Headington Headlines #378

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 23 – 29 July .

A power cut affected about 2,000 homes in OX3 at 10pm on Tuesday evening.

Two new eateries for Headington. The Reina Grill, no longer the Coming Soon, opened next to Bury Knowle Park at the weekend, and Beirut, the new Lebanese restaurant on Osler Road where Jacob’s Brasserie used to be is expected to open on Monday (today).


Headington Action is behind a scheme to install ‘talking benches’ in Headington to give brief soundbites of local history. Weirdly, @TheOxfordMail thinks push-buttons and wind-up power is ‘futuristic’.

Plans for a two storey extension to the A&E department at the JR Hospital have been announced. The extension will add eight new A&E treatment bays, a paediatric resuscitation room, CT scanner, nurse base and improved bereavement rooms. The closing date for comments on the planning application (ref. 18/01851/FUL) is 27 August. [Update 31/07/2018: the planning application has disappeared from the Council’s website.]

Police carried out a drugs raid in Cecil Sharp Place on Saturday. Thanks to the local tweeps who identified the location.

I recommend the current exhibition in the Glass Tank at @Oxford_Brookes. It’s an exhibition of modern and contemporary wood block prints from Heilongjian Province in the north-east of China, and is sponsored by the Confucius Institute at Brookes @OBUConfucius. It’s open to the public, free, and runs from 0900 – 1700 Monday – Friday until 31 August.



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

  • No to racism in Bury Knowle Park – Community walk

Headington Headlines #377

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 16 – 22 July .

The LibDems held Headington Ward in the by-election on Thursday. The new councillor is Stef Garden @SGarden13. Full results here.

Here’s a feel-good story in @TheOxfordMail about the new mural in the Marston underpass.

A man was racially abused and assaulted in Bury Knowle Park at about 7pm on Saturday 14 July. Police are appealing for witnesses.

Responding to this incident, a group called Oxford Stand Up to Racism with support from Oxford Labour organised a rally in Bury Knowle Park on Sunday. Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds and local councillor Martyn Rush gave speeches.

The Further Education Commission, an arm of the Dept for Education, has issued a critical report on Ruskin College. A history of poor financial performance over the past several years coupled with shortcomings in administrative staffing and systems has led to the possibility of Ruskin having to merge with another educational institution. The FEC’s report makes several recommendations which need to be implemented urgently.

Also from Ruskin College, my favourite Headington-related tweet this week:

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

  • No to racism in Bury Knowle Park – Community walk
  • Bath buildings Headington

Headington Ward By-election Results

TonyOX3

Here are the results of the by-election in Headington Ward following the resignation of LibDem Councillor Ruth Wilkinson.

Headington Ward by-election results
Click image for full-size version

Anyone anticipating a surprise will be disappointed. Although turnout was  a little lower than in May (36.6% compared with 42.4%) the parties’ shares of the vote were almost identical, although the Conservative’s Georgina Gibbs did manage to take a 2% share off the Green’s non-campaigning paper candidate Ray Hitchins. A strong case of déja vu!