbury’s at Heyford Hill who all collect them for recycling. Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) which are the commonest of the new low-energy bulbs should not be put in domestic waste disposal bins of any colour. More info here and my blog post attempting to clear up the confusion here.

The new road in the development between Manor Hospital and the London Road is to be named Blackburn Close in memory of Barbara Woodhouse’s mother.

Two boys aged 17-yrs and 15-yrs were sentenced to 3 years in a young offenders’ institute, and a six-month youth referral order and a three-month 7am-to-7pm curfew respectively for stabbing a man on his own doorstep in Valentia Road last November.

@TVP_Oxford appeals for information after a burglary at the Jack Russell pub, Salford Road, Marston early on Wednesday morning.

There was a burglary in Dunstan Road sometime during Thursday evening. The Police are appealing for information.

@106jackfm was in Headington on Tuesday and gave away £600 in their “Runaway” promotion.

Friends of Old Headington (and that’s all of us surely) held their Gardens Open day yesterday (Sunday).

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

  • Begging outside Budgens/Greggs
  • Headington to Wheatley Cycle Path
  • Sikh temple in Cherwell Drive
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.