Headington Heatpipe #3

TonyOX3

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has released much more detail today about the ‘heatpipe’ scheme, which they call the Hospital Energy Project.

I was able to go to the press conference, and came away with two main thoughts. Firstly that the overall project is much bigger than I, and I’m sure anyone else outside the Trust, realised, as we have so far only really been aware of the heat pipe. I think they have a very good story to tell about this. Secondly, I think the disruption to local roads is going to be worse, possibly a lot worse, that people realise.

I will have another chance to discuss the project with the Trust later this week, and plan to write a fuller report after that. Meanwhile, you can find information on their website (here and here) and by following their new twitter account @OUH_Estates. I expect the e-democracy forum will attract some comments too!

Headington Headlines #242

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 23 – 29 November.

The Headington Heatpipe story broke in the local mainstream media on Monday, with coverage on BBC Radio Oxford and in The Oxford Mail. The reports mainly focussed on the unexplained refusal of the OUH NHS Hospitals Trust to do anything to allay residents’ anxieties. It was also a hot topic at Tuesday’s Ward Focus meeting. The Trust is holding an invitation-only briefing for the media and local Councillors today (Monday): expect more details soon.

After more than a month, the County Council finally got a court order on Monday requiring the travellers camped on the Marston Ferry Road cycle track to leave. They left on Tuesday.

Confusion still reigns over the shop being prepared next to the Post Office, the old BBB Stores. One rumour says it will be an off-licence, but no licence application has been made. A competing rumour is that it will be a halal butcher. Place your bets!

Residents in Wood Farm and Lye Valley have been canvassed about whether they would support a new Aldi store on the site of Curry’s (adjacent to Homebase) on Horspath Driftway.

Photographer @Howard_S from Old Headington won @BBOWT‘s Photographer of the Month accolade for this fern photo.

An accident involving a car and a pedestrian caused long delays on the city-bound A40 on Wednesday evening. The female pedestrian had head and arm injuries and was taken to the JR. Her condition was said to be ‘not serious’.

The Black Boy in Old Headington @TheBlackBoyFood wants to branch out. They’ve submitted a planning application (ref: 15/03259/FUL) to convert the first floor of the gastropub to provide five guest bedrooms and a flat.

The Crown and Thistle pub on Old Road, which has been closed since 2012, has been put on the market for leasing at £22,500 p.a. The Oxford Mail article speculates that this may be a move designed to demonstrate it is not commercially viable as a pub in the hope it will then be easier to get permission to develop the site for other uses, probably housing.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

— Headington Plan (@HeadingtonPlan) November 28, 2015

Spare a thought for @HeadingtonNews, the long-suffering moderator of the e-democracy forum which this week has seen an outpouring of claim and counter-claim about the Barton Park – Northway access link. Threads on the forum have become so tangled it’s impossible to follow a coherent line. The problem’s not helped by an East Oxford rumour being sneaked in under cover of Northway.

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

  • Housing
  • Travellers along the Marston Ferry cycle track
  • Northway Green access road
  • Jack Russell Pub
  • Marston
  • Councillors opinions outweighing what is right……
  • Foxwell Drive
  • Photo of demolition squad in Foxwell Drive
  • saving Foxwell Drive Green space
  • New Aldi store could replace Currys off Horspath Driftway in Oxford
  • Jaya’s Deli – new shop on London Road where Turkish grocery used to be
  • Local concert this evening!
  • Supporting something for the greater good for one side, is not good if at the expense of the other side!
  • EOCC / Foxwell Drive

Headington Heatpipe #2

TonyOX3

Since I wrote a fortnight ago about the heat pipe being installed between the JR and the Churchill, work has been going ahead and a bit more information has come to light. Here’s what the work in the JR grounds looked like last week.

As you see, the trench is about a metre deep here. Obviously the depth will vary once the digging starts in the public roads depending on how the pipe negotiates its way over, under or round all the other services buried there.

We now know that the two pipes (a flow and a return) are 150mm steel pipes with a factory fitted insulated coating taking the overall diameter of the pipes to 280mm (about a foot).

The heat pipe link is part of a larger scheme costing £14.8m, funded from a Government grant [correction 1/12/15 – the funding is not from a Government grant, it’s from somethig called the Carbon & Energy Fund which has access to commercial loans for “green” projects], designed to upgrade the heating and hot water systems at the two hospitals. The scheme is designed to save energy, reduce reliance on the national grid especially at times of high demand in the winter, and to reduce carbon emissions. [Source: OUH NHS Trust Board meeting, September 2015].

These are worthy objectives, which makes it even more of a shame that the Trust has chosen not to talk to the people who live in or near the areas affected – Sandfield, Latimer, All Saints and Stapleton Roads – or the general public in these parts of Headington. There are understandable concerns about access to properties, disruption, parking, possible road closures, congestion and so on. The lower end of Sandfield Road is already an obstacle course used by residents, rat-runners avoiding the Headley Way traffic lights and people going to Beech Road, the Manor Hospital and the Beech Road flats. The corner of Latimer and London Roads may be a building site at the same time as the pipe is being laid there – or maybe not. The trouble is no-one knows.

I expect these issues can be resolved, but while the Trust remains silent rumours will circulate and anxiety will grow. The story was covered on BBC Radio Oxford this morning, where the presenter said they had asked the Trust for a response but they had declined to appear on the programme. An announcement has apparently been promised, and possibly some kind of exhibition, but why this didn’t happen two months ago is a mystery.