Neighbourhood Plan

Headington Headlines #223

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 13 – 19 July.

A job fair in Barton on Wednesday attracted over 300 people.

The hospital porters’ strike I mentioned last week is going ahead on Tuesday this week (21 July). They are striking against FTSE100 outsourcing company Carillion plc, which proposes to cut their pay and jobs.

Headington’s LibDem councillors have arranged three more chances for people to find out about the Access to Headington scheme being put forward by the County Council. Details here. If you still don’t know what this is about, start here.

If you couldn’t go to the exhibition last week, the artist’s impressions* of the first phase of @BartonPark_ housing have been released. Comments reported in the paper are generally favourable.
* = architects’ computer graphics images

Remember @QuarryVelo‘s Quarry-Roubaix ride a month ago? Here are some photos by @Howard_S.

There’s been a very lively discussion about the @HeadingtonPlan and in particular about long-distance buses on the e-democracy forum this week.

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

  • Headington Plan: TCS5
  • My Comments on the New Headington Plan
  • Oxford Keyworker Housing Policy
  • £12.m transport improvements for Headington: exhibitions and consultation
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.

Access to Headington and the Neighbourhood Plan

TonyOX3

I’ve just checked the Neighbourhood Plan map. Not all the County’s Access to Headington project area falls within the Neighbourhood Plan’s area,

IN are

  • Headley Way from the JR entrance to London Road
  • London Road from Headley Way to Windmill Road
  • Windmill Road to Old Road
  • The Slade to somewhere between Girdlestone Road and Peat Moors*
  • Old Road from Windmill Road/The Slade to Gipsy Lane
* The Plan boundary runs down The Slade here. The properties on the west side are in, but the maps I have aren’t clear about the road itself.

OUT are
  • Cherwell Drive and Headley Way from the Oxford Road junction to the JR entrance
  • The Slade from Peat Moors to the Hollow Way roundabout
  • Horspath Driftway from Hollow Way to the Eastern by-pass
The Neighbourhood Plan will not have any direct influence on this road scheme. However, the Transport Community Policy TRC2 expresses a wish to Improve Cycling Infrastructure and Encourage Cycling – Cycle lanes should be upgraded to mandatory by improving their continuity, the clarity of signage, (especially when they meet bus-stops), and improving their maintenance and demarcation.

Green Spaces and Amenity emerged as the most significant issue in the early stages of the Plan. Draft policies in this area seem to conflict with the County’s plans to reduce or remove some grass verges and trees:
GSP1: Retaining Public Access Green Space
All current publicly accessible green space in the Headington Neighbourhood Plan area will be retained as publicly accessible green space. There will be a strong presumption against the development of and building on publicly accessible green space.

GSP4: Protecting Tree Cover
All mature trees will be conserved. Where the removal of mature trees is unavoidable as a result of development, the developer will cover the cost of planting an equal number of trees at a designated site within the Headington Neighbourhood Plan area.
Community Policy GSC1: Enhancing Headington’s Street Setting wishes that
Headington’s street setting will be enhanced by implementing the following actions:
♦ on-street trees will be conserved and increased and, when necessary, replaced by wildlife friendly varieties rich in pollen, nectar, seeds, berries and fruits;
♦ all small informal green spaces and verges will be protected and maintained

Both the Neighbourhood Plan and Access to Headington are still in their consultation stages, so whichever side of the conflicts you are on, let yours views be known! The full draft Neighbourhood Plan is here, and the County’s plans are here.

Headington Headlines #217

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 1 – 7 June.

As the draft @HeadingtonPlan moves into a six-week consultation period, the first of six drop-in sessions took place on Saturday. Each session focuses on one topic in the plan – Saturday’s was on Amenity & Green Spaces – but you can get information and discuss any aspect of the draft plan. The drop-in sessions are at The Hub, which is on the north side of the London Road east of the lights, from 10am to 4pm. There’s more on the Plan website.

A new hairdressers Kenny’s Hair Boutique @KennysHairBout has opened at 6 Cinnaminta Road.

Nascent cycle club @QuarryVelo is holding a ‘strategy meeting’ open to all on Tuesday this week (9 June), 8pm @MasonsArmsHQ.

Phone lines and internet were disrupted @WindmillOxford school on Tuesday when builders working on the school extension damaged a cable.

The @TheWhiteHartH is advertising for a chef to join their team. They assure me that the gravy is not threatened. They are also looking for bar staff – just take your CV in and talk to them.

Local efforts to preserve the Stansfeld Outdoor Centre as a benefit for the community took another step with a meeting on Thursday to form a Friends of Stansfeld Group.

Another meeting to try to keep a community asset was held on Friday – this time in support of the Ampleforth Arms in Risinghurst. The Ampleforth is noted for being C S Lewis’s local when he lived at The Kilns in Lewis Close.

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

  • Headington Neighbourhood Plan – Draft Pulished
  • Risinghurst Summer Fete 7th June 2015
  • Plasterer needed
  • Cafe Culture
  • Parking at the JR Hospital
  • Electronic issues in St Leonard’s Road Car Park
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.