Headington Headlines #410

Your weekly round-up of local news for 18 – 24 March.

A newborn baby boy was found in a toilet in the JR Hospital on Monday. Police launched an appeal to help find the mother; she was later found and was looked after by the hospital. Mother and baby were later said to be doing well.

The work to make a surfaced path along Cuckoo Lane between Franklin Road and Pullen’s Lane, originally due to start last Monday, will now start today (25 March). Local residents and councillors had a site meeting last Tuesday to discuss the project. This post on the e-democracy forum has a link to the notes of the meeting, with explanatory pictures.

Dora Carr Close in Northway is one of five Oxfordshire building projects nominated for the RIBA South region awards 2019. All five are in Oxford itself. The regional winners will be chosen in May; the winners go forward for a National award, and from among those the Sterling Prizewinner is selected. To many people’s surprise, Westgate is one of the other nominated developments.

Eleanor House, Dora Carr Close
Eleanor House, Dora Carr Close
Photo: 24housing.co.uk

Hundreds of flyers for Society Hair Studio, of New Road in the city centre, were found dumped on the C S Lewis nature reserve in Risinghurst.

The Oxford Mail reports that house-builders Redrow have revealed their designs for the second phase of Barton Park. The company was given the job in February last year (see HH355). As I write this I haven’t seen the details; Redrow are best known for their very traditional designs but I have heard suggestions that their Barton Park development will be more in keeping with a modern-looking development.

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

    • Cuckoo lane: Six weeks of tarmac-laying starts on Monday
    • Parking enforcement

Headington Headlines #409

Your weekly round-up of local news for 11 – 17 March.

The main local story of the week was the stabbing of a young woman outside Headington Co-op on Tuesday afternoon. A major police operation followed; Stile Road was closed for 24 hours. A man was arrested the following day. He has appeared in court charged with attempted murder and other offences and has been remanded. He is likely to stand trial in August.

Work is expected to start today (Monday 18 March) on laying a 3-metre wide hard surface along Cuckoo Lane from Franklin Road to Pullen’s Lane. Initially a footpath, the County Council has plans to designate it as a combined cycle- and footpath at some time in the future. The project has been known to Councillors and some local residents for many months, but calls for a public consultation have fallen on deaf ears. You can read more about it in this thread on the e-democracy forum.

Less controversially, Oxford University and Oxford Health showed the results of a feasibility study they have commissioned from Sustrans on making a surfaced cycle- and footpath through Warneford Meadow, connecting Hill Top Road with Roosevelt Drive. There’s still the matter of funding to be settled, and details about how the path will link to the public road at the Churchill end, but representatives of several local interest groups and residents’ associations were generally supportive of the concept.

Nazi graffiti were drawn on a wall of Cheney School after the terror attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. I won’t give the perpetrators publicity by linking to the pictures. Police are asking anyone with information about this to call them on 101. The offensive daubings have now been removed.

The Post Office in Costcutter, Old Marston Road has closed and there’s no information on when, where or if a replacement will open.

Builders who had been working on building new flats on the site of the old Jack Russell pub in Marston have abandoned the job, leaving the site in what locals have described as a dangerous state.

Months of uncertainty over the future of the police office serving Marston and Northway have ended with confirmation that the office will be kept open.

The River Learning Trust who will run the new Swan School in Marston has announced that the Deputy Head is to be James MacNaughton. Mr MacNaughton is currently a maths teacher and assistant head at Cardinal Pole Catholic School in Hackney, and has a master’s degree in leadership. He read philosophy, politics and economics at St Catherine’s College, Oxford between 2007 and 2010.

A piece of cladding came off Plowman Tower in Northway in last Monday’s high winds.

The White Horse pub has reopened after a brief refurbishment.

The Oxford Trust @TheOxfordTrust unveiled their new Ohm sculpture at Stansfeld Park on Tuesday. The keys to the buildings were ceremonially handed over to the Trust by builders Beard Oxford.

Oxford Brookes is holding a free and open Fraud and Cyber Prevention Fair in association with Thames Valley Police on 20th March, 11am to 3pm. Everyone welcome.

Police found a rusty machete in Bury Knowle Park while they were carrying out a search as part of a campaign against knife crime.

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

  • CARMEN AT THE OXFORD PLAYHOUSE
  • Cuckoo lane: Six weeks of tarmac-laying starts on Monday

Headington Headlines #403

Your weekly round-up of local news for 21 – 27 January.

As Thames Valley Police struggle with funding cuts and raise the precept by £24 next year, the Marston/Northway police office which has been under threat of closure has had a reprieve, at least for the time being. The office in Barton and one in Brookes are both safe. The Oxford Mail has a full list.

À propos of which, does anyone know if there is indeed a police office on the @oxford_brookes campus? @Headingtonnews says it used to be on the Headington Hill site, but is it still there?

In other ‘Things Not Closing’ news, Headington’s branch of Santander Bank is not one of the ones being closed under the bank’s latest cost-cutting exercise.

Police are appealing for imformation about a break-in in Fortnam Close off Headley Way sometime overnight on 22/23 January. The thieves broke the patio doors to get in and steal cash.

There were no new posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week.