buses

Headington Headlines #214

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 11 – 17 May.

On Monday, work started on the site of the new access junction for @BartonPark_ with lane restrictions on the Headington-bound side of the Northern Bypass (A40). On Wednesday there was an official groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of the development proper.

If you missed the presentation of the developers’ latest plans for Phase 1 last Monday and Saturday, there’s a final chance on Tuesday from 4 – 7 pm at the Northway Community Centre in Dora Carr Close. When they submit their formal planning application there will be the usual opportuntiy to comment via the City Council. They have distributed a flyer with some general information about the development.

The Headington Shark featured on Channel 4 on Monday, in a programme called “Damned Designs – Don’t Demolish My Home.

Oxforshire County Council announced it intends to cut £2.3m from the bus services it supports. The Dial-a-Ride service is to go, but the other services to be affected have not yet been announced. The occasional H1 and H2 services which connect Headington shops with Old Marston, Sandhills and Quarry are possible targets, and the 280 service to Aylesbury might also be a victim. For anyone unfamiliar with the H1 and H2 routes, this is when they run.

Starting on Bank Holiday Monday (25 May), @CreationTheatre are running “Put On A Play In A Week” drama workshops for 6 – 8 and 9 – 12 year-olds in Headington Baptist Church.

The much anticipated closure of Headington Post Office in its present home and a move to the Co-op has been confirmed, with the Post Office opening a consultation on the proposal. Within the consultation it says the new Office will be fully open all day Saturday and offer “selected services” late and on Sundays.

Is St Leonard’s Road car park Headington’s version of the Bermuda Triangle? Weird happenings have been reported.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

At least three Headington people received Certificates of Honour at Town Hall yesterday: Liz Grosvenor, Carolyn Gulliver, and Marie Vickers

— Headington News (@HeadingtonNews) May 12, 2015

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

  • Petitioning Oxfordshire County Council for Quarry Hollow Traffic Calming and pedestrian safety
  • Headington Post Office
  • Access road from Barton to Northway Estate
  • Barton Park development
  • Revised Proposals for the Development of Holy Trinity, Headington Quarry
  • Electronic issues in St Leonard’s Road Car Park
  • Here we go – scapegoating again.
  • School Places
  • Cafe Culture
  • Lye Valley
I 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.

Headington Headlines #182

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 22 – 28 September.

The first AGM of the @HeadingtonPlan and Forum is on Wednesday 1 October at 7.30pm in the Baptist Church, Old High Street.

A burst 24″ water main (that’s a big one) overnight on Monday in Normandy Crescent (south of Horspath Road) caused significant flooding and a loss of service to some people in OX3 on Tuesday morning.

The man arrested on suspicion of raping a woman in her flat on Roosevelt Drive last Saturday appeared in court on Tuesday charged with the rape and several other offences in the area. He was remanded in custody to appear in Oxford Crown Court in October.

As if ‘troubled retail giant’ Tesco didn’t have enough to worry about, they’ve upset independent Marston Councillor Mick Haines (again) by blocking a pathway (again) with a hoarding at the site of the old Friar pub on Marston Road. The hoarding has now been moved back from the path – again.

As of today there is no longer a City 23 bus service. It used to run up the London Road then to the JR via Headley Way.

A motocyclist was seriously injured and taken to the JR after a collision with a car in Marsh Lane on Saturday morning.

As of Saturday the @CultivateOxford veg van will be outside Barclays bank every Saturday from 1030 to 1400, a slight reduction in hours.

It was the Barton Young Achievers’ Dinner on Saturday, organised by @ThriveBarton. The Thrive team also have a good news story about falling levels of anti-social behaviour in Barton.

It’s been another week without any active posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum.

I 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.

Headington Headlines #180

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 8 – 14 September.

Never mind Scotland, if you live in Quarry & Risinghurst don’t forget to vote in the City by-election on Thursday (18th). The five candidates are listed here.

If you normally catch the 8 or 9 bus in Castle Street you need to know that the stop has been temporarily moved to St Aldates, near Pembroke College. It’s to do with the closure of Queen Street for emergency sewer works.

Oxford City Council designated – i.e. approved – the Headington Neighbourhood Forum and in effect gave the go-ahead for them to draw up a Neighbourhood Plan. A consultation will start soon.

@OxfordBusCo is starting a new service, the City 600, on Monday 29 September. It will run from Peartree P&R via the Woodstock Road, Moreton Road, Banbury Road, Parks Road, South Parks Road, Longwall Street, The Plain, Headington Hill and Headley Way to the JR Hospital. It will run every half hour but only during the main part of the working day (roughly 9 – 5) on Mondays to Fridays.

In other bus news the BrookesBus U4 service starts today linking the JR and Blackbird Leys via Gipsy Lane and Hollow Way. But unless I’m reading the timetable wrong there are only two buses one way in the early morning and three back again in the evening.

@Headingtonnews reports that the ex-Londis is to become a Café Nero.

@OllieMars30 reported that the Little Waitrose at the Shell petrol station was closed by Trading Standards late on Saturday afternoon.

The lift giving disabled access to Headington Library was finally commissioned on Friday.

At the time of writing there had been no active posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week.

I 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.