warneford meadow

Headington Headlines #104

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 18 – 24 March.

Several crime stories this week.

A £500 reward has been offered for information leading to the return of a stolen laptop. The burglary happened on Wednesday the week before last (13 March) in Trinity Road, Quarry.

Later in the week police issued a general warning about a spate of burglaries and thefts from cars in and around Headington.

They also released a CCTV picture of a man they want to talk to about the early-morning robbery at Greggs on 7 March.

Another robbery, this one at BetFred bookmakers in The Slade on Sunday 17 March. One of the culprits had what may have been a handgun. Police are asking for any information.

In other news, the County Council approved plans to expand Windmill Primary School (@WindmillOxford) to three-form entry.

Blockbusters finally closed its doors. Roll on Morrisons!

The Department of Health has put plans to sell Warneford Meadow on hold while Oxford Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust decides whether or not to buy the land itself. The Trust has pledged that if the purchase goes ahead it would honour a deal that allows the Friends of Warneford Meadow to maintain the 18-acre meadow.

West Barton developers @BartonOxford took to twitter to clarify that the planned Community Hub in the new development will not have a doctors’ surgery so shouldn’t mean the closure of the existing surgery at Underhill Circus. Provision of services for West Barton is not yet decided.

The Headington Neighbourhood Forum met formally for the first time on Tuesday. See my note and the draft notes of the meeting.

The local news media were lured into reporting a marketing puff by commercial vehicle tracking company @RAMtracking who claimed that The Slade and the London Road in Headington were among the top 20 (not top 10 as some reported) “most congested non-motorway roads in the UK”. The calculations behind this claim can’t be found on their website, but seem to be based on a comparison of either average or lowest speeds of an unkown number of commercial vehicles using their equipment between 8 and 9 am, compared in some unexplained way to speeds between 11 and 12 am. A good example of nonsense dressed up as statistical analysis. @Cyclox got in on the act with a filmed interview on @BBCOxford.

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

  • Bedroom Tax Demonstration – Saturday 16th 1pm – Bonn Square Oxford
  • Thornhill Park and Ride Expansion Plans.
  • Should Windmill School grow to over 600 pupils?
  • Headington has 2 of the country’s most congested roads
  • Is pollution in Headington increasing?
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 #96

TonyOX3

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

On Monday morning two armed men threatened staff of Lloyds TSB and escaped with an undisclosed amount of money.

Gregg’s was once again obliged to close because of a pigeon which keeps getting into the shop. Food safety regulations mean they then have to throw away any uncovered food – which the pigeon then goes round the back to eat according to a writer on the H&M e-dem forum. It’s easy to laugh but it’s not much of a joke really. The story escalated during the week, with coverage on @PhilGayle‘s morning show on @BBCOxford radio on Thursday.

A man had to be cut free from his car after a two-car collision in Girdlestone Road on Saturday afternoon.

@LaurenceReade wrote a nice memoir and appreciation of Headington Quarry, followed by another on Risinghurst and C S Lewis.

Caffè Corsica, the Pizza café on London Road, seems to have closed. The interior has been stripped and there is a Chancellors’ ‘For Sale’ sign (commercial premises and flat over) above the shop.

Chinese take-away OxyBox opened in Marston (Marston Road, near the junction with Cherwell Drive). They already have an established branch in Kidlington.

At the time of writing there’s no report from the meeting on Friday where Oxford City councillors were being asked to agree the sale of Bury Knowle Stables and Barn. The competitive bids were inadvertently published online and were visible for a few hours before being hastily taken down. No, I didn’t see them.

Osler House (on the JR Hospital site just off Osler Road) has got a new licence for plays, films, sporting events, dancing, live music and alcohol. You may remember they are keen to attract more outside bookings.

Headington School (@HeadingtonSch) came back to twitter after an absence of 9 months. One of their ex-students Sophie Sumner (@sophiesumner8) who grew up in Oxford won US reality TV show “America’s Next Top Model” last year.

The school was also a venue for the first of two weekends of the Oxford Music Festival. The other venues are @JdP_oxford and Keble ‘not on twitter’ College. The Festival Concert will be held in the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building (@StHildasOx) on Sunday, 10th February at 6:00 pm.

Windmill Road building supplies firm @Blanchford popped up on twitter again after posting just three tweets about 9 months ago. Let’s hope they stick with it this time!

If like me you were wondering what had happened to the helpful older man who worked in the mornings as car park attendant at the Manor Surgery, I can report that his job finished at the end of September last year. He told me he is keeping well and misses his job, though not in the recent cold weather!

6th Headington Guides are to receive an £800 grant from @OxfordshireCC‘s Big Society Fund. Their application was supported by County Councillor Roz Smith.

It was reported that HM Treasury is taking over the sale of Warneford Meadow from the Dept of Health. Good thing for the Friends? Bad thing? Don’t know.

My favorite Headington-related tweet this week:

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

  • Empty shops in Headington
  • Long-stay charging to begin at Park and Ride
  • Installation of new pumping station in Headington Quarry
  • 2 new shops in Marston?
  • Save Bury Knowle Barn and Stables!
  • 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.

Headington Headlines #32

TonyOX3

Here is my round-up of local news for the week 26 September – 2 October —

Dr Yenugula Srinivas, who worked as a locum at Bury Knowle surgery (among other places), appeared in court to face 11 charges of sexual assault.

A 90-year old man was robbed of £700 by a team of distraction burglars in Marston Road on Tuesday. Police are appealing for witnesses or sightings, and warning others to be on their guard.

After developing a bamboo-framed road bike, @oxford_brookes in collaboration with Yorkshire-based RAW Bamboo Bikes have developed a bamboo mountain bike.

The Friends of Warneford Meadow held their annual Apple Day on Sunday. Pictures, Friends’ website, history.

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

  • Whats wrong with Oxford to London express buses?
  • Oxford Half Marathon – September 25th

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.