pubs

Headington Headlines #308

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 6 – 12 March.

The Headington Neighbourhood Plan got its final go-ahead on Thursday. There will be a referendum on 4 May, the same day as the County Council elections. Expect a big publicity drive, and if you live in Headington please take the time to look at the Plan and VOTE! More as always on the Headington Plan website.

As expected, the East Area Planning Committee approved the planning applications on the Jack Russell & Ampleforth Arms pubs. To remind you, the application for the Jack Russell is for

“Demolition of public house, erection of 16 flats (6 x 3-bed, 8 x 2-bed, 2 x 1-bed) on three floors. Provision of 19 car parking spaces.”

and for the Ampleforth

“Part demolition of the existing public house. Part redevelopment and conversion to create a new community run public house at basement and ground floor level and 1 x 1-bed, 3 x 2-bed and 2 x 3 bed residential apartments over ground, first and second floors. Erection of 1 x 3-bed dwellinghouse.(Use Class C3). Provision of private amenity space, landscaping, car parking and associated infrastructure.”

The Aldi store on Horspath Driftway (alongside Homebase, ex- Curry’s) opened at 8am on Thursday.

As one door opens, another closes. The W H Smith local store in Headington is for sale for £615k freehold, and is reported to be closing on 23 March (Thursday next week). Thanks to @headingtonnews and @DarrenGrant_UK for spotting this.

Last October the British Legion planted 456 daffodils at ‘the Final Turn’, the corner at the entrance to the JR on Headley Way; one daffodil for every member of the UK Armed Forces killed in the Afghanistan campaign. The daffodils are now flowering. See HH289 for the original story.

456 daffodils at the Final Turn
456 daffodils at the Final Turn

A pupil at @HeadingtonSch has been selected to play hockey for England U16s.

In an article in the Guardian @Bill_Heine‘s son explains why he bought the Shark House.

The Oxford Diocese has put in a planning application (ref: 17/00393/FUL) to demolish Old Marston Vicarage in Elsfield Road and replace it with a 4-bedroom house. The existing building is said to be structurally unsound. Consultation closes on 28 March.

The dispute between the City and flat-owners in the Northway and Wood Farm tower blocks over the cost of refurbishment and renovations (see HH 244 and HH282) moved forward after a tribunal ruled that the owners would not have to pay for some parts of the work. There’s still another ruling to be made later this year, and it seems the City’s right to charge for other parts of the work has been upheld.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • Marston Medical Centre
  • Reply marston medical centre
  • Proposed abolition of Oxford City Council
  • Silent Auction at Townsend House
  • Hospital Parking
  • London Road – cycle path
  • Headington Plan – what’s next?

Headington Headlines #307

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 27 February – 5 March.

After @TomBedford12 pointed out the problem with the new short cycle path on Old Road and on which I reported,  Cllr @RuthWilk sprang into action. Contractors Skanska were on the job on Monday making a dropped kerb.

What they have put in place is far from ideal, but we’re told it’s only temporary as the cycleway will be continued up Old Road in a later phase of Access to Headington.

Meanwhile the County announced that this phase of Access to Headington is ‘largely complete’. The next phase will start in The Slade, they say by ‘late March’. No details yet though. Whether this is before or after the bus lane work in Roosevelt Drive up to Churchill Drive isn’t clear.

On Wednesday this week the east Area Planning Committee will consider planning applications on:

  • The Jack Russell Pub – demolish and build flats – recommendation to agree;
  • The Ampleforth Arms – part demolition, part conversion to community pub – recommendation to agree;

The full agenda is here. Once again the application to develop on land next to the C S Lewis Nature Reserve is not on the agenda.

Southern Gas is working in Staunton Road replacing old metal gas pipes with modern PVC. Excavation is going on along one side of the street and connections to individual properties are to be disconnected for a while. Then they’ll need access to each property to test all gas appliances. Residents have raised concerns about possible damage to the Council-owned green space which is being used as a site storage depot. The number for enquiries is 0800 912 1700.

The Headington Neighbourhood Plan is up for final approval by the City Executive Board on Thursday 9 March. Assuming it gets the green light as expected, the way is clear for a local referendum on 4 May.

@HeadingtonNews reported that Temple Bookbinders is moving out of their Stephen Road premises to Yarnton.

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

  • Loss of trees in Headington Quarry
  • Reply re Headington quarry

Headington Headlines #304

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 6 – 12 February.

The @HeadingtonPlan has been through its final inspection and has been approved by the Headington Plan Forum. It’s now up to @OxfordCity to approve a referendum which if all goes well could be held in May at the same time as the County Council elections.

Three men were jailed for carrying out an armed robbery at Lloyd’s Bank in Headington in January last year.

The east Area Planning Committee approved @ScienceOxford‘s plans for the Stansfeld Field Centre site in Quarry.

The Oxford Mail carried a report about the City Council changing its mind over the demolition of a block of flats on Underhill Circus in Barton. The general regeneration programme there is still continuing.

We already knew that the City Council will take over a proportion of the new housing in @BartonPark_. It’s now reported that the City’s wholly-owned housing company which was set up last year will take over 95 units when they become available next year.

@BBCBentham on @BBCOxford radio did an item on Thursday about the suggestion that there should be a multi-storey car park at the JR. You can hear it on catch-up until 10 March. The first slot with Headington Cllr Altaf Khan starts at 39’10” and the second, with a multi-storey car park enthusiast from Birmingham (yes really), at 1h39’20”.

In other car park news, the patients’ car park at the Manor Surgery is open again at last. It looks well laid out with clear paved footways, disabled parking spaces and hopefully no more puddles!

Although Headington & Marston have a lively presence on the e-democracy forum some people have also subscribed to local messaging site Streetlife. This operation has been taken over by another, Nextdoor, which offers a similar platform for local discussion and exchange of information. Anyone thinking of signing up would do well to read the thread on the e-democracy forum, especially Stephanie Jenkins’ experience of being automatically designated “lead member”. And although it’s probably no worse than facebook, twitter or any other social media operation, you might like to read their privacy policy, especially as they require real names and actual street addresses.

There’s an online petition to save The Somerset pub on Marston Road, which closed in 2014. It was the last pub to survive in New Marston. The petition was started by Susannah Wilson and is supported by Councillor @joemcmanners. The Somerset is already listed as an Asset of Community Value, which gives locals first refusal if it is put up for sale provided they can raise the money

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • Disruption
  • New Recycling promotion
  • Proposed abolition of Oxford City Council
  • Headington Plan – what’s next?
  • I see Streetlife a rival discussion site is merging with another site
  • Events on Oxford
  • Good neighbours in Headington
  • Using stocks as punishment in 19th century Oxford