Oxonbike

Headington Headlines #219

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 15 – 21 June.

Works on the eastern by-pass mean a 30mph speed limit between Cowley and Headington for the next six months while Thames Water replaces the water main that caused severe flooding in Normandy Crescent. Cycle lanes will also be closed at various times.

Risinghurst residents have submitted a formal applicarion to have The Ampleforth Arms registered as an Asset of Community Value.

Choirs from Bayards Hill, St Andrew’s, Wood Farm and Windmill primary schools took part in the Oxfordshire Festival of Voices in Dorchester Abbey on Tuesday.

A person riding a bicycle suffered life-threatening injuries in a collision with a car on Thursday morning. It happened at the Old Road/Gipsy Lane junction: police are appealing for any witnesses.

Work on the new classrooms at @WindmillOxford continues, but people are starting to wonder if they will be ready for the start of the newx term.

Progress at @WindmillOxford – but hard to imagine there'll be a fitted out 2 storey classroom block here in 10 wks pic.twitter.com/tmZ1XZtgDe

— Mike Ratcliffe (@mike_rat) June 19, 2015

The @OXONBIKE hire scheme opened two new stations this week in association with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, one at the Warneford and one at Littlemore. The Oxford Mail carried a report.

Saturday’s rather miserable weather brightened for yesterday’s (Sunday) Old Headington Open Gardens day.

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

  • St Leonards Road
  • Electronic issues in St Leonard’s Road Car Park
  • Live in Oxford? Fill in our survey on online services (takes 10 minutes)
  • Noise in Quarry
  • Mouse & Trousers Band – Saturday 20th June
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 #168

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 16 – 22 June.

Headington’s bike hire scheme was relaunched under the management of a new company. They are still using the name Oxonbike and all the details are on their website (confusingly using the domain name in the plural – Oxonbikes). The deal seems to be the same as before and the locations are also the same, though the actual bike racks have a different design and technology. Their twitter account is @oxonbike.

It seems the London Road road works have been put back to late Summer and will run through into 2015 with a break over Christmas.

The Stansfeld outdoor centre off Quarry Road has been registered as an Asset of Community Value.

Headington Quarry School celebrated its 150th anniversary this weekend.

Two aspiring politicians who stood in OX3 wards in the city elections in May are trying their luck again in the Cowley Ward by-election on 17 July. @KatHarborne (Con) stood for Quarry & Risinghurst and @DavidHenwood2 stood for Headington Ward.

And talking of elections, there’s an election to choose the 12 people who make up Old Marston Parish Council next Thursday, 26 June. @theabingdontaxi, who lives in the village, has written a guest blog about the role and powers of the Parish Council and asking for information about the candidates. Apparently it’s the first time in 16 years an election has been needed because there are more candidates than places to fill.

@Oxford_Brookes‘ John Henry Brookes Building by architects @DEArchitects, which I reported in May had won a RIBA regional award is one of six buildings in the “Campus” category to win a RIBA National award. The national award winners go forward for consideration in the Stirling Prize.

The first artist’s impressions of Oxford University’s Big Data Institute, which will be the next addition to the Old Road Campus, have been released. It’s being described as having a “ship’s prow”.

There was a break-in at The Six Bells on Beaumont Road, Quarry in the early hours of Sunday morning last week (15 June). The intruder forced a window, broke into a fruit machine and stole cash and spirits. Police are appealing for information.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • Headington bike hire scheme
  • Shell garage closure?
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 #139

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 25 November – 1 December.

Brambles closed its doors for the last time. Well-wishers, souvenir hunters and opportunists were buying stock and fittings up to the last minute.

@Oxonbike going into liquidation means their twitter account is no more.

Talking of twitter accounts, I wrote a short article about some local schools’ failure at ‘doing twitter’.

Is this a new toilet facility or the latest incarnation of the Tardis behind @JacobsandField? No, they’re building an extension apparently.


Picture c/o Jacobs & Field

A story surfaced about a suggestion that land next to C S Lewis’ house ‘Narnia’ in Kiln Lane, Risinghurst might be used to build sheltered housing. As far as I know there’s no planning application as yet, so nothing to comment on other than the story and the editorial comment in Thhe Oxford Times.

The @OxfordBusCo released pictures of its new and bigger coaches for the X90 London service. They say the livery is ‘dual-branded’ so they can use them on the airport services too. The larger coaches will initially be used to provide extra capacity at peak times starting in early December.

A firm of plumbers from Manchester was fined for fly-tipping in a field north of Barton off Bayswater Road.

A care home at Slade House on Horspath Driftway has been closed to new admissions by the Care Quality Commission, who found serious failings in the treatment of patients and the state of the facilities. Slade House is owned and run by Southern Health NHS Trust, who bought it from the Oxfordshire Learning Disability NHS Trust, also known as the Ridgeway Partnership, a year ago.

The new grit bin (originally reported here in October) has been installed on the corner of Ethelred Court and Dunstan Road. Headington Ward’s LibDem councillors and the Friends of Old Headington provided the funds.

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

  • Has anyone got a large Santa suit they could loan for a day?
  • Letting Rooms to Overseas Students
  • Police and Crime Commissioner Public meeting
  • Inclusive Neighbours Online Workshop Sat Nov 30 – Kingston, Dec 2 Event on New Voices too
  • London Road proposed cycle lane consultation
  • NHS Public Meeting
  • Sound Insulation & Noisy Neighbours
  • Events in Headington
  • Badgers in Headington
I try to 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.