Life in and around Headington & OX3 (mostly), and Oxford (occasionally)
"To every complex problem there is a simple solution, startling in its simplicity, piercing in its clarity, and hopelessly and completely wrong" - Gore Vidal.
Work in the public realm on the heatpipe project, or hospital energy project to give it its proper name, is about to start again. It’s been confirmed that work on the JR Temporary Car Park will begin on 14 November and work on the residential roads on 28 November. In a letter distributed to Highfield residents the Trust says:
[Work will] begin on 28th November 2016 and run until 13th April 2017 in Highfield and finish 19th May on Churchill Drive. Vital Energi is now using three dig teams, which has halved the original schedule. Vital Energi and Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) are also working very closely with Access to Headington and the Winvic developers to ensure that all our works are coordinated. On 28th November, work will commence at two locations: All Saints Road junction with Barrington Close onto Lime Walk (where there will be temporary three-way traffic lights) and from Latimer Road down to the junction with Latimer Grange.
You can read the letter to residents here. It will be distributed more widely later this month.
Your weekly round-up of local news for 24 – 30 October.
The planning application for the Stansfeld site is now on the Council’s website (ref: 16/02618/FUL). Comments are open until Saturday 19 November.
Headington has one less charity shop. The CLIC Sargent shop next to HSBC has closed and the premises are up for lease.
@TheAmpRevival are having an open Community Meeting this coming Friday 4 November at 6.30pm in the Risinghurst Community Centre where they are re-launching their share offer. Also don’t forget @TiagosFishChips fish ‘n’ chips van is outside The Amp weekly every Tuesday from 5 – 9pm.
The British Legion, whose members used to stand at the entrance to the JR on Headley Way to pay their respects to soldiers being repatriated after dying in Afghanistan, planted 456 daffodils at the corner on Friday. That’s one for each fatality in that campaign. The corner is informally known as the “Final Turn”.
Oxford University have agreed to set aside their plan to divert the Science Transit Shuttle buses via Lime Walk and Stapleton Road. However, they say they will keep their options open in case Warneford Road/Old Road congestion gets worse.
I posted an article giving more details of a planning application to build a mix of apartments, parking spaces and a new access road on land next to the C S Lewis nature reserve in Risinghurst which has attracted local opposition. See the application and comments on the Council’s website (ref: 16/02549/FUL). The comments are mostly, but not exclusively, against the development. There is also a petition asking the Council to reject the application. The application is open for comments until Monday 14 November.
Battle lines are being drawn up over a planning application in Risinghurst. The application (ref: 16/02549/FUL on the Council’s website) is to build
“4 x 3-bed, 3 x 2-bed and 2 x 1-bed apartments. Provision of amenity space, 22No. car parking spaces and cycle store. Formation of new vehicular access from Lewis Close. [on] Land Adjacent 4 Wychwood Lane Oxford OX3 8HG”
People are concerned about issues of access, traffic and more, but perhaps the most emotional reason for local opposition is that the site is right against the boundary of the C S Lewis Nature Reserve, a space that is much-loved, even treasured, by local people and admirers of the author and his works from all over the world. The proposed access road to the buildings starts at the top of Lewis Close directly opposite The Kilns, Lewis’s house in Risinghurst.
Site plan for the development
The Planning statement says “The proposal is made on behalf of the Wychwood Foundation, a charitable Trust.” This is not strictly true, as the Wychwood Trust does not exist as any recognised entity. It is not a registered charity or a limited company. However, among the planning documents on the Council’s website is a statement by the Foundation over the signatures of Jonathan and Sarah Beecher of 4 Wychwood Lane – the same address as the planning application so presumably the owners of some or all of the land. In their introduction they say “The aim of the Wychwood Foundation is to look after people who are vulnerable, and to give them a sense of happy and supportive community.”
Despite not being a registered charity the applicants are asking for the statutory exemption available to charities from the CIL contributions developers normally have to pay. The CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) is the route by which local councils get money for providing infrastructure services (drainage, street lighting, refuse collection etc.) I have no experience of dealing with the Charity Commission, but it seems very unlikely that the Beechers will be able to satisfy the Charity Commissioners of their genuine charitable purposes and achieve registration in time for their application to be dealt with.
I notice that a Jonathan Beecher is the Director of Beecher Acoustics Ltd, whose registered address is 1 Quarry High Street. This company says its Nature of Business is “Manufacture of musical instruments, Repair of other equipment, Buying and selling of own real estate” – that last phrase seeming to cover the development in question if it is indeed the same person. The architectural drawings were drawn up by another Beecher based in Edinburgh.
The elevation drawings show a terrace of three storey buildings with steeply pitched roofs accommodating the top storey. The buildings are partially sunk below the ground level of part of the site. I’m sure the plans will be examined in great detail by all those who fear the impact the development may have on the local scene.
East and south elevationsNorth and West elevations
Footnote: I asked the applicants’ agents for a comment on the charitable status they are claiming on behalf of their clients but have had no reply. Documents shown or linked here were downloaded from the Council website on 25 and 27 October 2016 and archived on my website. Beecher Acoustics information from Companies House website 25 October 2016.
