Woodeaton

Headington Headlines #59

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 16 – 22 April —

The Headington Londis store run by Sunder Sandher is the first in the UK to roll out I-viewer, a shelf-mounted magnifying glass to help shoppers read the small print on labels. The I-viewer won ‘Best New Idea’ award at the National Convenience Show at the NEC. There’s a report here if you can be bothered to navigate to page 26 and there’s an I-viewer website built exclusively with Flash if you’ve got time to spare.

McKenna’s plans to use Woodeaton Quarry to dump waste clay and sand from building sites were approved on Monday. Lorries will use Bayswater Road, Barton and the B4027 to reach the quarry.

A £1,000 reward is offered for information about a burglary at a house in The Slade between noon and 4.30pm last Monday. A gold chain with a crucifix and rings, a Dunhill watch, two Mexican gold coins, a gold Seiko watch, three cameras and a bottle of brandy were stolen.

Café Noir reopened.

Andrew Smith MP asked a question in PM’s Questions on Wednesday about the potential closure of the @ACECentre and whether the government could make bridging finance available. Cameron says he knows the Centre and will work with Andrew Smith to look at what can be done.

@Oxford_Brookes students started an occupation protest against tuition fees.

A takeaway delivery driver was robbed in Brome Place, Barton on Tuesday.

Young riders from @HeadingtonSch did well in an inter-schools showjumping competition.

Armando Ianucci @AIanucci was among the people who abseiled down the JR’s Women’s Centre on Sunday.

My favorite Headington-related tweet this week:

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

  • St. George’s day in Headington
  • Barton Area Action Plan: see what was submitted to Secretary of State
  • 29 Old High Street (again)

There was also a thread about Councillor Ruth Wilkinson bit it’s title is too long to print here.

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 #50

TonyOX3

Here’s my weekly round-up of local news for 13 – 19 February —

A power cut just after mid-day on Tuesday hit Headington and a much wider area. Time out varied locally from a few minutes to more than quarter of an hour. Apparently it was caused by workmen accidentally cutting through a cable. There was another power cut affecting parts of Marston and Headington for several hours on Saturday.

The row over Woodeaton Quarry resurfaced this week with local residents still unhappy about the plans to use the quarry to dump solid waste. My blog post from last August shows where the quarry is.

Oxford Brookes Restaurant joined twitter – @OBRestaurant. Computer games and comics store Lazygamer @LazyGamerUK didn’t meet its opening date target of Friday. They hope it’ll be sometime this week.

Dismay over the roadworks in the Highfield area continued with many people failing to see the rationale behind the changes. @RuthWilk wrote: The County Council will set up a build-out in All Saints Road next Monday 20 February. Residents have raised concerns about traffic cutting the corner when turning right at speed into Latimer Road from the Lime Walk/Stapleton Road direction. This is a pilot and the new layout will be monitored to see how well it works.

Pupils from St Andrew’s School made 24 bird boxes for Bury Knowle Park under guidance from the Friends of Bury Knowle Park and the RSPB. The boxes were funded by Headington Action. (Report via @RuthWilk).

Headington Action is also encouraging residents to pull out all the stops and make Headington "out-do all the other areas of Oxford this year" in organising Diamond Jubilee street parties. (Warning: this link to @TheOxfordMail‘s article will get you one of their Very Annoying full-screen adverts which completely obliterates the start of the article.) The street party initiative is being led by @OxStreets, aka Oxford Streets for People under the auspices of @OxCivicSoc.

The new bus timetables for routes 8 & 9 started yesterday (Sunday 19 Feb). We’ll have to wait to see if it makes any difference.

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

  • Clarification needed on the joint ticketing bus scheme.
  • A festival of street parties in Headington during the Jubilee weekend?
  • The Friar Pub Marston and Tesco

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 #26

TonyOX3

Here is my round-up of local news for the week 15 – 21 August —

A freedom of information enquiry reported on the H&M e-dem forum has revealed that the owners of Café Bonjour have been invited to submit a new planning application for café/restaurant use after the limits on the proportion of such premises in Headington were waived for Jacobs & Field.

At a meeting in Barton on Monday an action group was set up to fight plans to fill in Woodeaton Quarry.
In unrelated news, about 75 people have signed a petition asking the County Council to remove the speed bumps on Bayswater Road, and it was announced that the new Barton Pavilion will officially open on 28 August.

The second Headington Ward focus meeting, organized by ward councillors David Rundle and Ruth Wilkinson (@RuthWilk), was held in the Music Centre at Headington School on Tuesday. Notes of the meeting are on David and Ruth’s blog.

Congratulations to Headington A (Osler Road), champions of Oxford & District Bowls League for 2nd successive year.

The forces repatriation tribute outside the church of St Anthony of Padua in Headley Way was briefly covered in an ITV programme “Farewell Wootton Bassett” on Thursday evening.

Delia Sinclair, Labour City Councillor for Quarry & Risinghurst, was reprimanded by the Standards Committee for failing to declare a ‘prejudicial interest’ in a planning application that came before a Committee of which she was a member.

@TVP_Oxford appealed for witnesses to a suspected arson (bin fire) in Westlands Drive last Thursday.

My favorite Headington-related tweet this week:

A quiet week on the Headington & Marston e-democracy forum – only three active topics:

  • Subway under Green road roundabout
  • Dogs and Smoking in the childrens play area
  • Cafe Bonjour – Enforcement Action

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.