TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 26 March – 1 April.

Southern Health NHS Trust has been fined £2m for its failings over the deaths of Connor Sparrowhawk and Teresa Colvin.

Buses on routes 13/X13 and U5 had to be diverted to avoid overnight roadworks on Marston Road. The road closure seemed to take people by surprise, although yellow warning signs had been on show for some time.

The planning application for 95 student bedrooms at Ruskin College (see HH337) and the separate application for a further 12 beds at Stoke House go to east Area Planning Committee on Wednesday with recommendations for approval.

@clumpytree reported another failure by Oxfordshire CC to have cyclists in mind when they work on the roads. The subsequent thread got picked up and reported quite widely, prompting a promise from the county that it would be fixed ‘soon’. Original tweet here.

In other roadworks news, the London Road crossing that is being built at the end of Osler Road has been criticised for not having lights or any kind of pedestrian priority. @RuthWilk reports the explanation given at the last Headington Ward focus meeting. Without knowing a lot more about the technical work behind the decision it’s not possible to know whether ‘Health & Safety’ and the interests of the bus companies have been given priority over pedestrian safety and convenience. In a local shopping and commercial centre movement on foot ought to be safe, quick and simple; road traffic should be controlled accordingly.

A court has ruled that the charges Oxford City planned to levy on residents of the city’s five tower blocks woud be ‘excessive’, and has reduced the amounts drastically. For Plowman Tower in Northway the council was going to charge each property £48,766.75; the reduced figure is £2,640.85. In Foresters Tower in Wood Farm the charge has dropped from £49,116.62 to £2,642.77.

Marston Saints Football Club has had to abandon one of their pitches because of damage by moles, dog fouling and dogs digging in the soil. The pitch is off Horseman Close, Old Marston.

St Andrew’s School @sasastandrews1 has been awarded £2000 from the Tesco ‘Bags of Help’ scheme. The money will go on new curtains for the hall.

No local news is complete without a toilet story (who remembers “Clochemerle”)? The e-democracy forum has a thread which started as a complaint about closed facilities at the Bury Knowle Park toilets and then morphed into a series of exchanges on the Labour-controlled city council’s record in providing sport and leisure facilities. The good news is that the toilets are being repaired.

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

• Bury knowle park, stealth closure/reduction of facilities