parks

Headington Headlines #393

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 5 – 11 November.

Frontier Estates failed to get planning permission for their care home at 1 Pullen’s Lane, but the JR got permission to extend the A&E facility.

Kudos to @OxMailNathanB for spotting that care home operators Baycroft had jumped the gun by including Pullen’s Lane in their portfolio. Here’s a screenshot, as the link will probably go soon!

Baycroft website 11/11/2018
Baycroft website 11/11/2018

Police were called to a disturbance at Meadowbrook College in Marston which broke out when they tried to recover a stolen scooter.

Headington Hill Park has a new information board thanks to the Friends of the park.

Japlene, the bespoke dressmakers in Windmill Road, is closing at the end of the year. Owner Polly Hyde started the company in 1980 and they have been in the same premises all that time.

Dr Anandagopal Srinivasan of Sandfield Road, charged last year with a sexual assault at the JR and another at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge (see HH334) is standing trial at Oxford Crown Court. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Police have issued a warning about a man knocking on doors in Headington trying to get money with a hard-luck story. If this happens to you the Police ask you to call 999.

Oxford City FC held League 2 Tranmere Rovers to a 3 – 3 draw at Tranmere in the first round of the FA Cup. Kabby Tshimanhga scored a hat-trick. Their reward is a home replay.

My favourite Headington-related tweet:

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

Headington Headlines #391

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 22 – 28 October.

In case I’ve not mentioned it before, thanks to @TheOxfordMail reporters for being the source of many of the local stories I pick up and report here. Thanks too to all the lovely local people on twitter who pass on their stories, comments and discussions.

Thames Water says that a problem with ‘mis-connected drains’ putting domestic sewage into the Lye Valley has been solved. Although there’s some confusion about whether this particular problem was affecting the Lye Brook or the Boundary Brook, both streams suffer to a varying extent from surface drains which inevitably include polluting road run-off. It’s welcome news that mis-connected domestic drains have been rectified though; every little helps!

The Friends of Headington Hill Park have a rather nice new website friendsofheadingtonhillpark.org.uk. Just one question – how DO you pronounce FoHHP?

The expected planning application by Oxford Brookes to demolish and rebuild their Clive Booth Student Village accommodation has been published on the City Council’s website (ref: 18/02587/FUL). Comments are open until 30 November.

Headington Action @HeadingtonA has entered the @OxfordBusCo competition to ‘Brand a Bus’. Vote for them here – scroll down to find no. 18).

Oxford United Football Club @OUFCOfficial celebrated the 125th anniversary of their foundation as Headington United FC. The local paper covered the occasion well, including presenting this quiz where you can test your in-depth knowledge of the club’s history.

The City Council has finally resolved the outstanding problem of the condition of the Bullingdon Community Centre on Peat Moors/Bulan Road (see HH 326, 328, 330, & 359). The previous plan for partial demolition has now been replaced by a £1m scheme for complete demolition of the Centre, replacing it with a brand new building.

Staff from Connell’s Estate Agents in Headington came to the rescue of an elderly man whose car stalled on the London Road at rush hour.

And finally … continuing the good news theme, a special OX3 welcome to Henry George Stuart Fowler, age 10 days, who was born in the back of his parents’ car on the corner of London Road and Headley Way on Friday last week (19th).

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

  • Brand a Bus
  • Oxford Architectural History lecture

Headington Headlines #383

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 27 August – 2 September

The planning application for the proposed new Swan School in Marston goes to the East Area Planning Committee on Wednesday (Agenda item 3). Agenda item 4 covers the demolition of the Meadowbrook Buidings and provision of temporary buildings. Under item 3 the report says “Officers consider that the proposal would accord with the policies of the development plan when considered as a whole and the range of material considerations, on balance, support the grant of planning permission.”

The 17th Headington Beer Festival is on next weekend @TheMasonsArmsHQ. It starts on friday 7 September.

The Mosaics/Barton Park development continues to make progress. I’m told all the first town houses have been sold. There’s a new boardwalk parallel to the Bayswater Brook, though you can’t see the water from it, and a small playground for small children beside the flood storage pond.

Barton Park play area
Barton Park play area

Rerouted buses using the Saxon Way entrance to the JR to avoid Access to Headington roadworks are being blamed for the road surface breaking up.

With the City Council in the news for contracting the letting of an upmarket apartment in the Town Hall to a local estate agent who in turn advertise it on AirBnB, @HeadingtonNews has been looking at AirBnB properties in Headington.

Police are monitoring South Park and Headington Hill Park in an effort to clamp down on drug dealing. They ask anyone who sees anything suspicious to contact them by phoning 101.

The Marston cycle path will be ‘rejuvenated’ this week. The County Council says “The resurfacing will take place in the week starting 3 September, and the path will be completely closed on 6 and 7 September. There will be alternative routes for cyclists during this short closure period.”

Marston’s Independent Councillor Mick Haines has published the second book in his ongoing biography series. I understand it’s currently only available via his daughter’s facebook page; I haven’t got a link for that. [Update 1700 03/09/2018 I now know that Mick’s new book is not part of his autobiography. It is “a fictional story based in Oxford in the 1950s and 60s”. Three pounds of the five pound cost is being donated to Cancer Research.]

My favourite Headington-related tweet:

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