transport

Headington Headlines #134

TonyOX3

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

The new Community Classics Centre opened at Cheney School on Thursday. @WMaryBeard gave a talk and @HeadingtonNews reported that the event was very well supported, as Mary Beard’s own column in The Times Online confirmed.

It was Warneford Meadow Apple Day on Sunday.

The badly potholed Leiden Road in Wood Farm has been resurfaced.

Both the NE Quiet (cycle) Route – that’s the one from Thornhill via Old Headington to Marston – and the @Oxonbike cycle hire scheme are doing well, according to @OxfordshireCC.

Work has started on a £5.2m revamp of Bayard’s Hill primary school in Barton, including new classrooms and refurbishing of others.

@SunderSandher, owner of Headington Londis, won an Independents’ Day award from the National Skills Academy for his shop in Leamington Spa.

Rosemary Restaurant’s new sign triggered some debate. The final consensus is that you should read it as “the RoseM’ree”. Has anyone asked the owners?

Friday evening was enlivened by a report from @HarrietRycroft that some piglets were loose on the verge of the A40 near the Marston turn.

Last week I linked to two responses to the County’s request for input to the Headington Transport Strategy. You can now read three responses here. I’ll post more if I can find any – or if you commented and would be happy to share get in touch.

@OxFurniture launched a shiny new website.

The story of the Fairview pub in Glebelands continues – a buyer has been found and the current owners say they believe the as yet un-named new owner intends to continue running it as a pub. While the final outcome must still be in doubt until the sale has gone through and the new owner(s) say something in public, it is a hopeful step for local supporters of keeping the pub going.

The County Council has said it will not install traffic lights on the Bayswater Road junction with Headington Roundabout, preferring to delay local residents rather than longer distance commuters or drivers heading for the Thornhill P&R.

My favourite Headington-related tweet of the week:

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

  • Punctuality Problems on No 4 Bus
  • Accident on Headington Hill last night
  • Some Concerns about Headington
  • Beware my pc has been hacked – Regards Nicholas Newman
  • Please help: Missing Dog
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 #133

TonyOX3

No Headington Headlines last week as I was away, but now here again is my weekly round-up of local news, this time for 14 – 20 October.

The Oxford Times reported that St Andrew’s School is the most popular primary school in the county, measured in terms of the number of people who put schools down as their first, second or third preference compared with the number of places offered. On this measure there were 8.3 applications per place at St Andrew’s.

The County’s consultation on issues around a transport strategy for Headington closed last week. Here are links to some of the reponses by interested groups:

The map of the area proposed to be covered by the Headington Neighbourhood Plan has been submitted to Oxford City Council for approval. The Headington Plan website has an explanatory commentary. The Neighbourhood Plan Forum met on Thursday (report not yet published).

@headingtonnews pointed out that Barton West lies in the parish of St Andrew’s, Old Headington and wondered if this will change.

Professor Audrey Mullender, Principal of Ruskin College, announced her retirement with effect from 30 November. She has held the role since 2004.

Carl Sprake posted a blog about lichens in St Andrew’s churchyard in Old Headington.

In what looks suspiciously like a troll the Oxford Mail carried a story saying that in the long term, Christ Church might sell some of the land it owns adjacent to the West Barton development. The land is in South Oxfordshire District and is Green Belt so I suggest the chances of anything happening in the forseeable future are vanishingly small.

The Butchers Arms @ButchersArmsOxfhas a new shark-themed logo (with no apostrophe).

Police are looking for a Headington 17-year old who is charged with rape and who failed to attend a court hearing.

Up & Running moved across the road into the old Cartridge World shop, but there’s still no sign of Morrison’s opening.

Rosemary Restaurant continued to strip its façade of all signage. Unconfirmed rumours are that it will re-emerge with a different name.

Headington Ward’s LibDem councillors and the Friends of Old Headington have pooled funds to provide a grit bin on Ethelred Court (it’s off Dunstan Road if you didn’t know). The bin’s on order.

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

  • Has anyone got a large Santa suit they could loan for a day?
  • Headington Transport Strategy Consultation
  • Some Concerns about Headington
  • Headington Neighbourhood Plan Forum
  • New Headington bus routes
  • Punctuality Problems on No 4 Bus
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 #127

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 26 August – 1 September.

To many people’s surprise @OxfordshireCC launched a consultation asking for thoughts on traffic and transport problems and solutions in and around Headington. Read my comments here and respond to the Council here.

In Thursday’s debate on Syria Local MP Andrew Smith @OxfordLabourMP voted for the Labour amendment (which failed) and against the Government motion backing military intervention. Oxford’s other MP @NicolaBlackwood (Con) voted the other way.

A nasty episode came to an end when two people, one of them from Bonar Road, were jailed for four years for a prolonged and vicious assault on a man living in Wood Farm.

The @Victoria Arms beer festival happened over the weekend, and @TheMasonsArmsHQ‘s beer festival is next weekend.

The White Horse on the London Road has started charging people to use its car park. It’s to deter students and commuters using it for long-stay parking. A two-hour stay costs £2. If you spend £5 or more in the pub you get your £2 back.

The ninth annual Barton Bash took place on Saturday.

Headington Road Runners @HeadingtonRR staged the Headington 5 run on Sunday. The event earned some criticism because a marshalling error meant the route was only about 4.5 miles, disappointing some competitors who’d hoped to record good personal times for 5 miles.

Someone is stealing the toilet rolls from Bury Knowle Park toilets. So far police have not appealed for information, but some awful jokes did the rounds on twitter (no, I’m not repeating them).

Feel-good story of the week – a young man, Jorge Villaescusa, who lives in Headington chased after a bike thief in Cornmarket and was able to return the bike to its grateful owner.

There are some significant Headington meetings coming up in the next two weeks. On Wednesday this week the East Area Planning Committee meets in the Town Hall to decide on the planning applications for Bury Knowle Park depot and the Warren Crescent garages (which might affect the Lye Valley SSSI). See the e-democracy forum for more information on these two. The following week the Headington Ward Focus meeting on Tuesday 10th has the County’s transport strategy as the main topic and County officers have said they will attend. The Headington Transport Group is meeting on the same day, again with the transport strategy as the main agenda item.

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

  • Lilac rubbish sacks and compulsory wheelie bins
  • Headington Transport Strategy Consultation
  • Planning meeting re Bury Knowle Park depot, and Warren Crescent
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.