Headington Headlines #391

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

In case I’ve not mentioned it before, thanks to @TheOxfordMail reporters for being the source of many of the local stories I pick up and report here. Thanks too to all the lovely local people on twitter who pass on their stories, comments and discussions.

Thames Water says that a problem with ‘mis-connected drains’ putting domestic sewage into the Lye Valley has been solved. Although there’s some confusion about whether this particular problem was affecting the Lye Brook or the Boundary Brook, both streams suffer to a varying extent from surface drains which inevitably include polluting road run-off. It’s welcome news that mis-connected domestic drains have been rectified though; every little helps!

The Friends of Headington Hill Park have a rather nice new website friendsofheadingtonhillpark.org.uk. Just one question – how DO you pronounce FoHHP?

The expected planning application by Oxford Brookes to demolish and rebuild their Clive Booth Student Village accommodation has been published on the City Council’s website (ref: 18/02587/FUL). Comments are open until 30 November.

Headington Action @HeadingtonA has entered the @OxfordBusCo competition to ‘Brand a Bus’. Vote for them here – scroll down to find no. 18).

Oxford United Football Club @OUFCOfficial celebrated the 125th anniversary of their foundation as Headington United FC. The local paper covered the occasion well, including presenting this quiz where you can test your in-depth knowledge of the club’s history.

The City Council has finally resolved the outstanding problem of the condition of the Bullingdon Community Centre on Peat Moors/Bulan Road (see HH 326, 328, 330, & 359). The previous plan for partial demolition has now been replaced by a £1m scheme for complete demolition of the Centre, replacing it with a brand new building.

Staff from Connell’s Estate Agents in Headington came to the rescue of an elderly man whose car stalled on the London Road at rush hour.

And finally … continuing the good news theme, a special OX3 welcome to Henry George Stuart Fowler, age 10 days, who was born in the back of his parents’ car on the corner of London Road and Headley Way on Friday last week (19th).

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

  • Brand a Bus
  • Oxford Architectural History lecture

Headington Headlines #182

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 22 – 28 September.

The first AGM of the @HeadingtonPlan and Forum is on Wednesday 1 October at 7.30pm in the Baptist Church, Old High Street.

A burst 24″ water main (that’s a big one) overnight on Monday in Normandy Crescent (south of Horspath Road) caused significant flooding and a loss of service to some people in OX3 on Tuesday morning.

The man arrested on suspicion of raping a woman in her flat on Roosevelt Drive last Saturday appeared in court on Tuesday charged with the rape and several other offences in the area. He was remanded in custody to appear in Oxford Crown Court in October.

As if ‘troubled retail giant’ Tesco didn’t have enough to worry about, they’ve upset independent Marston Councillor Mick Haines (again) by blocking a pathway (again) with a hoarding at the site of the old Friar pub on Marston Road. The hoarding has now been moved back from the path – again.

As of today there is no longer a City 23 bus service. It used to run up the London Road then to the JR via Headley Way.

A motocyclist was seriously injured and taken to the JR after a collision with a car in Marsh Lane on Saturday morning.

As of Saturday the @CultivateOxford veg van will be outside Barclays bank every Saturday from 1030 to 1400, a slight reduction in hours.

It was the Barton Young Achievers’ Dinner on Saturday, organised by @ThriveBarton. The Thrive team also have a good news story about falling levels of anti-social behaviour in Barton.

It’s been another week without any active posts on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum.

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 #92

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 24 – 30 December.

A burst water main on Christmas Eve (Monday) affected water pressure in parts of Headington and Marston but to everyone’s relief @ThamesWater had fixed it in a few hours.

That evening police were called to a fight outside the Britannia pub. One man was arrested and another taken to hospital.

A trail motor bike belonging to @Zythophilia was stolen in Headington on Christmas Day. Please keep your eyes open for it.

Headington Quarry Morris Men revived the tradition of performing a mummers’ play in the streets around Quarry on Boxing Day.

The A40 northern by-pass was blocked westbound for about 2 hours early on Friday evening due to an accident near the Marston junction.

A rather tenuous OX3 connection, but Patricia Wagstaff of Appleton was awarded the BEM in the New Year’s Honours List for her volunteering and fund-raising work at the Sobell House Hospice and other charities.

My favorite Headington-related tweet this week:

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

  • London Road Improvements Stage 3
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.