Election2015

Headington Headlines #209

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 5 – 11 April.

The Londis store on the corner of the Marston Road and William Road was given a zero hygeine rating for, among other shortcomings, potentially selling poisonous potatoes.

The City Council invited applicants for the new housing in Lock’s Court (Bury Knowle Park) but made a mistake with the rents, getting muddled between ‘social’ and ‘affordable’ housing. @headingtonnews and @RuthWilk queried it and the Council has said they will notify applicants and start again. Here are the correct figures.

Headington Churches Together organised a hustings at the Baptist Church in Old High Street on Thursday evening. Over 120 people turned up but none of the three main party candidates was there. Click the image below for the Oxford Mail report of the evening.

@QuarryVelo cyclists paid homage to cycling’s Spring Classics by riding the remaining cobbled streets of Oxford in their Quarry – Roubaix ride on Sunday.

NINE candidates are standing for election in the Oxford East constituency:

Candidate Party Twitter
Chaka Artwell Independent  
Ann Duncan Green ann4oxfordeast
Mad Hatter (Alasdair de Voil) Official Monster Raving Loony VoteMadHatter
Ian Macdonald UKIP MacDonaldUKIP
Melanie Magee Con cllr_magee
James Morbin TUSC  
Alasdair Murray LibDem alasdairjmurray
Kevin Parkin Socialist Party of GB  
Andrew Smith Lab VoteAndrewSmith

The official list of candidates is here.

For the sake of completeness, her’s a link to the candidates for Oxford West & Abingdon.

Work has started clearing the way for the new access road to @BartonPark_. For an indication of how some local people are still upset about the road, see the thread on the e-democracy forum.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • Pavement Clutter
  • Headington Quarry Village Hall
  • Access road from Barton to Northway Estate
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 #207

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 23 – 29 March.

Andrew Smith has changed his twitter account until after the election. He is now @VoteAndrewSmith.

Churches Together in Headington have organised a hustings on 9 April, 8 – 9.30pm in Headington Baptist Church on Old High Street. You can pre-register your questions on their facebook page, where there are more details of the event. There’s a video too, encouraging everyone to turn out, get informed, and vote.

The Manor Surgery in Osler Road is one of three across the County to share in £6.4m funding to expand services. Manor’s £1.2m will pay for six new consultation rooms and two practice nurse rooms. The practice has said it would like to offer space for an out-of-hours service and community-based specialist clinics.

Councillor @RuthWilk has had confirmation from the City Council that the Bury Knowle solar panels are to stay, with some modification to their position.

Blackbird Leys based dance club @MessyJamOxford organised by Barton’s @EshaMessyjam won 147 trophies at in international dance festival in Lincolnshire.

A car fire in Barton Village Road closed the road for a time on Saturday. There were no reports of any injuries.

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

  • Could installing a cable car commuter system be the answer to Oxford’s congestion?
  • School Places
  • Pavement clutter
  • Solar Panels in Bury Knowle Park
  • Election hustings
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 #204

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 2 – 8 March.

The Sunday Times forgot to mention the amazing coverage of local issues enjoyed by residents of Headington as one of the factors that makes Headington one of the top 50 places in the UK to live. The list was in alphabetical order, so being number 44 doesn’t mean anything. Thanks to @headingtonnews for sending me the cutting. I had to look up ‘Tiger Parents‘.

The much-delayed zebra crossing on Margaret Road, near @WindmillOxford school was finally completed and fully operational last Monday morning.

And the work to upgrade the Risinghurst – Quarry crossing at Kiln Lane to a toucan (that’s bikes as well as people on foot) was completed four days ahead of schedule.

Children at @WindmillOxford celebrated World Book Day on Thursday by dressing up as their favourite book characters.

Headington public library has free wifi.

A new noticeboard has appeared on the corner of Headington Road and Headley Way. As of Saturday mid-day it was still empty (and graffiti-free).

Fire services were called to a house fire on Colemans Hill (off Pitts Road) on Sunday evening. @philmercer broke the story.

The City Council is consulting on the plans for a pavilion in the Margaret Road recreation ground. There will be a public event to show the plans on 31 March at 6.30pm in @TheMasonsArmsHQ.

Oxford LibDems announced that their PPC for Oxford East, Mark Mann, has stood down for family reasons. The new parliamentary candidate is Alasdair Murray @alasdairjmurray. He lives on Hill Top Road, which is almost in OX3.

The Albany Care Home on London Road was once again criticised in a CQC inspection report. After two earlier critical reports (see HH193) a surprise inspection was carried out in January this year. In the latest report leadership at the home was rated “inadequate” and safety, care and responsiveness of care “require improvement”.

Medical services for @BartonPark_ will be provided by expanding the existing Barton Surgery in Underhill Circus.

Jolie Kirby, the Headteacher of Cheney School, threw down the gauntlet in front of some of the local competition when she declared parents should not “waste their money” on private education.

This hubris was followed by its nemesis when police were called to the same school last Monday after a report that a 16 year old pupil had been attacked in the school grounds. It seems no-one is prepared to give any more information about the incident.

Birmingham City Council has put the Stansfeld Centre off Quarry Road on the market. Friends of Quarry have had it designated an Asset of Community Value. I wrote this short note on what happens next.

Following complaints from the public, including @HeadingtonHeritage, about their visual impact solar panels on the roof of the new buildings facing Bury Knowle Park will be removed. It seems the proper planning procedures were not followed.

A woman gave birth to a baby boy in a taxi outside Leaders in Windmill Road on Wednesday morning. A paramedic attended and mother and baby were said to both be well. Reporters at @TheOxfordMail who had worked a 16 hour day the day before getting their 13-page coverage of the Bullfinch report ready were in a more relaxed mood as this story broke.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • Quarry Gate pub
  • Craft Fair at Townsend House
  • St Andrew’s Church, Headington
  • Serious Case Review Damns Oxford’s Police and Social Services
  • Margaret Road zebra crossing work
  • Parking on pavement
  • Railings damaged on corner of BartonLane/Road
  • Revised Proposals for the Development of Holy Trinity, Headington Quarry
  • Stansfeld Centre now up for sale
  • Nice sunny weather for Craft Fair in Headington
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.