pubs

Headington Headlines #244

TonyOX3

The weekly round-up of local news for 6 – 12 December.

Welcome to my new-look blog! I hope it’s easier to find what you’re looking for. You can comment on the most recent posts – see the About page if you can’t see how to do that.

The first meeting for the general public to hear about the Hospital Energy Project happened on Wednesday. My report is here. There’s more discussion on the e-democracy forum under the thread ‘Disruption‘.

I’ve also posted the latest schedule of road closures. It doesn’t include the work on London Road and Old Road.

Oxford City Council has approved a £2m flood alleviation scheme for Marston and Northway.

The Latimer Road planning application for student accommodation, which was rejected by the East Area Planning Committee last week, is being referred to the Council’s Planning Review Committee. Although I haven’t yet seen official confirmation I understand it will go to the meeting on 27 January 2016, at 6:00pm in the Town Hall.

There was a collision between a car and an ambulance on the Headington roundabout on Wednesday morning.

Private residents in Northway & Wood Farm tower blocks will have to pay £40,000–£60,000 each towards refurbishments.

A devastating report into Southern Health NHS Trust, who ran the centre in Slade Park where Connor Sparrowhawk died while having a bath, says the Trust “failed to investigate the unexpected deaths of more than 1,000 people since 2011”. The ‘Southern Health’ tag on the right links to earlier mentions in the development of this sad story.

Here’s one of the weirdest Headington mentions I’ve ever come across. Look at the web page but PLEASE DON’T CLICK on any link there – I can’t believe it’s safe!

Mick Haines, campaigning independent local councillor for Marston, seen here without his trademark leather jacket, has joined the fight to stop the demolition of the Jack Russell pub and the site being used for new flats.

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

  • Disruption
  • Free water, energy and money-saving offer
  • Housing
  • Tower block refurbishment
  • BARTON LINK ROAD PROTEST

Headington Headlines #242

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 23 – 29 November.

The Headington Heatpipe story broke in the local mainstream media on Monday, with coverage on BBC Radio Oxford and in The Oxford Mail. The reports mainly focussed on the unexplained refusal of the OUH NHS Hospitals Trust to do anything to allay residents’ anxieties. It was also a hot topic at Tuesday’s Ward Focus meeting. The Trust is holding an invitation-only briefing for the media and local Councillors today (Monday): expect more details soon.

After more than a month, the County Council finally got a court order on Monday requiring the travellers camped on the Marston Ferry Road cycle track to leave. They left on Tuesday.

Confusion still reigns over the shop being prepared next to the Post Office, the old BBB Stores. One rumour says it will be an off-licence, but no licence application has been made. A competing rumour is that it will be a halal butcher. Place your bets!

Residents in Wood Farm and Lye Valley have been canvassed about whether they would support a new Aldi store on the site of Curry’s (adjacent to Homebase) on Horspath Driftway.

Photographer @Howard_S from Old Headington won @BBOWT‘s Photographer of the Month accolade for this fern photo.

An accident involving a car and a pedestrian caused long delays on the city-bound A40 on Wednesday evening. The female pedestrian had head and arm injuries and was taken to the JR. Her condition was said to be ‘not serious’.

The Black Boy in Old Headington @TheBlackBoyFood wants to branch out. They’ve submitted a planning application (ref: 15/03259/FUL) to convert the first floor of the gastropub to provide five guest bedrooms and a flat.

The Crown and Thistle pub on Old Road, which has been closed since 2012, has been put on the market for leasing at £22,500 p.a. The Oxford Mail article speculates that this may be a move designed to demonstrate it is not commercially viable as a pub in the hope it will then be easier to get permission to develop the site for other uses, probably housing.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

— Headington Plan (@HeadingtonPlan) November 28, 2015

Spare a thought for @HeadingtonNews, the long-suffering moderator of the e-democracy forum which this week has seen an outpouring of claim and counter-claim about the Barton Park – Northway access link. Threads on the forum have become so tangled it’s impossible to follow a coherent line. The problem’s not helped by an East Oxford rumour being sneaked in under cover of Northway.

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

  • Housing
  • Travellers along the Marston Ferry cycle track
  • Northway Green access road
  • Jack Russell Pub
  • Marston
  • Councillors opinions outweighing what is right……
  • Foxwell Drive
  • Photo of demolition squad in Foxwell Drive
  • saving Foxwell Drive Green space
  • New Aldi store could replace Currys off Horspath Driftway in Oxford
  • Jaya’s Deli – new shop on London Road where Turkish grocery used to be
  • Local concert this evening!
  • Supporting something for the greater good for one side, is not good if at the expense of the other side!
  • EOCC / Foxwell Drive

Headington Headlines #239

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 2 – 8 November.

Catalin Horhota, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to life imprisonment for a series of rapes, sexual assaults and burglary. The rape and sexual assaults happened in Roosevelt Drive in September last year.

The application to build student housing on the site of the old Friar pub in Marston (see HH236) was agreed in principle by the East Area Planning Committee on Wednesday. Final permission will be granted after a legal agreement on conditions has been reached.

A resident of Derwent Avenue had to call the Fire & Rescue services when his electric shower caught fire while he was using it.

There’s only one of the new houses at The Willows (the old Barton Road cricket ground) still unsold. Carpe diem!

The heat transfer scheme between the JR and the Churchill was discussed at the Ward Focus meeting two weeks ago. I wasn’t at the meeting but have gathered some information about it. There will be more in the public domain for local discussion soon, I’m told.

The Head of @WindmillOxford criticised the government’s proposals for more stringent tests for 7-yr olds.

Streets in the @BartonPark_ development will be named after people with strong connections with Barton, as well as plants and animals (“flora and fauna”), says @OxfordCity. One of the people mentioned, Vashti de Montfort Wellborne, appears in a stained glass window in St Andrew’s church, Old Headington. Read about her here on Headington News’ website.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • Builders’ vans
  • Car sharing
  • Gearing up to support your cherished Oxford Headington and Marston forum
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.