electionsOX3

Headington Headlines #178

TonyOX3

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

Five candidates are standing in the Quarry & Risinghurst by-election – details here. The election is on 18 September.

On 10 September Oxford City’s Executive Board is due to decide whether to ‘designate’ the Headington Neighbourhood Forum as the body to draw up a Neighbourhood plan. If they agree, consultation on local issues will start shortly after.

Slade House, the care unit owned by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust where Connor Sparrowhawk died last year is unlikely to re-open. The Trust has been criticised for failings in the care it provided to Connor at Slade House, and for failings at other units it operates.

The ownership of Warneford Meadow has been transferred to Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust (OHFT), the managers of the Warneford Hospital. The move has been welcomed by the Meadow’s Friends.

There may soon be a new pedestrian crossing and some traffic-calming measures outside Windmill Primary School @WindmillOxford in Margaret Road.

The Grass of Parnassus (it’s not a grass) which recolonised Great Britain after the last Ice Age is flowering in the Lye Valley. Although common in more northerly parts of the British Isles it is rare this far south. Its alternative and more descriptive name is the Bog Star. More interesting detail, including the first written record of the plant, in this article.

The Butchers Arms @ButchersArmsOxf re-opened after a refurbishment.

Quarry residents got together to tidy up the garden around Quarry Village Hall.

About 250 runners took part in the Headington 5 on Sunday, raising money for @Oxsrad.

And in other clean-up news, Friday was Skip Day in Barton, when the City Council provided skips for residents to dispose of unwanted items and general rubbish.

Headington Badminton Club is looking for new members. They play on Mondays and Fridays at Headington School.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • City council by-election in Quarry & Risinghurst ward
  • 1812 Fireworks
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 #172

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 14 – 20 July.

Headington Library re-opened on Monday with a new children’s area but still no disabled access lift.

Labour announced their candidate for the Quarry & Risinghurst by-election. He is Chewe Munkonge @CheweMunkonge whose last public involvement in politics seems to have been in Abingdon South in last year’s County Council elections.

The Oxford Times carried a story about some Headington traders being unhappy about the mini-Waitrose that will be opening at the Shell petrol station. On the other hand, some aren’t unhappy.

The new Tesco Express store which opens on 29 July joined twitter as @Tesco6880.

Thames Valley Police mounted an operation on Wednesday to “educate” motorists about Elms Drive in Marston being access only rather than a way of avoiding the Cherwell Drive mini-roundabouts.

@DavidHenwood2, who stood for election in Headington Ward earlier this year, was elected Labour Councillor for Cowley Ward on Thursday with 39% of the vote and a majority of 243 over the Green candidate Hazel Dawe.

Oxford Archaeology @oatweet have published their report on the Barton Road cricket ground site, soon to be The Willows. They found nothing of interest.

The John Henry Brookes and Abercrombie buildings have attracted more recognition, this time by being nominated for the Concrete Society 2014 awards.

The Thames Water works in Wharton Road – and the road closure and diversions that go with it – are going to continue for about ten more days.

Sign of the times. Isis Hair in Windmill Road has changed its name to Ice Hair.

@UpandRunninguk‘s Headington shop is organising a social run tomorrow (Tuesday) starting from the shop at 6pm.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • Banks/building societies and the Local Plan for Headington
  • Tassimo – unwanted capsules
  • St.Clements car park no longer available
  • One-Stop shop for Headington
  • Smoking at JR Hospital (3 threads)
  • Carterton/Witney bus to JR Hospital
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.

Local election round-up for OX3

TonyOX3

There were no real surprises about the results in the six OX3 wards. The LibDems not unexpectedly lost their seat in Headington Hill & Northway to Labour, but given that Labour won there in 2012 with a big majority and with the LibDems in fourth place it was no surprise. The LibDem’s sitting councillor Altaf Khan moved to stand successfully in Headington Ward, taking the seat vacated by David Rundle who had stood down. All the other wards re-elected the sitting candidates.

The media hype surrounding UKIP didn’t play out into any significant achievements for them. Their best performance was in Barton and Sandhills where they came a good second with 19.2% of the vote. They also came second in Churchill with 15.4%, beating the Greens into third place by just 15 votes. In Marston they could only manage fourth with 10.2%.

As I write I haven’t got the individual turnout figures for each ward. In Oxford as a whole turnout was 37%, up from 29% in 2012. The six wards all had higher numbers of votes cast this year than in 2012.

Ward-by-ward:

Barton & Sandhills

UKIP came in and took 19% of the vote, almost all from Labour who lost 16 percentage points. The Green vote was down slightly by about 3 percentage points and the Conservatives were down slightly too. The total vote was up 34% on 2012.

Churchill

It was a similar story in Churchill where UKIP took percentage share off all other parties in achieving a 15.4% share of the vote, but Labour were the big losers with their share down 19 percentage points. The total vote was up 7.5%.

Headington

The LibDems took the seat, with their share slightly down by about 3 percentage points.  Labour’s share also dropped by about the same amunt. The Greens were up 3.6 percentage points despite not campaigning, and the Conservatives were up almost 3 percentage points after an active campaign by their new candidate. The overall votes were up an impressive 53%, a tribute to the campaigning efforts of the LibDem team in support of their candidate.

Headington Hill & Northway

Labour (who won in 2012) took the seat with an almost unchanged share of the vote, and the Greens’ share was similarly almost unchanged. The LibDem share fell by 1.3 percentage points: their sitting candidate had moved to stand successfully in Headington Ward. UKIP’s candidate in 2012 was on the ballot paper with no allegiance but had announced he didn’t want to be considered a candidate. He nevertheless polled 1.6% of the vote compared to just under 8% in 2012. The overall vote was up 20%.

Marston

A confusing picture here. In 2012 an Independent won with a 46% share of the vote. This year UKIP fielded a candidate who achieved a 10% share. Conservatives, Greens and LibDems all increased their share of the vote but the big gain was for Labour who took the seat with over 53% of the vote, up from 33% in 2012. In contrast with the other wards, the total votes here only increased by 3%.

Quarry & Risinghurst

With no UKIP candidate this year their 4% share of the 2012 vote was available to the other candidates. Labour held the seat with a share 6 percentage points lower than 2012; the LibDem vote was up slightly (1.4 percentage points), Conservatives increased by 1.1 percentage points but the Green vote went up by a comparatively large 7.3 percentage points. The overall voting numbers were up 26% on 2012.