Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 17 – 23 December.
The Manor Hospital, run by private company Nuffield Health, has installed a new MRI scanner replacing the original equipment dating from when the hospital opened in 2004.
The Friends of Warneford Meadow have set up a limited company as a charity to raise funds to buy the meadow from the Department of Health. The meadow is expected to go on the market early in the New Year.
The overall plans for the Barton West development of some 900 new homes was signed off by the City Council on Monday. Looks like it’s going to happen folks! The next step is for the developers to put forward specific planning applications for consultation and approval.
A man was arrested in Headington’s Trade Exchange shop on Tuesday morning.
The West Wing Atrium of the JR Hospital was the venue for carol singing twice this week: Wednesday evening with The Salvation Army and Songsters, and on Friday afternoon with the Abingdon Brass Band.
The two men charged with raping a woman in Bury Knowle Park in September (see original report) pleaded not guilty at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday and will stand trial in February.
Two new shops are opening soon in Marston: Oxybox take-away and a butcher’s shop called ‘Marston Meat’. Both are in the parade on Marston Road next to the petrol station on Cherwell Drive.
Oxfordshire County Council has confirmed that work to rebuild the collapsed drains which cause the road at Headington cross-roads to flood in even moderate rain is scheduled for next month (Jan 2013). They have also announced that work on the planned expansion of Thornhill Park & Ride will start in January. This will provide 500 new parking spaces and cost an estimated £3.6m part of which will be met from the Government’s Local Sustainable Transport grant.
Active topics on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week:
- London Road Improvements Stage 3
- Empty shops in Headington
- Long-stay charging to begin at Park and Ride