car park

Headington Headlines #141

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 9 – 15 December.

The owner of the Fairview Inn in Glebelands is retiring after being given three weeks notice to quit following the sale of the pub to an unknown buyer. Although the current owners say the new owners will continue to run it as a pub the future is uncertain until the new owners reveal themselves. There was a farewell party in the pub on Thursday.

A new bench celebrating C S Lewis’ character Reepicheep from the Narnia stories has been installed in Bury Knowle Park.

LibDem Councillors @DavidRundle, @RuthWilk and @RosalindRogers wrote a letter published in the Oxford Mail asking the City Council to extend Christmas cheap parking to Headington car park to help local businesses.

A letter in the Oxford Mail from Councillor Mick Haines says that Tesco will start building on the site of the Friar pub in February.

Slade House, the care home and other services run by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, which closed to new admissions three weeks ago (see HH 139) is under investigation by health regulator Monitor.

The red phone box next to the Baptist Church in Old High Street is under threat of removal by BT. Locals led by Cllr @RuthWilk have mounted a last-minute attempt to save it. It’s the last surviving red phone box in Oxford outside the city centre. See these links for more on this story.

The Shark House in New High Street is back on the rental market again. For only £2300 pcm you can live under a landmark.

The Guardian published a long interview/article with Headington-resident author Brian Aldiss.

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

  • London Road proposed cycle lane consultation
  • Noise in Quarry
  • Kebab shop in Headington – article in the Oxford Mail today
  • Chain stores in Headington
  • Is our red phone box worth fighting for?
  • Nationality-based shopping at Headington Coop?
I try to 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 #44

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 2 – 8 January —

The Christmas tree outside Barclay’s Bank blew over in the strong winds overnight on Monday/Tuesday.

A planning application was submitted which could see a Sikh temple established on the London Road near the corner of Northfield Road.

A taxi driver was robbed on Hollow Way in the early hours of Monday morning, and a 22-year old man from Slade Close was convicted of robbery and sentenced to 40 months imprisonment. One of his offences taken into account was the theft of a puppy.

The locations of the possible Sikh temple and Slade Close are shown on this map.

Headington car park is to have handrails installed to improve disabled access from the car park to Waitrose. @OxfordCity and @WaitroseUK have jointly funded the cost.

The BBC televised the morning service at All Saints’ Church, Lime Walk on Sunday.

I made a map of all the sites in OX3 in the City Council’s Sites and Housing document which sets out approved forms of development. I think it’s easier to use than the original document. Consultation on the latest version starts soon.

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

  • Sikh temple in Cherwell Drive
  • Certifying documents
  • Headington & Barton bus service
  • Shocking acknowledgement of the extent of the housing crisis in Oxford

I try to 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 #42

TonyOX3

It was a very quiet week for news in Headington and surrounding areas and what little I found mostly related to planning. But anyway, here’s my round-up for 12 – 18 December —

Rosemary Restaurant got a scathing review on the e-democracy forum (scroll to the end of the page). The forum also carried an extended debate over the absence of Sainsbury’s and Tesco from Headington and the merits of internet shopping, intermingled with reaction to Costa’s application to open a coffee shop in the old Cartridge World. The required change of use will go before the Area Planning Committee.

In other planning matters, both an application for a smoking shelter at The Six Bells and plans for 29 Old High Street were refused.

More significantly, two major planning documents go to the City Council today (Monday) – the Barton Area Action Plan which sets out the framework for the Barton East development, and the Housing Policy and Sites book with the Headington car park not preferred for residential development. Neither document includes the Ruskin Fields development favoured by Ruskin College. The Council will debate, possibly amend, and approve versions of these before they come back for further consultation in the New Year. Meanwhile Headington Ward councillors David Rundle and Ruth Wilkinson (@RuthWilk) will report back at their Ward Focus meeting at the Baptist Church on Old High Street at 6pm on Tuesday.

Not one but TWO Headington-related tweets this week, both on the subject of Costa:

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

  • No Sainsburys and No Tescos?
  • Planners holding the line
  • West Barton plan likely to go ahead?
  • Library

I try to 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.