Thornhill

Headington Headlines #114

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 27 May – 2 June.

The Headington Festival @HeadingtonFest on Sunday was a great success, with sunshine and plenty of stalls and entertainments bringing out the crowds.

The elderly woman who was found dead in a house in The Link, Risinghurst last week died of natural causes. The man arrested on suspicion of murder has been released without charge.

There was a widely re-tweeted report about a woman in Muslim dress being spat at in Headington the week before last. I checked with the original poster @TellMamaUK and the source was a text message. They couldn’t give and I haven’t seen any further confirmation of the source or the story.

Fire and Rescure services were called to a chemical incident at Ivy Lane flats. A cleaner tried to unblock a sink with a chemical cleaner not knowing a resident had tried the same thing but with a different chemical the previous evening. The mixture gave off chlorine into the kitchen and the cleaner had to go to hospital. He was not seriously harmed.

A man was arrested after a teenage girl reported being raped in Headington on Tuesday evening the week before last (21 May). Police are appealing for witnesses or any other information.

@CafeNoirOxford‘s main course menu is now mainly pizza, although they still have a specials board.

@TheOxfordMail carried a nice memoir from the time Cotuit Hall was a children’s home.

Thornhill park-&-ride is getting a coffee stall in the waiting room.

Jack Straw’s Lane is fully open again after being re-surfaced as a cycle-friendly road. Despite the misleading – well, let’s be honest, wrong – headline in The Oxford Mail the road is still open to motor vehicles but the hope is that cars will drive more slowly and cyclists will feel safer.

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

  • Plans for resurfacing of London Road between Bury Knowle and Green Road roundabout
  • missing cat: Ouseley Close, Marston
  • Missing Monkey
  • not know Morris dancing took place in headington in May
  • Headington now has a new neighbourhood watch scheme.
  • Shop at end of Kennett Road
  • Local historians what do you know about the history of Sandhills?
  • Headington Festival and Sports Day 2013
  • Coffee kiosk opening at Thornhill Park and Ride
  • UK Energy Policy Day at Oxford University
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.

Headington Headlines #110

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 29 April – 5 May.

There was an election on Thursday – two if you live in Churchill Ward. Turnout ranged from 35% in Headington & Quarry county division to 18.5% in the Churchill ward by-election. Labour were clear and unsurprising winners in all the OX3 areas apart from Headington & Quarry where two existing councillors, one Labour, one LibDem, were competing in a division with new boundaries covering part of each of their existing territory. Roz Smith (LibDem) @RosalindRogers narrowly beat Dee Sinclair @Delia_Sinclair by 31 votes, a majority of 1%. All the results for Oxford are on on my blog or more legibly on this pdf.

About half the new spaces being created at Thornhill P&R opened on Monday – that’s about 250. The remainder are due to be ready by July.

At the Headington roundabout the ‘safe’ cycle route from Thornhill proved impassable for disabled fundraiser @Claire80Lomas as she arrived in Oxford on her hand-bike on a 400 mile cycle challenge. Claire was the person who completed the London marathon in 17 days last year wearing a robotic suit. Her domestique @charliecoffee wasn’t impressed with the “cycling city”‘s response either.

@FoodieonTour, aka Jacqui Thorndyke, blogged about Headington Farmers’ Market.

The Ruskin Arts Festival was on Saturday 4 May, the same day as a street festival at the top of Kennett Road to mark the start of Oxfordshire Art Weeks.

Oxford author @GriseldaHeppel spoke about her book “Ante’s Inferno” aimed at 9-12 year-olds to girls at @HeadingtonSch.

A project to bring Latin and classical studies to a wider section of the community is to open in Cheney School later this year.

@HeadingtonPlan has a facebook page.

A big list of active topics on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum this week:

  • Thornhill Park and Ride Expansion Plans.
  • CoNDem nasty hypocrisy
  • Bury Knowle Park big swing on a pole thing
  • Free family bus ticket on Arriva (can be used on 280 service in Headington)
  • Local elections, May 2013
  • Shop at end of Kennett Road
  • A Neighbourhood Plan for Headington
  • Oxford’s Polish School celebrates 10 years of Achievement!
  • Oxford’s 1st Polish Business Fair
  • North-East Area Forum
  • Redevelopment of Northway
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.

Headington Headlines #93

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 31 December 2012 – 6 January 2013.

The City Council’s Sites & Housing Plan, which specifies what kind of development will be permitted on particular sites throughout Oxford and establishes a number of housing policies, has been approved by the Planning Inspector. It will go to the full Council for final approval in February. I last wrote about this almost exactly a year ago and you can still see my map of the sites in OX3 with extracts from the document against each site. The Plan also creates or updates policies on student housing and HMOs.

In other development news The Oxford Mail reports that developers Haboakus have finally submitted planning applications for three developments in Oxford. Two of the developments are in Northway, the third in Cowley. I have so far failed to find the applications online so can’t confirm this is correct. Haboakus is the joint venture company formed by TV celebrity architect Kevin McCloud’s company Hab (it stands for Happiness, Architecture, Beauty) and the Oakus division of housing asociation GreenSquare (which used to be the Oxford Citizens’ Housing Association). These developments have been much delayed: I first wrote about them in Headington Headlines #3 back in March 2011. The Oxford Mail report suggests there may still be local opposition to the Northway developments. The planning applications are said to be for 21 one and two-bedroom flats to be built in Westlands Drive and 47 homes plus a new Northway community centre in Dora Carr Close. The Dora Carr Close/Community Centre site is outlined on this map.

Free parking at Thornhill P&R is to end, according to the County Council’s draft budget.

My favorite Headington-related tweet this week:

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

  • London Road Improvements Stage 3
  • Scout Hall in Quarry
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.