Headington Headlines #120

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 8 – 14 July.

According to @TheOxfordMail some local residents are annoyed about the amount of green space developers must leave when they build houses on the Barton Road cricket site. They think there’s too much.

A woman was taken to hospital with serious burns when a house caught fire in Bernwood Road, Barton on Wednesday. It is thought the fire started in an adjacent caravan and spread to the house. Police are investigating the cause.

Sainsbury’s has applied for an alcohol licence for the shop which at the moment is still Peacocks.

The Fairview Inn on Glebelands (between the Churchill and The Slade) has been designated an Asset of Community Value by @OxfordCity. As I reported in May the pub is in the process of being sold to an undisclosed buyer after being advertised as “having alternative use potential”. Asset of Community Value status gives locals a six-month hold on the sale to give them a chance to come up with the funds to buy the property themselves. See the Save the Fairview website for the latest information.

A woman had her handbag stolen in Bury Knowle Park on Thursday 4 July. Police are appealing for information.

I’m told a nail bar has opened in the shop that was Oxford Design (London Road, near Dominos) on Sunday.

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

  • Plans for the new Barton estate now available
  • Headington Neighbourbood Plan and the Wood Farm area
  • New Headington bus routes
  • Disabled access to Headington Library
  • Noise in Quarry
  • School transport in and around Headington
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 #119

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 1 – 7 July.

Work on the long awaited Marston cycle track from Edgeway Road to Fairfax Avenue is due to start on 29th July.

The last of the currently-planned @Oxonbike stations opened at Oxford Brookes Gipsy Lane site on Monday. See my blog post for exact locations, pictures and links.

As expected, Crown News morphed into W H Smith Local. @HeadingtonNews has the history of the shop, which has been a W H Smith before.

Even more of an institution, Café Noir closed this week after 24 years’ trading. The owners cite rent increases as the last straw.

The planning application for housing on the Barton Road cricket ground was approved.

The County Council’s latest proposals for new bus lane arrangements at the Headington roundabout & London Road are out for consultation. There’s a drop-in session with County officers on 18 July, 4 to 8pm at Quarry Village Hall. More details in this blog post.

More consultation, this time on County proposals to introduce a £2 charge at Thornhill and Water Eaton P&R for stays up to 11 hours. The 11-24hr charge is set to go up from £3 to £4 with corresponding increases for even longer stays. The consultation period runs to 31 July.

The @TheMasonsArmsHQ launched their new website.

Paralympic gold medal winner rowing cox Lily van den Broecke is an ex-pupil of @HeadingtonSchool, which gives me an excuse to report the repainting of her gold post-box even though it’s not in OX3.

A complaint about a pot-bellied pig made at Risinghurst and Sandhills parish council will be referred to the City’s Environmental Services.

The local branch of CAMRA is pressing for a new pub to be included as part of the Barton West development.

A quiet week on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week with only two active topics:

  • Plans for resurfacing of London Road between Bury Knowle and Green Road roundabout
  • Café Noir
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.

Oxonbike bike hire scheme

TonyOX3

The Oxonbike hire scheme went live on 19 June, at first with six and now seven locations in and around Headington. The ‘home base’ is Thornhill Park & Ride and the other stations are at what are thought to be the most heavily used local destinations – the hospitals, Oxford Brookes’ Gipsy Lane and Oxford University’s Old Road campuses and Headington shops.

The scheme aims to provide a clean, green alternative to car use, helping to reduce congestion and the load on some public transport routes and providing a convenient way of getting to some locations not well-served by public transport from the park & ride. If the scheme is a success it will be expanded to other sites including locations in the City Centre.

It only costs a one-off fee of £1 to register to use the bikes and as long as you dock your bike at one of the hire stations within half an hour of hiring it’s free. Longer hires incur a charge which increases rapidly with time. While you have the bike you can park it anywhere (locked of course!) as the lock is portable, but your hire period only ends when you lock it at a hire station. In fact you can leave it close by – the bikes have an on-board solar powered GPS tracker which will confirm whether it counts as being at a station or not. This is helpful because you’re very likely to find other bikes using the same racks and taking up space.


Solar-powered handlebar console


There are instructions at each hire station.

Most of the stations are easy to track down once you know where to look (the one at the JR is the least obvious), but to help you out and reassure the nervous I’ve put them all on this map. You’ll need to view it full size and it’s worth viewing it in satellite mode too to get a better idea of the sites. Click on a marker for a brief description and a photograph (click the photo to enlarge).

For all the other information you need, and to register, go to the Oxonbike website. You can also follow @Oxonbike on twitter.

Good luck!