shops

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 #234

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 28 September – 4 October.

Local band Headington Hillbillies @H_Hillbillies new album “The Promised Land” was released on Monday. Listen/buy it here.

The flower planters outside Jacobs & Field were vandalised overnight on Monday.

Oxford University Hospitals, which includes the JR, has been granted foundation status, meaning the four hospitals will no longer be under direct control from central government.

From @HeadingtonNews:

The Headington Plan AGM was held on Friday.

@TheAmpRevival is looking for people to come on the limited body to form the legal structure to pull the Ampleforth pub in Risinghurst back into trading.

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

  • New Recycling promotion
  • Stolen ‘children crossing’ banners in Quarry
  • Looking for a new room to rent
  • Bus drivers and London Road
  • Inept driving
  • Friends of Bury Knowle Park still active?
  • Open Magdalen Wood Tree Felling
  • Neighbourhood Plan AGM
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 #233

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 21 – 27 September.

The Headington Plan AGM is on Friday 2 October at 7.00pm in the Green Room, Headington Hill Hall, Oxford Brookes Headington Hill campus.

The ex-BBB stores next to the sooon-to-be-ex-Post Office is reportedly going to become a butcher’s shop.

The story of the old Friar pub site on Marston Road moved into a new chapter with a planning appplication (Ref. 15/02543/FUL) to build a three-storey 30-bedroom student acommodation block (no link because the City’s website has been down over the past few days).

It was the annual Barton Bash on Saturday, opened by @AndrewSmithMP. Proceeds from the £1 entry fee will be donated to the British Heart Foundation in memory of former Barton Community vice-president Barry Holden, who passed away from heart failure in August last year. Article in The Oxford Mail.

Headington’s Live Advent Calendar – a series of 24 performances each in a different venue in the run-up to Christmas – is happening again this year. Contact them @LiveAdvent2015 or liveadvent.org.uk if you can offer a venue, a performance, or other help.

To no-one’s surprise, the promised opening of Windmill School’s new classrooms didn’t happen. At the moment it seems anyone’s guess when they will actually be ready.

A scheme offerring financial incentives to encourage more recycling of household waste has been strongly criticised on the e-democracy forum this week.

A second banner saying “Children Crossing. Headington Quarry Foundation Stage School” has disappeared, presumably stolen, from Quarry Hollow. Parents and residents are understandably upset, especially as the County refuses to install any traffic calming measures as the area is ‘low priority’. Until a serious accident, presumably.

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

  • Friar site for sale
  • New development at top of Windmill Road
  • C’mon Ruth cheer up…you’ll be back in Headington soon.
  • Crown and Thistle
  • New Recycling promotion
  • Stolen ‘children crossing’ banners in Quarry
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.