Headington Headlines #402

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

South Oxfordshire District Council’s latest draft of their local plan identifies Green Belt land at Wick Farm and between Barton and Elsfield as possible sites for building new homes. They have announced a series of drop-in consultation exhibitions, including one at the OXSRAD sports centre in Marsh Lane, Marston on 11 February.

Local environmentalist and Friend of Lye Valley Judy Webb @judyweb32049878 was quoted by Oxford West & Abingdon MP @LaylaMoran in an adjournment debate in the House of Commons. The debate was about the Expressway.

Police are appealing for information about a burglary in Gathorne Road on Friday 11 January.

After confusion over their booking for the day after Boxing Day, a family threatened pub and upmarket foodie resort The Black Boy that they would post bad reviews in local papers.

It came as no surprise that both Oxford’s MPs voted against the government’s EU Withdrawal Bill on Tuesday.

The latest on the Headington Door Knocker story – he’s been jailed for theft as well as breaking the terms of his earlier suspended sentence. He stole two bags from Brookes’ sports centre and meat from Waitrose.

There were no new posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week.

Headington Headlines #392

Your weekly round-up of local news for 29 October – 4 November.

Police are appealing for information after two burglaries and an attempted third in Merewood Avenus, Sandhills, the weekend before last (27/28 October).

@ProperEllipsis reports that The Somerset in Marston is going to re-open.

The East Area Planning Committee, which meets on Wednesday this week, is being recommended to give planning permission to the expansion of the A&E facilities at the JR Hospital.

The same meeting is being recommended to refuse an application by developers Frontier (they of Beech House notoriety) for permission to build a 55-bed care home at 1 Pullens Lane. The relevant report is 36 pages long, but I’ve extracted the ‘Reasons for Refusal’ section which you can read here.

Construction of the new Ronald McDonald House at the JR will start in December. It will provide free accommodation for families whose children are undergoing treatment at Oxford Children’s Hospital. It is expected to open in summer 2020.

Brookes Restaurant @OBRestaurant was awarded a five-star rating in its latest ‘Scores on the Doors’ food hygiene inspection.

The Oxford Mail published a gallery of old black-and-white photographs of life in Headington.

There were no new posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week.

Headington Headlines #389

Your weekly round-up of local news for 8 – 14 October .

The city council is expected to award a contract next week for a total of seven bungalows to be built at two sites – Mortimer Drive in Marston and Bracegirdle Road in Wood Farm. They will be owned by the council and let at social rents. The new homes will be built off-site (I think we used to call these ‘prefabs’ a long time ago) by a specialist contractor. The Council’s report says they “will be the first delivered in Oxford under the recently signed housing deal attracting £55,000 per home, greatly reducing the cost of their provision to the Council”.

The BP petrol station at the Headley Way/Cherwell Drive junction was out of petrol for several days. Delivery trucks couldn’t get onto the site because of Access to Headington works. Ironic, some might say.

There was a distraction burglary, or attempted burglary, on Friday last week (5 October) in Mattock Close. Three men got entry after one said he was from ‘the water board’.

A memorial bench to ‘one of the best-known Irishmen in Oxford’, Billy Munnelly, has been installed in the Croft Road recreation ground in Marston.

The planning application to build two houses fronting onto Woodlands Road (see HH364) has been refused. The Notice of Refusal sets out the reasons – basically trying to squeeze too much into an unsuitable site.

There were no new posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week.