schools

Headington Headlines #375

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 2 – 8 July .

Andrew Gilligan’s report on cycling in Oxford, Cambridge and Milton Keynes has been published. Gilligan is Cycling Commissioner for London; the report was commissioned by the National Infrastructure Commission.  It catalogues the failings of cycling provision in Oxford – there is nothing that Oxford’s cycling campaigners have not been saying for years. It proposes spending about £150m on improvements, many of them in the Eastern Arc including Headington. The full report “Running out of Road” is here: I suggest reading the Introduction and Chapters 2 and 3 to get the picture of what he suggests for Oxford.

The locally unpopular Swan school has been a topic of debate on the e-democracy forum. It’s worth reading  the most recent posts (scroll down).

St Nicholas School and friends have started work painting new murals on the walls of the Marston underpass. They hope to finish this week.

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

  • Headington in Andrew Gilligan’s report
  • New Swan School planning application
  • Travelling to London from Headington
  • Beech House

Headington Headlines #372

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 11 – 17 June.

File under “Oh no, not more roadworks!” A collapsed sewer in Green Road means the road will be closed for about three weeks while Thames Water carry out the necessary repairs.

Oxford Bus Company’s ‘Pick-me-Up’ service starts on Monday 25 June. It will operate within the area shown on the map below. Within the zone a minibus picks you up more-or-less anywhere and takes you to within a short walk of your chosen destination for a fixed fare of £2.50. You’ll need the app on your smartphone. Full details here pickmeup.oxfordbus.co.uk/.

Pick-me-Up operating area
Pick-me-Up operating area

The collapse of South Oxfordshire’s local plan means the choice of housing sites in the district has gone back to square one. Land at Wick Farm and on the Christ Church College land next to Barton Park, both of which had been rejected in the original proposals, is now back on the agenda. Watch this space for updates.

Oxford Civic Society added its voice to the chorus of objections to the siting of the proposed Swan School at the Harlow Centre in Marston. “A quart into a pint pot”; “based on expediency”; “the site is far too small”; traffic managemnt measures, especially for cycles, are “implausible”.

So far I’ve had two leaflets through my letterbox promoting LibDem Stefanie (‘Stef’) Garden @SGarden13 as Ruth Wilkinson’s replacement. Nothing yet from declared Conservative and Labour candidates, and I don’t know if the Green’s will be fielding anyone. The poll is on Thursday 19 July.

The Costa Coffee drive-thru [sic] at the Horspath Driftway trading estate (where Aldi is) officially opens today, although informed sources say it’s been open for quite a few days.

My favourite Headington-related tweet:

Once again there were no new posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week:

Headington Headlines #363

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 26 March – 1 April.

Southern Health NHS Trust has been fined £2m for its failings over the deaths of Connor Sparrowhawk and Teresa Colvin.

Buses on routes 13/X13 and U5 had to be diverted to avoid overnight roadworks on Marston Road. The road closure seemed to take people by surprise, although yellow warning signs had been on show for some time.

The planning application for 95 student bedrooms at Ruskin College (see HH337) and the separate application for a further 12 beds at Stoke House go to east Area Planning Committee on Wednesday with recommendations for approval.

@clumpytree reported another failure by Oxfordshire CC to have cyclists in mind when they work on the roads. The subsequent thread got picked up and reported quite widely, prompting a promise from the county that it would be fixed ‘soon’. Original tweet here.

In other roadworks news, the London Road crossing that is being built at the end of Osler Road has been criticised for not having lights or any kind of pedestrian priority. @RuthWilk reports the explanation given at the last Headington Ward focus meeting. Without knowing a lot more about the technical work behind the decision it’s not possible to know whether ‘Health & Safety’ and the interests of the bus companies have been given priority over pedestrian safety and convenience. In a local shopping and commercial centre movement on foot ought to be safe, quick and simple; road traffic should be controlled accordingly.

A court has ruled that the charges Oxford City planned to levy on residents of the city’s five tower blocks woud be ‘excessive’, and has reduced the amounts drastically. For Plowman Tower in Northway the council was going to charge each property £48,766.75; the reduced figure is £2,640.85. In Foresters Tower in Wood Farm the charge has dropped from £49,116.62 to £2,642.77.

Marston Saints Football Club has had to abandon one of their pitches because of damage by moles, dog fouling and dogs digging in the soil. The pitch is off Horseman Close, Old Marston.

St Andrew’s School @sasastandrews1 has been awarded £2000 from the Tesco ‘Bags of Help’ scheme. The money will go on new curtains for the hall.

No local news is complete without a toilet story (who remembers “Clochemerle”)? The e-democracy forum has a thread which started as a complaint about closed facilities at the Bury Knowle Park toilets and then morphed into a series of exchanges on the Labour-controlled city council’s record in providing sport and leisure facilities. The good news is that the toilets are being repaired.

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

  • Bury knowle park, stealth closure/reduction of facilities