Barton Park

Headington Headlines #332

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 21 – 27 August.

Brian Aldiss
Brian Aldiss

Science fiction author and Old Headington resident Brian Aldiss OBE died last week a day after his 92nd birthday. For a full account of his links to Headington see the article about him on headington.org.uk.

There was confusion when electoral registration forms were delivered with return addresses and online registration links to Haringey instead of, or as well as, Oxford.

Friends of Lye Valley @friendlyevalley submitted their comments on relevant sections of the City’s Preferred Options. The report is not yet on their website but you can see a copy here.

Dunstan Park (at the top of Foxwell Drive/Dunstan Road) is shown in the City’s Preferred Options as ‘For further investigation’ – ‘Housing’. Oxford Civic Society added a supplement specifically about Dunstan Park to their comprehensive comments on the Preferred Options consultation. They say it should be re-classified as a ‘Rejected Site’ in the ‘Green Infrastructure’ category (‘Rejected’, i.e. not considered for development).

In March last year a scheme was announced (see “Health and Fitness in Barton Park“) under which NHS money is going to be used to encourage residents of the new development to lead healthy lifestyles. Now The Oxford Mail reports one of the first initiatives may be to give people discounts on their grocery bills if they lead ‘healthy’ lifestyles. The article also mentions ‘free bicycles’. Whether it will really happen remains to be seen. Also I can’t help thinking that the money could be better spent on health projects in Barton rather than in glossy Barton Park/Mosaicland.

Speaking of which, Mosaics/Barton Park launches its marketing campaign in two weeks’ time on 9 – 10 September. We’re promised an ‘interactive 3-D model’ of the development.

The latest planning application on 29 Old High Street was refused on Thursday.

My favourite Headington-related tweet:

Big Narstie is a well-known grime artist. Here he is adressing the Oxford Union in May this year, supporting the motion that “Kanye (West) is more relevant than Shakespeare”.

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

  • Barton Park Prices

Headington Headlines #331

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 14 – 20 August.

It’s been a long saga, but the Headington Heatpipe has been turned on.

However, the whole system is not yet fully operational; the CHP (combined heat and power) engine isn’t yet commissioned.

There’s work going on at the ex-pet shop on the corner of Stile Road (opposite the Co-op), but as yet no information about what will be there. On the other side of the road the promised “Grill House Opening Soon” seems to have been on hold for the past month or more.

The shop that was last Morrison’s is to be a branch of franchise operation Heavenly Desserts.

@LeonardoLoredan has been mounting a one-man twitter campaign pointing out continuous breaches of agreed working conditions by Frontier Estates and their contractors Winvic on the Beech House site, Latimer Road.

The Oxford Mail reports that Independent Councillor for Marston, Mick Haines, is raising concerns about sewage flooding from the Barton Park development once people start moving in to the new properties. Provision of foul drainage capacity is a matter for Thames Water, and was a ‘reserved matter’ in the original outline planning permission for what was then West Barton. A Foul Water Strategy was prepared and the East Area Planning Committee approved the corresponding Condition 26 on 11 February 2015. Whether Cllr Haines is crying wolf remains to be seen, but I think I can hear a bandwagon approaching.

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

  • Local Plan 2036
  • Barton Park Prices

Headington Headlines #327

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 17 – 23 July.

Old Marston Parish Council @OldMarstonPC‘s store was broken into and everything was stolen.

A man’s body was found in a field off the Marston Ferry Road on Tuesday morning. The death is being treated by police as ‘unexplained but not suspicious’.

Police are warning of a ‘crime spree’ of burglaries and break-ins affecting Headington and Marston as well as other parts of Oxford. In one incident a CBE medal was stolen in a break-in at a house in Old Road (The Oxford Mail says ‘Old London Road’).

Headington residents are ‘the locals’ as far as the marketing pitch for @BartonPark_ (aka @Mosaics_Oxford, aka “Don’t mention Barton“) is concerned. The picture shows the previous incarnation of Jacobs Brasserie as Jacobs Chop House.

The Headington Neighbourhood Plan passed its final hurdle when it was approved by the City’s full council on Thursday.

The Vicky Arms has applied for a licence to serve drinks from an outside bar.

My favourite Headington-related tweet:

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

  • New Chinese Language Courses
  • Headington Ward Focus meetings