swan school

Headington Headlines #412

TonyOX3

With regret, this will be the last Headington Headlines for the time being. A rather sudden change in family circumstances means I won’t be able to spend as much time at the computer as before, and this is one of the things that will have to go. I still plan to keep @TonyOX3 going on twitter, and I may post occasional articles of interest here too. So for now, thanks for reading and don’t forget to follow @HeadingtonNews, the Headington website, and the local e-democracy forum for all things Headington and OX3.

And for the last time for now, here is your weekly round-up of local news for 1 – 7 April.

Bill Heine, the sometimes controversial, always entertaining, and much loved broadcaster, journalist and installer of the Headington shark, died on Wednesday. I am glad to have known him, albeit slightly, and send condolences to his family and many friends.

The planning application for Frontier Estates’ speculative development of student accommodation and offices off Jack Straw’s Lane and Marston Road has appeared on the Council’s website. The reference is 19/00779/FUL and it consists of 107 documents. The application is open for comments unrtil 2 May. The story of Frontier Estates’ involvement in OX3 is here.

Pavement parking is a significant problem in Headinton so many people will be interested in the Commons Select Committee on Transport’s enquiry into it. The official web page with details of how to contribute is here.

It’s been confirmed that the new Swan School will open in September, though it will be in temporary buildings at the Cherwell School in Summertown.

27 April is the confirmed opening date for the renascent Somerset pub, which we must now call the Up In Arms.

Work officially started on the extension of the A&E Department at the JR Hospital.

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

    • Exhibition of Student housing proposals at 1-7 Jack Straws Lane and Marston road Frontier ESTates

Headington Headlines #409

TonyOX3

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

The main local story of the week was the stabbing of a young woman outside Headington Co-op on Tuesday afternoon. A major police operation followed; Stile Road was closed for 24 hours. A man was arrested the following day. He has appeared in court charged with attempted murder and other offences and has been remanded. He is likely to stand trial in August.

Work is expected to start today (Monday 18 March) on laying a 3-metre wide hard surface along Cuckoo Lane from Franklin Road to Pullen’s Lane. Initially a footpath, the County Council has plans to designate it as a combined cycle- and footpath at some time in the future. The project has been known to Councillors and some local residents for many months, but calls for a public consultation have fallen on deaf ears. You can read more about it in this thread on the e-democracy forum.

Less controversially, Oxford University and Oxford Health showed the results of a feasibility study they have commissioned from Sustrans on making a surfaced cycle- and footpath through Warneford Meadow, connecting Hill Top Road with Roosevelt Drive. There’s still the matter of funding to be settled, and details about how the path will link to the public road at the Churchill end, but representatives of several local interest groups and residents’ associations were generally supportive of the concept.

Nazi graffiti were drawn on a wall of Cheney School after the terror attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. I won’t give the perpetrators publicity by linking to the pictures. Police are asking anyone with information about this to call them on 101. The offensive daubings have now been removed.

The Post Office in Costcutter, Old Marston Road has closed and there’s no information on when, where or if a replacement will open.

Builders who had been working on building new flats on the site of the old Jack Russell pub in Marston have abandoned the job, leaving the site in what locals have described as a dangerous state.

Months of uncertainty over the future of the police office serving Marston and Northway have ended with confirmation that the office will be kept open.

The River Learning Trust who will run the new Swan School in Marston has announced that the Deputy Head is to be James MacNaughton. Mr MacNaughton is currently a maths teacher and assistant head at Cardinal Pole Catholic School in Hackney, and has a master’s degree in leadership. He read philosophy, politics and economics at St Catherine’s College, Oxford between 2007 and 2010.

A piece of cladding came off Plowman Tower in Northway in last Monday’s high winds.

The White Horse pub has reopened after a brief refurbishment.

The Oxford Trust @TheOxfordTrust unveiled their new Ohm sculpture at Stansfeld Park on Tuesday. The keys to the buildings were ceremonially handed over to the Trust by builders Beard Oxford.

Oxford Brookes is holding a free and open Fraud and Cyber Prevention Fair in association with Thames Valley Police on 20th March, 11am to 3pm. Everyone welcome.

Police found a rusty machete in Bury Knowle Park while they were carrying out a search as part of a campaign against knife crime.

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

  • CARMEN AT THE OXFORD PLAYHOUSE
  • Cuckoo lane: Six weeks of tarmac-laying starts on Monday

Headington Headlines #390

TonyOX3

Your weekly round-up of local news for 15 – 21 October.

If you’re affected by the overnight road closures around Headley Way/Cherwell Drive this post gives some more information about what’s going on.

Probably no-one was surprised that the Swan School planning permission was finally granted by the Planning Review Committee on Monday. The original reasons for refusal on strictly planning grounds were weak, and the objectors’ game was effectively lost when the County Council accepted the (in my view) dubious fudge over protecting cyclists on the Marston cycle path from motor vehicles crossing the path. On the plus side, Oxford needs more school places and realistically no other site was going to be found in a reasonable timescale.

Posh Fish was closed for a few days while they waited for new equipment to be delivered and installed. They’re open again now.

The proposed Controlled Parking Zone in Wood Farm, the plan for which first emerged in August (see HH379), has been announced by the County Council. You have until 16 November to send in your comments.

My favourite Headington-related tweet:

There were no new posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week.