Headington Headlines #383

Your weekly round-up of local news for 27 August – 2 September

The planning application for the proposed new Swan School in Marston goes to the East Area Planning Committee on Wednesday (Agenda item 3). Agenda item 4 covers the demolition of the Meadowbrook Buidings and provision of temporary buildings. Under item 3 the report says “Officers consider that the proposal would accord with the policies of the development plan when considered as a whole and the range of material considerations, on balance, support the grant of planning permission.”

The 17th Headington Beer Festival is on next weekend @TheMasonsArmsHQ. It starts on friday 7 September.

The Mosaics/Barton Park development continues to make progress. I’m told all the first town houses have been sold. There’s a new boardwalk parallel to the Bayswater Brook, though you can’t see the water from it, and a small playground for small children beside the flood storage pond.

Barton Park play area
Barton Park play area

Rerouted buses using the Saxon Way entrance to the JR to avoid Access to Headington roadworks are being blamed for the road surface breaking up.

With the City Council in the news for contracting the letting of an upmarket apartment in the Town Hall to a local estate agent who in turn advertise it on AirBnB, @HeadingtonNews has been looking at AirBnB properties in Headington.

Police are monitoring South Park and Headington Hill Park in an effort to clamp down on drug dealing. They ask anyone who sees anything suspicious to contact them by phoning 101.

The Marston cycle path will be ‘rejuvenated’ this week. The County Council says “The resurfacing will take place in the week starting 3 September, and the path will be completely closed on 6 and 7 September. There will be alternative routes for cyclists during this short closure period.”

Marston’s Independent Councillor Mick Haines has published the second book in his ongoing biography series. I understand it’s currently only available via his daughter’s facebook page; I haven’t got a link for that. [Update 1700 03/09/2018 I now know that Mick’s new book is not part of his autobiography. It is “a fictional story based in Oxford in the 1950s and 60s”. Three pounds of the five pound cost is being donated to Cancer Research.]

My favourite Headington-related tweet:

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

Headington Headlines #374

Your weekly round-up of local news for 25 June – 1 July .

The full list of candidates for the Headington Ward by-election on 19 July has been published. The candidates are:

  • Stef Garden (LibDem)
  • Georgina Gibbs (Con)
  • Ray Hitchins (Green)
  • Simon Ottino (Lab)

The local free magazine Headington Monthly is changing ownership. Nick Alnatt has handed over to Steven Pilcher; Steven has been working with Nick on the magazine for a while.

The Green Road closure for sewer repairs which had made access to and from Risinghurst difficult was lifted on Thursday.

The new @Oxford_PickMeUp bus-on-demand service is up and running in the Eastern Arc of Oxford. @ianpinnell tried it and gives it the thumbs up – here’s his review.

There was a burglary at Finders Keepers on London Road on Tuesday. Two people got in through an insecure back door at 4.30pm and stole two handbags. The got away in a black Peugeot 206 which was parked on Old High Street. Police are appealing for witnesses and information.

People who use the park and playground at the bottom of Sandfield Road are upset about the number of cigarette butts dropped inside the park gates which lead from the grounds of the JR. It seems the warm dry weather is encouraging more smokers to get out into the open for a cigarette break.

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

Headington Headlines #372

Your weekly round-up of local news for 11 – 17 June.

File under “Oh no, not more roadworks!” A collapsed sewer in Green Road means the road will be closed for about three weeks while Thames Water carry out the necessary repairs.

Oxford Bus Company’s ‘Pick-me-Up’ service starts on Monday 25 June. It will operate within the area shown on the map below. Within the zone a minibus picks you up more-or-less anywhere and takes you to within a short walk of your chosen destination for a fixed fare of £2.50. You’ll need the app on your smartphone. Full details here pickmeup.oxfordbus.co.uk/.

Pick-me-Up operating area
Pick-me-Up operating area

The collapse of South Oxfordshire’s local plan means the choice of housing sites in the district has gone back to square one. Land at Wick Farm and on the Christ Church College land next to Barton Park, both of which had been rejected in the original proposals, is now back on the agenda. Watch this space for updates.

Oxford Civic Society added its voice to the chorus of objections to the siting of the proposed Swan School at the Harlow Centre in Marston. “A quart into a pint pot”; “based on expediency”; “the site is far too small”; traffic managemnt measures, especially for cycles, are “implausible”.

So far I’ve had two leaflets through my letterbox promoting LibDem Stefanie (‘Stef’) Garden @SGarden13 as Ruth Wilkinson’s replacement. Nothing yet from declared Conservative and Labour candidates, and I don’t know if the Green’s will be fielding anyone. The poll is on Thursday 19 July.

The Costa Coffee drive-thru [sic] at the Horspath Driftway trading estate (where Aldi is) officially opens today, although informed sources say it’s been open for quite a few days.

My favourite Headington-related tweet:

Once again there were no new posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week: