Lye Valley

Headington Headlines #127

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 26 August – 1 September.

To many people’s surprise @OxfordshireCC launched a consultation asking for thoughts on traffic and transport problems and solutions in and around Headington. Read my comments here and respond to the Council here.

In Thursday’s debate on Syria Local MP Andrew Smith @OxfordLabourMP voted for the Labour amendment (which failed) and against the Government motion backing military intervention. Oxford’s other MP @NicolaBlackwood (Con) voted the other way.

A nasty episode came to an end when two people, one of them from Bonar Road, were jailed for four years for a prolonged and vicious assault on a man living in Wood Farm.

The @Victoria Arms beer festival happened over the weekend, and @TheMasonsArmsHQ‘s beer festival is next weekend.

The White Horse on the London Road has started charging people to use its car park. It’s to deter students and commuters using it for long-stay parking. A two-hour stay costs £2. If you spend £5 or more in the pub you get your £2 back.

The ninth annual Barton Bash took place on Saturday.

Headington Road Runners @HeadingtonRR staged the Headington 5 run on Sunday. The event earned some criticism because a marshalling error meant the route was only about 4.5 miles, disappointing some competitors who’d hoped to record good personal times for 5 miles.

Someone is stealing the toilet rolls from Bury Knowle Park toilets. So far police have not appealed for information, but some awful jokes did the rounds on twitter (no, I’m not repeating them).

Feel-good story of the week – a young man, Jorge Villaescusa, who lives in Headington chased after a bike thief in Cornmarket and was able to return the bike to its grateful owner.

There are some significant Headington meetings coming up in the next two weeks. On Wednesday this week the East Area Planning Committee meets in the Town Hall to decide on the planning applications for Bury Knowle Park depot and the Warren Crescent garages (which might affect the Lye Valley SSSI). See the e-democracy forum for more information on these two. The following week the Headington Ward Focus meeting on Tuesday 10th has the County’s transport strategy as the main topic and County officers have said they will attend. The Headington Transport Group is meeting on the same day, again with the transport strategy as the main agenda item.

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

  • Lilac rubbish sacks and compulsory wheelie bins
  • Headington Transport Strategy Consultation
  • Planning meeting re Bury Knowle Park depot, and Warren Crescent
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 #125

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 12 – 18 August.

The newly-formed Friends of Lye Valley has its own website. Their first meeting took place on Wednesday.

The @HeadingtonPlan Steering Group met on 7 August and the minutes are now online. Mike Ratcliffe @Mike_rat was elected as Chairman.

News broke about two new bus routes connecting Thornhill P&R with the Headington hospitals and Old Road campus. One of them, route 800, is shown as using Osler Road. The current 700 route is being extended out to Kidlington. All services will run Monday to Friday only. Read more on my blog and the e-dem forum.

A con-man who targeted businesses in Headington was found guilty of fraud in Oxford Magistrates’ Court.

Three cameras were stolen in a burglary at a house in Quarry Road a week last Saturday (10 August). On the same day a woman’s handbag was stolen in a snatch robbery as she walked along North Way.

Some properties in Risinghurst had a power cut on Thursday which lasted most of the day.

Work started on sprucing up Headington Quarry Village Hall, which is on the corner of Margaret Road and Quarry Road. The building was given to the local community in the 1930s and is looked after by Trustees.

Brambles, one of Headington’s remaining independent shops, is for sale. Headington.org.uk has the shop’s history.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • New Headington bus routes
  • “Open Doors” weekend in September: Headington & Marston
  • School transport in and around Headington
  • Psychology study with people aged 65-75, takes 35 mins, interesting and really worthwhile
  • An additional pedestrian crossing on London Road?
  • Child’s Bike?
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.