Life in and around Headington & OX3 (mostly), and Oxford (occasionally)
"To every complex problem there is a simple solution, startling in its simplicity, piercing in its clarity, and hopelessly and completely wrong" - Gore Vidal.
The Headington Neighbourhood Plan was approved in a referendum held on 4 May 2017. It is the first neighbourhood plan in Oxford to go to a referendum.
The question on the ballot paper was “Do you want Oxford City Council to use the neighbourhood plan for Headington to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?”
For the record:
3310 (86%) voted ‘Yes’;
543 (14%) voted ‘No’;
turnout was 38%.
Congratulations and thanks are due to all the people who contributed in some way to the Plan, and especially to the small team of dedicated individuals led by Mike Ratcliffe and Patrick Coulter who put a huge amount of time and energy into the project.
Full information about the Plan and what happens next are on the Headington Plan website. You can download a copy of the plan itself from there, or simply by clicking the picture on this page.
Your weekly round-up of local news for 6 – 12 March.
The Headington Neighbourhood Plan got its final go-ahead on Thursday. There will be a referendum on 4 May, the same day as the County Council elections. Expect a big publicity drive, and if you live in Headington please take the time to look at the Plan and VOTE! More as always on the Headington Plan website.
As expected, the East Area Planning Committee approved the planning applications on the Jack Russell & Ampleforth Arms pubs. To remind you, the application for the Jack Russell is for
“Demolition of public house, erection of 16 flats (6 x 3-bed, 8 x 2-bed, 2 x 1-bed) on three floors. Provision of 19 car parking spaces.”
and for the Ampleforth
“Part demolition of the existing public house. Part redevelopment and conversion to create a new community run public house at basement and ground floor level and 1 x 1-bed, 3 x 2-bed and 2 x 3 bed residential apartments over ground, first and second floors. Erection of 1 x 3-bed dwellinghouse.(Use Class C3). Provision of private amenity space, landscaping, car parking and associated infrastructure.”
The Aldi store on Horspath Driftway (alongside Homebase, ex- Curry’s) opened at 8am on Thursday.
— Georgina Campbell (@OxMailGeorginaC) March 9, 2017
As one door opens, another closes. The W H Smith local store in Headington is for sale for £615k freehold, and is reported to be closing on 23 March (Thursday next week). Thanks to @headingtonnews and @DarrenGrant_UK for spotting this.
Last October the British Legion planted 456 daffodils at ‘the Final Turn’, the corner at the entrance to the JR on Headley Way; one daffodil for every member of the UK Armed Forces killed in the Afghanistan campaign. The daffodils are now flowering. See HH289 for the original story.
The Oxford Diocese has put in a planning application (ref: 17/00393/FUL) to demolish Old Marston Vicarage in Elsfield Road and replace it with a 4-bedroom house. The existing building is said to be structurally unsound. Consultation closes on 28 March.
The dispute between the City and flat-owners in the Northway and Wood Farm tower blocks over the cost of refurbishment and renovations (see HH 244 and HH282) moved forward after a tribunal ruled that the owners would not have to pay for some parts of the work. There’s still another ruling to be made later this year, and it seems the City’s right to charge for other parts of the work has been upheld.
My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:
Your weekly round-up of local news for 27 February – 5 March.
After @TomBedford12 pointed out the problem with the new short cycle path on Old Road and on which I reported, Cllr @RuthWilk sprang into action. Contractors Skanska were on the job on Monday making a dropped kerb.
What they have put in place is far from ideal, but we’re told it’s only temporary as the cycleway will be continued up Old Road in a later phase of Access to Headington.
Meanwhile the County announced that this phase of Access to Headington is ‘largely complete’. The next phase will start in The Slade, they say by ‘late March’. No details yet though. Whether this is before or after the bus lane work in Roosevelt Drive up to Churchill Drive isn’t clear.
On Wednesday this week the east Area Planning Committee will consider planning applications on:
The Jack Russell Pub – demolish and build flats – recommendation to agree;
The Ampleforth Arms – part demolition, part conversion to community pub – recommendation to agree;
The full agenda is here. Once again the application to develop on land next to the C S Lewis Nature Reserve is not on the agenda.
Southern Gas is working in Staunton Road replacing old metal gas pipes with modern PVC. Excavation is going on along one side of the street and connections to individual properties are to be disconnected for a while. Then they’ll need access to each property to test all gas appliances. Residents have raised concerns about possible damage to the Council-owned green space which is being used as a site storage depot. The number for enquiries is 0800 912 1700.
The Headington Neighbourhood Plan is up for final approval by the City Executive Board on Thursday 9 March. Assuming it gets the green light as expected, the way is clear for a local referendum on 4 May.
@HeadingtonNews reported that Temple Bookbinders is moving out of their Stephen Road premises to Yarnton.
The Headington Neighbourhood Plan was approved in a referendum held on 4 May 2017. It is the first neighbourhood plan in Oxford to go to a referendum.