Marston

Headington Headlines #236

TonyOX3

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

@OxfordCity announced a £2.2m scheme to protect properties in Marston and Northway from flooding. The scheme still has to be appproved at the City’s Executive Board next month.

Urban designers, planners and architects @WestWaddyADP have won an award for ‘Excellence in Masterplanning and Design’ at RTPI South East Planning Awards for their long-term work with @Oxford_Brookes.

Here’s ex-Councillor for Headington @StephenTall honouring an election bet in Whitehall last Tuesday. On the good side, he’s raising money from Médecins Sans Frontières.

The contract managers for @BartonPark_ are holding a “Meet the Buyer” event for materials suppliers for the development. It’s on Wednesday 21 October from 10.00 to 16.00 at the Community Centre on Underhill Circus, and will be opened by Council Leader Bob Price.

In other Barton Park news, reports that Barton residents are unhappy with the intention to call the main street through the development Barton Park Road, and further that they don’t think much of the name Barton Park anyway will come as no surprise to dedicated readers of this blog. You may remember that two years ago I challenged the developers’ original claim to have consulted the community over the name and never got any satisfactory answers to my questions.

The planning application (Ref: 15/02543/FUL) for the erection of 3-storey building to provide 30 ensuite student rooms on the site of the old Friar pub on Marston Road is on the City Council’s website. The front elevation looks like this.

After persistent campaigning by residents, official speed warning signs have appeared in Quarry (via @danlevs).

Oxfordshire County Council has published a “Summary of Feedback” to the Access to Headington proposals earlier this year. I collected a number of responses from people and organisations at the time – see this link.

The jury at the inquest into the death of Connor Sparrowhawk at Slade House in July 2013 found that neglect contributed to his death. Slade House, run by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, is now closed. The Trust has “unresevedly apologised” for its failings. As I reported last year, the Trust has been criticised for failings at other units it operates.

Leys News @LeysnewsEditor, a free monthly community newspaper for Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys, is planning a new paper covering Sandhills, Risinghurst and Quarry. They offer free training for volunteers.

Jessica Bruce of Risinghurst is claiming a World Record for running a marathon pushing a baby buggy. She and her 7 month old son Daniel finished the Abingdon marathon on Sunday in 3 hours 17 mins 51 seconds.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week (for all the wrong reasons!):

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

  • Headington bike hire scheme
  • Magdalen Wood Tree Felling
  • £12.m transport improvements for Headington: exhibitions and consultation
  • Caravans along Marston Ferry cycle path
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 #224

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 20 – 26 July.

The Post Office is definitely moving to the Co-op.

The Headington Shark’s fame has spread as far as India. It features in a list of “Unusual monuments around the world you have not heard of” in India Today (link c/o @RuthWilk).

The Marston Meatshop is going to become a greengrocer. Shame about the spelling.

Marston meat shop is becoming a greengrocer! pic.twitter.com/OKJQdOZXqt

— Stuart Bryant (@amigastu) July 22, 2015

Some new wooden posts with cryptic signs have appeared in Headington Hill Park. Apparently they are part of a scheme by @runengland to promote running and jogging.

Retirement home Douglas Veale House in Trafford Road has joined twitter @DouglasVealsHse.

Old Marston Parish Council @OldMarstonPC has published its comments on Access to Headington on its facebook page.

The @Oxonbike station at the Churchill is open and operational.

Headington Farmers’ market opened on Saturday for the first time. It will be weekly, every Saturday, from now on.

For the first time since Headington Headlines started the were no posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week:

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.