Headington Headlines #123

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 29 July – 4 August.

Residents in John Snow Place, which was one of the places targeted in a police drugs raid last week, have set up a neighbourhood watch scheme.

In a road safety check in Headington on Tuesday morning @tvprp stopped a driver who was using a mobile phone and found he had no licence or insurance – and promptly seized the car.

Quarry & Risinghurst Labour Councillors @delia_sinclair and @LaurencepBaxter have a facebook page.

A company called “Headington Food and Wine” has applied for an alcohol licence at the shop that trades as Keraleeyam Stores on the London Road. It’s not clear if it’s the same operation or not. The application is for off-sales only, from 0800 to 2130.

Oxfordshire County Council announced their plans for road improvements to cater for the new Barton West development. The most significant changes will be the new bus and cycle crossing of the A40 and replacment of the double mini roundabouts on Cherwell Drive with traffic lights.

[Updated 11:30 05/08/2013] @Robin_Peake, part of the @ThriveBarton team, is exploring the possibility of setting up a credit union in Barton. He tells me this is a personal initiative, not a ThriveBarton project.

Table-tennis promotional organisation Ping! @ping_tweets put on an everyone-join-in table-tennis event in Bury Knowle Park on Saturday. [Ping! is produced by Sing London and is delivered in partnership with the English Table Tennis Association and supported by National Lottery investment from Sport England.]

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

  • Plans for the new Barton estate now available
  • Supermarkets in Headington
  • Environmental noise – new Sainsbury store
  • Workshop next week
  • New all weather Cricket Pitch in Margaret Road playing field
  • Disorderly conduct?
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.

Drinking in the Park

Thames Valley Police suggest that they can use powers under Section 27 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 to move people on when they are creating or are likely to create an alcohol-related crime or disorder in a public place. They also have powers to confiscate alcohol from any under-age drinkers.

As I reported earlier, the City’s Parks Byelaws don’t say anything about the consumption of alcohol. So it looks like a picnic and a bottle of wine is OK as long as everyone behaves themselves!