Neighbourhood Plan

Headington Headlines #304

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 6 – 12 February.

The @HeadingtonPlan has been through its final inspection and has been approved by the Headington Plan Forum. It’s now up to @OxfordCity to approve a referendum which if all goes well could be held in May at the same time as the County Council elections.

Three men were jailed for carrying out an armed robbery at Lloyd’s Bank in Headington in January last year.

The east Area Planning Committee approved @ScienceOxford‘s plans for the Stansfeld Field Centre site in Quarry.

The Oxford Mail carried a report about the City Council changing its mind over the demolition of a block of flats on Underhill Circus in Barton. The general regeneration programme there is still continuing.

We already knew that the City Council will take over a proportion of the new housing in @BartonPark_. It’s now reported that the City’s wholly-owned housing company which was set up last year will take over 95 units when they become available next year.

@BBCBentham on @BBCOxford radio did an item on Thursday about the suggestion that there should be a multi-storey car park at the JR. You can hear it on catch-up until 10 March. The first slot with Headington Cllr Altaf Khan starts at 39’10” and the second, with a multi-storey car park enthusiast from Birmingham (yes really), at 1h39’20”.

In other car park news, the patients’ car park at the Manor Surgery is open again at last. It looks well laid out with clear paved footways, disabled parking spaces and hopefully no more puddles!

Although Headington & Marston have a lively presence on the e-democracy forum some people have also subscribed to local messaging site Streetlife. This operation has been taken over by another, Nextdoor, which offers a similar platform for local discussion and exchange of information. Anyone thinking of signing up would do well to read the thread on the e-democracy forum, especially Stephanie Jenkins’ experience of being automatically designated “lead member”. And although it’s probably no worse than facebook, twitter or any other social media operation, you might like to read their privacy policy, especially as they require real names and actual street addresses.

There’s an online petition to save The Somerset pub on Marston Road, which closed in 2014. It was the last pub to survive in New Marston. The petition was started by Susannah Wilson and is supported by Councillor @joemcmanners. The Somerset is already listed as an Asset of Community Value, which gives locals first refusal if it is put up for sale provided they can raise the money

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • Disruption
  • New Recycling promotion
  • Proposed abolition of Oxford City Council
  • Headington Plan – what’s next?
  • I see Streetlife a rival discussion site is merging with another site
  • Events on Oxford
  • Good neighbours in Headington
  • Using stocks as punishment in 19th century Oxford

Headington Headlines #234

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 28 September – 4 October.

Local band Headington Hillbillies @H_Hillbillies new album “The Promised Land” was released on Monday. Listen/buy it here.

The flower planters outside Jacobs & Field were vandalised overnight on Monday.

Oxford University Hospitals, which includes the JR, has been granted foundation status, meaning the four hospitals will no longer be under direct control from central government.

From @HeadingtonNews:

The Headington Plan AGM was held on Friday.

@TheAmpRevival is looking for people to come on the limited body to form the legal structure to pull the Ampleforth pub in Risinghurst back into trading.

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

  • New Recycling promotion
  • Stolen ‘children crossing’ banners in Quarry
  • Looking for a new room to rent
  • Bus drivers and London Road
  • Inept driving
  • Friends of Bury Knowle Park still active?
  • Open Magdalen Wood Tree Felling
  • Neighbourhood Plan AGM
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 #233

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 21 – 27 September.

The Headington Plan AGM is on Friday 2 October at 7.00pm in the Green Room, Headington Hill Hall, Oxford Brookes Headington Hill campus.

The ex-BBB stores next to the sooon-to-be-ex-Post Office is reportedly going to become a butcher’s shop.

The story of the old Friar pub site on Marston Road moved into a new chapter with a planning appplication (Ref. 15/02543/FUL) to build a three-storey 30-bedroom student acommodation block (no link because the City’s website has been down over the past few days).

It was the annual Barton Bash on Saturday, opened by @AndrewSmithMP. Proceeds from the £1 entry fee will be donated to the British Heart Foundation in memory of former Barton Community vice-president Barry Holden, who passed away from heart failure in August last year. Article in The Oxford Mail.

Headington’s Live Advent Calendar – a series of 24 performances each in a different venue in the run-up to Christmas – is happening again this year. Contact them @LiveAdvent2015 or liveadvent.org.uk if you can offer a venue, a performance, or other help.

To no-one’s surprise, the promised opening of Windmill School’s new classrooms didn’t happen. At the moment it seems anyone’s guess when they will actually be ready.

A scheme offerring financial incentives to encourage more recycling of household waste has been strongly criticised on the e-democracy forum this week.

A second banner saying “Children Crossing. Headington Quarry Foundation Stage School” has disappeared, presumably stolen, from Quarry Hollow. Parents and residents are understandably upset, especially as the County refuses to install any traffic calming measures as the area is ‘low priority’. Until a serious accident, presumably.

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

  • Friar site for sale
  • New development at top of Windmill Road
  • C’mon Ruth cheer up…you’ll be back in Headington soon.
  • Crown and Thistle
  • New Recycling promotion
  • Stolen ‘children crossing’ banners in Quarry
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.