heatpipe

Headington Headlines #309

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 13 – 19 March.

The heatpipe work on Sandfield Road has finished and the diversions have been lifted.

The death of Van Coulter, Labour City Councillor for Barton & Sandhills, has attracted tributes from all over the city. His funeral will be on 30 March at the Bayswater Road crematorium.

New play equipment has been installed in the Margaret Road recreation ground.

A new mosaic celebrating the history of Wood Farm was unveiled in Atkyns Road on Tuesday.

The next phase of Access to Headington will be on the Slade from Old Road to the Corner House roundabout. The latest version of the plans and timing will be on display at the Bullingdon Community Centre (Peat Moors/Bulan Road) on Thursday 23rd March between 2pm and 6pm. The work “will focus on providing of off-road cycle lanes, side road entry treatments and improved crossing facilities on both sides of the road”.

Thanks to John Clarke for pointing out I showed the wrong building in my note last week about Old Marston Vicarage. I showed the Hall. This is the Vicarage.

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

  • London Road cycle path
  • Hospital Parking
  • Cost of petrol and diesel in Oxford
  • Putting up posters

Headington Headlines #300

TonyOX3

Headington Headlines has made it to 300 editions! Here is your weekly round-up of local news for 9 – 15 January. First – roadworks …..

The work installing the heatpipe has slipped behind schedule. Work in Latimer Road has been delayed by two weeks, and in Lime Walk one week. Work in Sandfield Road is still expected to start today (16 January). This blog post has more details.

All my posts about the project are under the ‘Energy Project’ tab in the main menu, and there’s a page of links and contact details here.

The County Council has published plans under the Access to Headington scheme to make an eastbound bus lane in Roosevelt Drive between the Old Road Campus and Churchill Drive. The lane would operate between 3pm and 6pm, Monday to Friday, and during those times only buses and emergency vehicles will be able to leave the Churchill site by that route. All other traffic will have to leave via Roosevelt Drive westbound to the Old Road junction. Consultation on this plan is open – the county says “objections to the proposals and other representations, specifying the grounds on which they are made, may be sent in writing (quoting ref: AK/12.6.320) by 3 February”.

Churchill bus lane - Roosevelt Drive to Churchill Drive
Churchill bus lane – Roosevelt Drive to Churchill Drive

In February the sections of Warneford Lane/Gipsy Lane/Old Road/ Roosevelt Drive which are being remodelled as part of Access to Headington will be closed overnight for about six nights for resurfacing.

In other news ….

A VW Polo was stolen in Burchester Avenue, Barton a weeks ago (Sunday 8 January) after its owner left it with the engine running while it defrosted.

The saga of the Jack Russell pub in Salford Road, Marston goes on. After the empty building was burnt down in an arson attack in November the owners have submitted a new planning application (ref: 16/03108/RES) to build a three-storey block of 16 flats on the site. Some locals including independent councillor Mick Haines are still campaigning for the site to be used for community facilities. According to the Oxford Mail others think the need for more housing is more important.

The planning application to build next to the C S Lewis nature reserve in Risinghurst has still not come before councillors. It was not on the agenda for the East Area Planning Committee on 11 January, although it is listed for consideration at a future, but unspecified, date. Searching the Charities Commission website for the “Wychwood Foundation” still returns a blank. Earlier posts on this story here and here.

As pressure on the NHS builds, all non-urgent operations and related procedures at the JR were cancelled on Friday and again today (Monday).

Bar Meze scored only 2 out of 5 in a hygiene inspection last November. The manager is confident he’ll do much better when it’s reinspected.

Not a tweet but a favourite Instagram this week from the Sandhills A 40 underpass:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPNZSZ5gaTC/

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

  • Internet Connection in Headington

Heatpipe roadworks slipping

TonyOX3

The roadworks installing the heatpipe have slipped behind schedule. Vital Energi say this is because

  • installing the storm drain and sewer for the Winvic development on Latimer Road has taken longer than expected;
  • there has been unforeseen concrete and utilities congestion in All Saints Road and Lime Walk, and
  • County Council Access to Headington work at Roosevelt Drive/Old Road is currently over-running by two weeks.

Work in Latimer Road has been put back two weeks, and in Lime Walk one week. Work in Sandfield Road is still expected to start today (16 January). See the latest complete schedule here, or my map which shows the current works and what’s coming up next.