EF

Headington Headlines #105

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 25 – 31 March.

A man from Headington who was tackled by members of the public in the course of an attempted robbery at the Covered Market has died. He was named by @TheOxfordMail as Clinton Townsend, later corrected to Clint Townsend by Thames Valley Police.

Author Brian Aldiss did himself no favours with a strange contribution to Headington Monthly. In a one-page piece rather reminiscent of a personalised story-book he shoe-horned in mentions of the JR, Headington Homewares, Ruskin, Waitrose, Bury Knowle Park and Chancellors. I wonder if a similar version has appeared in other local magazines around the country.

William Hill are appealing against the refusal of a change of use on the old Cartridge World shop which is stopping them opening another betting shop.

The planning application (Ref 13/00570/FUL) for a change of use for the Marston Plumbing business on Marston Road (now closed) to become a taxi business with waiting room has been called in by the East Area Planning Committee.

The Oxford Mail picked up a story which first surfaced in February (see Headington Headlines #98) about the not-so-public proposed piece of public art that @EFOxford want to install inside their gates to comply with their planning permission conditions. To say “A row has broken out” is perhaps a bit strong when there’s only been one comment on the proposal.

@HeadingtonPlan joined twitter. If you didn’t know that Headington has embarked on drawing up a Neighbourhood Plan you haven’t been paying attention! A Steering Group has been set up consisting of Stuart Cooper, Mark Lygo, Ruth Wilkinson, Christopher Taylor, Veronica Hurst and John Nealon: further members are being sought. The Steering Group’s first meeting will be on 3 April.

The Oxford Furniture Warehouse is moving from their Abingdon Road store into the shop that was the short-lived Today’s drink shop at 85 London Road, next to Lloyds TSB. Their website says they sell “new, antique and good clean second-hand furniture”. They expect to move in next weekend.

The cycle lane markings on Windmill Road have been repainted.

There are reports that possibly 40 ancillary jobs could go at Oxford Brookes University as student numbers have fallen. Some 250 student rooms in halls of residence (out of about 5000) are unoccupied.

@Oxford_Labour declared their candidate for the Churchill Ward by-election – Susan Brown. She’s not on twitter; a retrograde step in my view after @joemcmanners. The by-election is on 2 May, the same day as the County elections.

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

  • Headington has 2 of the country’s most congested roads
  • Redevelopment of Northway
  • Bedroom Tax Demonstration – Saturday 16th 1pm – Bonn Square Oxford
  • Headington shop news 2013
  • E-Forum Protocols
  • Bus Users’ Forum | Thu 4th Apr | Town Hall | 18:30
  • Barton Road Cricket Ground
  • A Neighbourhood Plan for Headington
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 #79

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 24 – 30 September —

A meeting of the North-East Area Forum focussing on the Oxford City Cycle Plan was held on Monday 24 September.

Martin Young’s appeal on 29 Old High Street was dismissed and the city council was awarded costs.

@thrivebarton‘s fundraising Allotment Dinner was reported in the Oxford Mail. MP Andrew Smith attended in support.

Greenpeace posted a video on their facebook page of last Saturday’s protest outside the Shell petrol station on the London Road. My tweeted link didn’t work; this one does.

The public consultation on @WindmillOxford‘s plan to become three-form entry is open until 22 October. The County’s School Organisation & Planning Officer says

“The county council wish as many parents of preschool children as possible in the Headington area to be aware of this, as obviously it will affect numbers of children able to be admitted to the school in future years. All details on the site above.”

Water supplies in Risinghurst were interrupted for a few hours on Wednesday morning, apparently due to a problem with the pumps. About 100 properties were said to have been affected.

There was a burglary in Trafford Road, Headington on Wednesday. 3 laptops, jewellery and a camera were stolen.

EF language school @EFOxford joined twitter in August but I only found out about it when @headingtonnews tweeted their name. I hope this might lead to the school interacting more with the local community – something I’ve written about before (here and here) – but so far they haven’t been very active and their tweets have been limited to student-oriented matters.

Ruskin College have finally moved out of their Walton Street site and are now 100% Headington based in advance of the official opening of the new buildings which I think is on 27 October.

I wrote a short blog article (with pictures) about the appearance of the new Dorset House.

A Forum on education policy in Oxfordshire was held in New Marston Primary School on Thursday. Leader of Oxon CC @Ian Hudspeth and Melinda Tilley (of whom I have spoken before) were there.

My favorite Headington-related tweet this week:

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

  • Problems with cycling provision
  • Litter bin in Bury Knowle Park that (or which) sends emails
  • Proposed Changes To Holy Trinity Church
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 #67

TonyOX3

It seems to have been a fairly quiet week in OX3: here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 25 June – 1 July —

The draft Headington Hill Conservation Area Appraisal produced in partnership between the City Council and local residents’ groups is open for formal consultation until 24 July. Be warned – the main report is 58 pages long!

The HHUG residents’ group opposing EF’s plans for an International Academy at Cotuit Hall, Pullens Lane, were encouraged by apparent support from planning officers for their claim that the Academy would require change-of-use planning permission.

A nice story from @ThriveBarton about a young Barton man’s efforts in fundraising for Thrive.

I posted two pictures (1, 2) of the refurbished Sandfield Road play area. The section for smaller children is fenced off (as requested by local residents) and there’s another area with a zip wire and other equipment for older and more adventurous kids. There are also two sets of blue-painted parallel steel bars which I think must be skateboarding features.

My favorite Headington-related tweet this week:

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

  • Sikh temple in Cherwell Drive
  • Headington Hill Conservation Area Appraisal
  • Experimental closure of gap in A40 near Risinghurst
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.