Headington

Headington Headlines #117

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 17 – 23 June.

The big news of the week was the launch of what people are loving to describe as a ‘Boris Bike’ scheme in Headington. It’s proper name is Oxonbike, on twitter as @Oxonbike. You can pick bikes up and drop them off at Thornhill P&R, the JR, Nuffield and Churchill hospitals, the Old Road campus and on London Road (see below). A seventh site will open at Brookes/Gipsy Lane. For detailed information and discussion you can look at the Oxonbike web page and FAQ and the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum thread.

The location of one of the Oxonbike stations directly outside St Andrew’s School on London Road (it’s described as ‘Headington Shops’) has been criticised, not least because no-one including local councillors or the school was consulted about it. The County Council and Oxonbike operators Grandscheme have apologised for their ‘oversight’ and offered to relocate it if a better alternative can be found.

As I reported last week the outline planning application for Barton West has been published. @TheOxfordMail covered the story, focussing on the divided opinion about the scheme’s merits. Despite the complexity of the application developers @BartonOxford tell me there are no plans for any public exhibition.

Meanwhile, objectors to the proposed Barton West access road have succeeded in having their application for land on Foxwell Drive to be declared a Town Green accepted by the County Council. There will now be a consultation period before the application is decided.

Environmental Health officers from Oxfordshire CC removed two sound systems and a TV from a house in Sherwood Place, Barton after noise complaints from neighbours.

You can have your wedding reception in Headington Hill Park. It appears to be a joint venture between @OxfordCity and a Headington-based company called Total Event Management @TotalEventMgmt.

A man was stabbed in the shoulder on the corner of Gladstone Road and London Road on Wednesday.

An programme to build self-esteem in teenage girls run by Barton-based @ThriveBarton operating within charity Innovista was described in @TheOxfordMail.

Some people in Marston and Headington – and further afield – were annoyed by the sound of loud music and fireworks on Friday and Saturday night. College balls seem to have been to blame, but Marston’s own village fête fireworks may also have contributed.

Some of Headington’s gardens were open on Sunday as part of the Open Gardens scheme.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • Headington cycling signs
  • Family search
  • Black Boy pub
  • Headington bike hire scheme
  • Noise in Quarry
  • Supermarkets in Headington
  • Headington Neighbourbood Plan and the Wood Farm area
  • Shops and businesses in Headington
  • Joe Mcmanners
  • Balls
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.

Blackburn Close

TonyOX3

Residents have moved in to Headington’s newest street, Blackburn Close. I went to have a look now all the builders’ fencing has gone and the landscaping and planting has finished.

The two blocks that form the Close have been built on the piece of ground between the Manor Hospital and the back of Horwood Close. They are in the style which looks set to become the norm for budget-price residential building in the twenty-teens – flat roofed blocks with mixed-material exteriors including timber cladding. The builder has opted for a rather dark brick and grey-finished steel to contrast with the timber.

The overall effect is neat and tidy rather than immediately attractive, but if the quality of build is satisfactory there’s no obvious reason why these affordable units shouldn’t be a welcome addition to the local housing mix.

It’s a shame that ‘neat and tidy’ didn’t carry over to the street signage. Cheap and flimsy is the choice here. I wonder if the City’s funds can stretch to Oxford’s standard sturdy white-on-black version.

There’s a nice touch on the buildings themselves – bird boxes have been fixed to the wooden cladding, some singly, one in a cluster of three. There’s another, larger box with a slot rather than a round hole. No doubt a birder will know what it’s designed for (though I haven’t got a picture). Like the other boxes it’s set about 2m above the ground. I do wonder about the potential mess though!

As always, headington.org.uk has all the background to the site and the origin of its name including the link to Barbara “Walkies” Woodhouse. Scroll down to, or search for, “Social housing on Manor Ground site”.