Life in and around Headington & OX3 (mostly), and Oxford (occasionally)
"To every complex problem there is a simple solution, startling in its simplicity, piercing in its clarity, and hopelessly and completely wrong" - Gore Vidal.
Your weekly round-up of local news for 23 – 29 April.
And so it (almost) finally begins! The much-delayed Access to Headington work on Headley Way and Cherwell Drive will start on 14 May. The work is forecast to run until March 2019. Here’s what the Oxford Mail had to say about it. Some people are upset that several trees have been felled in preparation for the work. The County Council has said they will replace all the trees that will have to go, but of course any new planting will take some years to grow to youthful maturity.
Congratulations to @TheMasonsArmsHQ. They are champions of the Oxford & District Bar Billiards League Division One.
Well done too to La Croissanterie café on Old High Street, which earned a maximum score of 5 in the latest Scores on the Doors hygiene ratings.
It’s now 18 months since a controvesial planning application was submitted to build housing in Wychwood Lane, Risinghurst, adjacent to the C S Lewis Nature Reserve. Nothing seems to have happened since; the papers for the last East Area Planning Committee show it as “still awaiting additional information”.
Your weekly round-up of local news for 30 January – 5 February.
The planning application for the redevelopment of the Stansfeld Outdoor Centre is on the agenda for the East Area Planning Committee on Wednesday (8 February – item 4). The recommendation is that permission is granted subject to conditions.
The overnight road closures for the Access to Headington works at Old Road/Gipsy Lane/Warneford Lane/Roosevelt Drive start tonight (Monday 6 February). Here’s the full schedule. The work originally planned for Monday 13 February has been rescheduled. It will now be done on Saturday 11 February. Either way it will be the last of the overnight road closures for this work.
The application to build at the top of Wychwood Lane, next to the C S Lewis nature reserve, is still not on the Committee’s agenda.
Did you know there’s an Oxfordshire Badger Group? There is, and they’re very worried about the effects of development on our stripey-faced friends. The A40 near the new Barton Park is apparently a particularly dangerous place for them. The Group is on twitter at @OxonBadgers
Headington Quarry Foundation Stage School joined twitter as @HQFSS_Oxford. They need your votes to help get a new climbing frame through the Tesco Bags of Help scheme.
Also new to twitter is Headington Reporting @OX3reporting, a site which posts examples of potholes, blocked drains and similar local issues. Despite the name it’s nothing to do with me, nor I’m assured with @HeadingtonNews.
Headington Headlines has made it to 300 editions! Here is your weekly round-up of local news for 9 – 15 January. First – roadworks …..
The work installing the heatpipe has slipped behind schedule. Work in Latimer Road has been delayed by two weeks, and in Lime Walk one week. Work in Sandfield Road is still expected to start today (16 January). This blog post has more details.
All my posts about the project are under the ‘Energy Project’ tab in the main menu, and there’s a page of links and contact details here.
The County Council has published plans under the Access to Headington scheme to make an eastbound bus lane in Roosevelt Drive between the Old Road Campus and Churchill Drive. The lane would operate between 3pm and 6pm, Monday to Friday, and during those times only buses and emergency vehicles will be able to leave the Churchill site by that route. All other traffic will have to leave via Roosevelt Drive westbound to the Old Road junction. Consultation on this plan is open – the county says “objections to the proposals and other representations, specifying the grounds on which they are made, may be sent in writing (quoting ref: AK/12.6.320) by 3 February”.
Churchill bus lane – Roosevelt Drive to Churchill Drive
In February the sections of Warneford Lane/Gipsy Lane/Old Road/ Roosevelt Drive which are being remodelled as part of Access to Headington will be closed overnight for about six nights for resurfacing.
In other news ….
A VW Polo was stolen in Burchester Avenue, Barton a weeks ago (Sunday 8 January) after its owner left it with the engine running while it defrosted.
The saga of the Jack Russell pub in Salford Road, Marston goes on. After the empty building was burnt down in an arson attack in November the owners have submitted a new planning application (ref: 16/03108/RES) to build a three-storey block of 16 flats on the site. Some locals including independent councillor Mick Haines are still campaigning for the site to be used for community facilities. According to the Oxford Mail others think the need for more housing is more important.
The planning application to build next to the C S Lewis nature reserve in Risinghurst has still not come before councillors. It was not on the agenda for the East Area Planning Committee on 11 January, although it is listed for consideration at a future, but unspecified, date. Searching the Charities Commission website for the “Wychwood Foundation” still returns a blank. Earlier posts on this story here and here.
As pressure on the NHS builds, all non-urgent operations and related procedures at the JR were cancelled on Friday and again today (Monday).
Bar Meze scored only 2 out of 5 in a hygiene inspection last November. The manager is confident he’ll do much better when it’s reinspected.
Not a tweet but a favourite Instagram this week from the Sandhills A 40 underpass:
