schools

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

Headington Headlines #255

TonyOX3

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

The first exhibition of the latest plans for Access to Headington was held on Saturday, and was well-attended. The plans have been modified since the initial proposals, but there are still bound to be some problems with the details. I will post more under the Access2H tab when I’ve got something ready.

The function room refurbishment @TheMasonsArmsHQ is complete.

Headington Quarry Nursery School is looking for a new Head Teacher to replace Lesley Carrington, who retires at the end of the academic year.

Oxford University’s Big Data Institute on the Old Road campus was topped out on Friday. It is Make Architects’ @MakeArchitects fifth building on the campus. Here is their description of the building.

Not strictly Headington, but if you saw the announcement a few days ago that Oxfordshire’s District Councils and MPs are backing the idea of abolishing the County Council and creating four Unitary Authorites you might like to know that there is now a websiite under the name Oxfordshire Vision and a twitter @oxonvision.

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

  • Empty ground-floor premises in Headington centre
  • Possible Extension to Car Spaces in Bury Knowle Park
  • Access to Headington – gloves off for round 2!
  • New School for Headington

Headington Headlines #253

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 8 – 14 February.

There’s a brief energy project round-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.

Copse Lane, Marston will be closed east of Eden Drive from today (Monday) to Friday for construction of a pedestrian crossing.

Waitrose has submitted a planning application (ref: 15/03655/FUL) to put out tables & chairs on its Old High Street frontage.

A Barton man was sentenced to 6 years in jail for an assault with a bottle in March last year.

The group that runs the Tyndale School off Barracks Lane is interested in opening a new free primary school in Headington. I wrote a background piece about it.

@Oxonbike is going to add 16 electric bikes to its fleet this Spring. They say “Funding has been provided by the Dept of Transport and Oxford University to trial the interest and use of rental e-bikes within the scheme.” (And is ‘fleet’ the right term for a corporate set of bikes?)

Finders Keepers removed their advertising hoarding from the corner of Latimer Road after planning enforcement action.

A man from Headington was killed in an accident on the M40 near Banbury on the night of Sunday 7 February.

An enforcement notice has been served on the owner of 14 Sandfield Road requiring the fence to be lowered and the site cleared of excess materials.

Windmill Primary School @WindmillOxfordwas given an “outstanding” rating by Ofsted after an inspection last June.

A ‘small fire‘ at Oxford Brookes’ Abercrombie Building on Thursday evening became a ‘blaze‘ by the time the news reached @TheOxfordMail.

The two people arrested in connection with the Lloyd’s Bank robbery (see HH 250) appeared in Oxford Magistrates’ Court on Friday charged with robbery.

Also on Friday a person riding a bike was taken to hospital in a “serious but not life-threatening condition” after someone hit them with a car.

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

  • Disruption
  • Tower block refurbishment
  • Empty ground-floor premises in Headington centre