Ruskin

Headington Headlines #163

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 12 – 18 May.

A report from the Quality Care Commission identified a number of areas where the JR Hospital needs to make improvements. A report in The Oxford Mail by @OllieOxMail has a full summary.

Planned road works on the Ring Road at the Kiln Lane junction for Risinghurst mean that entry to and exit from the estate will be severely restricted for about three weeks, starting on 27 May. Residents say it means they will be living on ‘an island’. The work is for “new signal poles and toucan crossing aspects”. A Council spokesman said the work will improve cycle links between Headington and Thornhill P&R, and will cost about £40,000.

After reports on twitter on Wednesday evening of police activity outside Macdonalds, this story came out the following day. A young boy was injured, thankfully not seriously, in a road accident involving a Renault Clio on The Roundway.

Headington Plan @HeadingtonPlan has set up several Policy Groups to consult on and develop policies for inclusion in the Neighbourhood Plan. Get in touch with them if you’d like to be part of the work.

In an operation on Thursday morning police issued nearly 50 tickets in traffic checks at the Headington roundabout and Bayswater Road. Sixteen drivers were issued tickets for flouting right turn bans, while 11 were fined for not wearing seatbelts. Drivers were also caught using phones and speeding in a 30mph limit.

The new Principal of Ruskin College is Dr Chris Wilkes, who has been Acting Pricipal since the departure of Audrey Mullender.

Two concrete slabs have been placed in Bury Knowle Park as bases for table-tennis tables. People are upset about the unforgiving material and the lack of any consultation which would have allowed other options to be considered. The e-democracy forum has the story.

The postponed Marston Parish Council election will be held on Thursday 26 June. The polling station will be in Mortimer Hall.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • Its time Oxford had a congestion charge
  • Hi from Bartonia
  • Housing Policy in Headington
  • Concrete in Bury Knowle Park – lack of consultation
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 #133

TonyOX3

No Headington Headlines last week as I was away, but now here again is my weekly round-up of local news, this time for 14 – 20 October.

The Oxford Times reported that St Andrew’s School is the most popular primary school in the county, measured in terms of the number of people who put schools down as their first, second or third preference compared with the number of places offered. On this measure there were 8.3 applications per place at St Andrew’s.

The County’s consultation on issues around a transport strategy for Headington closed last week. Here are links to some of the reponses by interested groups:

The map of the area proposed to be covered by the Headington Neighbourhood Plan has been submitted to Oxford City Council for approval. The Headington Plan website has an explanatory commentary. The Neighbourhood Plan Forum met on Thursday (report not yet published).

@headingtonnews pointed out that Barton West lies in the parish of St Andrew’s, Old Headington and wondered if this will change.

Professor Audrey Mullender, Principal of Ruskin College, announced her retirement with effect from 30 November. She has held the role since 2004.

Carl Sprake posted a blog about lichens in St Andrew’s churchyard in Old Headington.

In what looks suspiciously like a troll the Oxford Mail carried a story saying that in the long term, Christ Church might sell some of the land it owns adjacent to the West Barton development. The land is in South Oxfordshire District and is Green Belt so I suggest the chances of anything happening in the forseeable future are vanishingly small.

The Butchers Arms @ButchersArmsOxfhas a new shark-themed logo (with no apostrophe).

Police are looking for a Headington 17-year old who is charged with rape and who failed to attend a court hearing.

Up & Running moved across the road into the old Cartridge World shop, but there’s still no sign of Morrison’s opening.

Rosemary Restaurant continued to strip its façade of all signage. Unconfirmed rumours are that it will re-emerge with a different name.

Headington Ward’s LibDem councillors and the Friends of Old Headington have pooled funds to provide a grit bin on Ethelred Court (it’s off Dunstan Road if you didn’t know). The bin’s on order.

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

  • Has anyone got a large Santa suit they could loan for a day?
  • Headington Transport Strategy Consultation
  • Some Concerns about Headington
  • Headington Neighbourhood Plan Forum
  • New Headington bus routes
  • Punctuality Problems on No 4 Bus
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.

Headington Headlines #110

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 29 April – 5 May.

There was an election on Thursday – two if you live in Churchill Ward. Turnout ranged from 35% in Headington & Quarry county division to 18.5% in the Churchill ward by-election. Labour were clear and unsurprising winners in all the OX3 areas apart from Headington & Quarry where two existing councillors, one Labour, one LibDem, were competing in a division with new boundaries covering part of each of their existing territory. Roz Smith (LibDem) @RosalindRogers narrowly beat Dee Sinclair @Delia_Sinclair by 31 votes, a majority of 1%. All the results for Oxford are on on my blog or more legibly on this pdf.

About half the new spaces being created at Thornhill P&R opened on Monday – that’s about 250. The remainder are due to be ready by July.

At the Headington roundabout the ‘safe’ cycle route from Thornhill proved impassable for disabled fundraiser @Claire80Lomas as she arrived in Oxford on her hand-bike on a 400 mile cycle challenge. Claire was the person who completed the London marathon in 17 days last year wearing a robotic suit. Her domestique @charliecoffee wasn’t impressed with the “cycling city”‘s response either.

@FoodieonTour, aka Jacqui Thorndyke, blogged about Headington Farmers’ Market.

The Ruskin Arts Festival was on Saturday 4 May, the same day as a street festival at the top of Kennett Road to mark the start of Oxfordshire Art Weeks.

Oxford author @GriseldaHeppel spoke about her book “Ante’s Inferno” aimed at 9-12 year-olds to girls at @HeadingtonSch.

A project to bring Latin and classical studies to a wider section of the community is to open in Cheney School later this year.

@HeadingtonPlan has a facebook page.

A big list of active topics on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week:

  • Thornhill Park and Ride Expansion Plans.
  • CoNDem nasty hypocrisy
  • Bury Knowle Park big swing on a pole thing
  • Free family bus ticket on Arriva (can be used on 280 service in Headington)
  • Local elections, May 2013
  • Shop at end of Kennett Road
  • A Neighbourhood Plan for Headington
  • Oxford’s Polish School celebrates 10 years of Achievement!
  • Oxford’s 1st Polish Business Fair
  • North-East Area Forum
  • Redevelopment of Northway
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.