parks

Headington Headlines #310

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 20 – 26 March.

The heatpipe roadworks in Headington’s residential streets have finished and all closures and diversions have been lifted*. Work continues on Churchill Drive, affecting the 700 and 900 bus routes. Stagecoach has published this schedule of diversions.

*Correction – apparently not. Work still happening in All Saints Road!

The ‘missing link’ is the London Road crossing, of which I gave details a month ago. Vital Energi has confirmed that they will be working on this 7 days a week. Weekend working hours will be 0900 – 1600 on Saturdays and 1000 – 1600 on Sundays. The work starts on 3 April and is scheduled to run until 28 April.

All my posts about the project are under the ‘Energy Project’ tab in the main menu, and there’s a page of links and contact details here.

As reported last week, plans for the next roadworks were presented on Thursday: the next phase of Access to Headington will be on The Slade and last for about six months. The latest drawings downloaded from the County’s website are here

A man was stabbed in Barton Road on Tuesday. Three men were arrested; two were later released without charge.

The largest piece of public art in Oxford so far was installed on the Old Road Campus. It is by sculptor Julian Wild and is titled “Origin”.

Origin
Origin
Photo: Julian Wild

Sadly the other recent public artwork, the Narnia carvings in Bury Knowle Park, were trashed by vandals. The row of small figures alongside Aslan was badly damaged (Mr Tumnus lost his head) and some trees and plants were also targeted.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week is this video of the famous can-can legs being installed at the old (Not The) Moulin Rouge in New High Street:

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

  • Hospital Parking
  • Cost of petrol and diesel in Oxford

Headington Headlines #309

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 13 – 19 March.

The heatpipe work on Sandfield Road has finished and the diversions have been lifted.

The death of Van Coulter, Labour City Councillor for Barton & Sandhills, has attracted tributes from all over the city. His funeral will be on 30 March at the Bayswater Road crematorium.

New play equipment has been installed in the Margaret Road recreation ground.

A new mosaic celebrating the history of Wood Farm was unveiled in Atkyns Road on Tuesday.

The next phase of Access to Headington will be on the Slade from Old Road to the Corner House roundabout. The latest version of the plans and timing will be on display at the Bullingdon Community Centre (Peat Moors/Bulan Road) on Thursday 23rd March between 2pm and 6pm. The work “will focus on providing of off-road cycle lanes, side road entry treatments and improved crossing facilities on both sides of the road”.

Thanks to John Clarke for pointing out I showed the wrong building in my note last week about Old Marston Vicarage. I showed the Hall. This is the Vicarage.

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

  • London Road cycle path
  • Hospital Parking
  • Cost of petrol and diesel in Oxford
  • Putting up posters

Headington Headlines #269

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 30 May – 5 June.

Vital Energi gave a preview of their latest and hopefully final plans for the heatpipe roadworks before they submit the planning application this week. Read my write-up here.

All my posts about the project are under the ‘Energy Project’ tab in the main menu, and there’s a page of links and contact details here.

Queen Street in the city centre is closed to all motor vehicles from today. Some bus routes are affected – see where to get on and off your Headington bus here. The same link has details of the @Stagecoach_Ox services affected by the cuts in the County Council’s subsidies. The 17A & 17C services will no longer run after 21 July and there are timetable changes to the 14 and 14A routes.

The papers for the County’s meeting to decide on Access to Headington have been published, with the officers’ recommendation to accept the latest version retaining some parking on Windmill Road and Headley Way. My thoughts – and links to the papers – here.

Investigators were called to @WindmillOxford Primary School in Margaret Road on Tuesday after reports of a possible gas leak. Children were not in schoool as it was half term.

Demolition of the houses on the corner of Latimer Road started on Tuesday, to make way for the new student block.

The traffic lights at the Headington roundabout failed on Wednesday morning. Again.

Richards Medical Centre at 12 Old High Street will close after the retirement of Dr Peter Saunders in September (via @HeadingtonNews).

@HeadingtonNews also reported that Nielsen’s have sold their site on the London Road to a property developer and will move to the Oxford Business Park by early 2018.

Congratuations to @HeadingtonSch whose rowing team became national schools girls’ eights champions for the eighth successive year.

A planning application (ref: 16/01267/FUL) has been submitted on behalf of @thespiritoftoad to build an ‘artisan distillery incorporating visitor centre, tasting room, storage barn and café/restaurant’ on the Council Depot on Cheney Lane, at the top of South Park. Here’s the Oxford Mail’s take on the story.

The play area at the bottom of Sandfield Road is one of three sites trialling a voluntary no-smoking policy in the enclosed play area. Anyone familiar with the park will know that smokers escaping the JR West Wing tend to go just inside the gate into the park near the bus stop. Local councillors want to know what you think about the no-smoking idea.

It’s been a busy weekend. Oxford Brookes’ open day, the Farmers’ Market and a sunny, well-attended @HeadingtonFest all happening over the two days.

But less happily, there was a break-in in Wharton Road on Sunday and three bikes were stolen from a garden shed.

My favourite OX3-related tweet of the week:

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

  • AC Nielsen building and A40 surveying work
  • Possible distillery and visitor centre at Headington end of Cheney Lane
  • Closure of Parking Shop
  • Energy pipe