Shark

Headington News Archive for 2017

Bid Data Institute

The Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery incorporating the Big Data Institute and the Nuffield Department of Medicine's Target Discovery Institute opened in 2017:

A landmark sculpture entitled “Origin” by Julian Wild forms a large bridge over the grassed area between the two buildings and celebratses the innovation that takes place at the BDI and TDI. It comprises two rectangular bars emerging from the ground that meet in the middle where they are pixilated into a network of rectangular blocks. It is 5m high, 12m long, and 2.2m wide, and is constructed of steel and stainless steel, partly painted red.

The Big Data Institute will develop approaches for generating, storing, and analysing large datasets in medical science for a better understanding of human disease and its treatment.

The planning application for the Big Data Institute was approved by the East Area Planning Committee on 6 August 2014:

  • 14/01586/RES: “Erection of medical research building (Big Data Institute) on 3 levels plus basement and plant enclosure at roof level, together with landscaping and ancillary works. (Part reserved matters of outline planning permission 12/02072/OUT relating to plot B5, seeking approval of appearance, landscaping, scale and layout)”
  • Oxford Mail, 8 August 2014:
    “World's first Big Data Institute given go-ahead”
  • Oxford Mail, 20 June 2014:
    “£45m data institute plan sets sail”

Following a consultation in May 2014, the University reduced the size of the planned Big Data Institute:

The outline planning application submitted by the University of Oxford relating to the integration and development of the 28-acre Park Hospital site (which it now owns) with its Old Road Campus in Headington was approved at the East Area Planning Committee meeting on 8 January 2013.

Headington Shark back in the news

There was a flurry of national and international interest in the Headington Shark in late 2017, stemming from an article in the Oxford Mail on 17 December about city councillor Ruth Wilkinson's plan to get it recommended for the council's heritage asset register, and then possibly applying to getting it listed by Historic England (formerly English Heritage).

On a sadder note, Bill Heine, who erected the shark on his house in New High Street in 1986, announced that he was suffering from acute myeloid leukaemia:

“Access to Headington”

The first two phases of the scheme took place in 2 017:

Work on the first phase of this project started on 17 October 2016 at Old Road.

The second phase of the project started in the Slade in March 2017:

Background

On 9 June 2016 David Nimmo-Smith, the County Council Cabinet Member for Environment (including Transport) approved the £12.5m “Access to Headington” revised plans:

New plans just for Headley Way and Windmill Road were released by the county council on 28 April 2016, and this extra consultation closed on 23 May 2016:

The county council's designs were sent out to the 4,500 homes most directly affected, and are also available here online:

The formal consultation on the Traffic Consultation Orders (TROs) closed on 25 March 2016.

All the proposed road humps at side road entries had a consultation of their own, which closed on 8 April 2016:

52 new homes at Bayswater Fields

In 2017 Cala Homes started marketing the first new homes off Waynflete Road and Bayswater Farm Road on the site of the former Bayswater Caravan Park at prices ranging from £300,950 to £715,950.

The land comes under South Oxfordshire District Council, but Oxford City Council was also involved because the plans included the demolition of 39 and 41 Waynflete Road to provide access. Hence both councils approved this planning application submitted in 2014 by Cala Homes (Chiltern) Ltd:

“Demolition of existing pair of semi-detached houses (39 and 41 Waynflete Road). Erection of 52 houses and flats (including 40% of net increase as affordable homes) in single-storey buildings, two-storey buildings, and two-storey buildings with rooms in roofs (47 dwellings proposed off Waynflete Road and 5 detached dwellings off Bayswater Farm Road). Construction of roads and footpaths including new accesses off Waynflete Road and Bayswater Farm Road. Provision of open space, parking, garages and landscaping. NB Demolition of existing houses, estate road and only part of new build in Oxford City District”.

The plans were approved by South Oxfordshire District Council in August 2016, and the East Area Planning Committee of Oxford City Council agreed to the access from Waynflete Road the following month:

The preliminary construction management plan was approved in December 2016:

New 885-room student village for Brookes

Planning permission was granted by the East Area Planning Committee in December 2017 for the following application by Unite Students for the BT site (formerly part of Cowley Barracks) at James Wolfe Road off Hollow Way:
“Demolition of existing buildings. Erection of new student accommodation comprising of 885 student rooms (of which 46 would be fully accessible), communal areas and amenity provision, associated cafe and shop, laundrettes, plant room and electricity substation, new vehicular and pedestrian access to James Wolfe Road and closure of existing, cycle parking, landscaping and new enclosures. Use of student accommodation outside term time by cultural and academic visitors and by conference and summer school delegates”.

Unite Students have announced a 25-year partnership with Brookes University for the use of this block. This will be the third Brookes student block run by them (the others being Beech House and Dorset House on the London Road). The new village could be ready to admit Brookes students as early as 2019:

Possible power plant at Warneford Hospital

The possibility of building a power plant at the Warneford Hospital to provide heat for Oxford Brookes University, Headington School, and Cheney School (and ultimately for other parts of Oxford) has been mapped out by energy experts.

The city council is now tendering for a detailed project development study. The proposed plant would be within the footprint of the Warneford Hospital, and not (as suggested by the Oxford Mail) in Warneford Meadow.

Planning applications by Ruskin College

Ruskin College submitted two planning applications in September 2017. Both were approved but not implemented::

(1) Main Headington site: “(i) Erection of 65 bed student accommodation building on four storeys. (ii) Erection of 30 bed student accommodation building on two and three storeys. Demolition of Bowen Building”:

(2) Stoke House on the other side of Stoke Place: “Erection of 12 study bedroom annex on two floors”:

Artisan Distillery for Cheney Lane

The Oxford Artisan Distillery (TOAD) opened in the former South Park depot in Cheney Lane on 28 July 2017. They are open Monday–Saturday, 11am–3pm for the purchase of spirits.

Tours take place at 11am and 1pm Monday to Saturday, and at 2pm and 4pm on Sunday. Their is also a longer more expensive tour on Saturdays at 3pm. Booking for tours is essential via their website:

The distillery is located in the eighteenth-century threshing barn, which is a listed building. The plans include a new storage barn to house casks for ageing spirit, heritage grain, and other ingredients. An old shelter in the north-east corner of the site has been converted for staff and administration.

At the end of October 2017 TOAD launched a crowdfunding appeal with the aim of raising £1million to build a restaurant, bar, and visitors' centre.

Planning applications for the site

A recent planning application for “Erection of Visitor Centre comprising cafe/restaurant, tasting room and bar for distillery and public conveniences (Use Class A3)” was approved by the Planning Review Committee on 12 July 2017. It had also been approved by the West Area Planning Committee in June 2017, but was called for reconsideration. (The top of Cheney Lane, although accessed from Headington, is technically in St Clement's like the rest of South Park, so does not come under the East Area Planning Committee as Headington does.)

On 11 October 2016 the Planning Committee granted permission to the small-batch distillery's earlier pair of applications to craft artisan spirits at this former depot:

(1) “Change of use of site from council depot to artisan distillery”
(revised proposal omitting café and visitor centre):

(2) “Erection of single storey barn to provide storage space”:

The Oxford Civic Society pointed out that the site is subject to restrictive covenants set up by the Pilgrim Trust and the benefactors David & Joanna MacIver, banning the production of alcohol there; but city council planner Sarah Orchard said that this (and the fact that the site had been earmarked for housing) were “not material planning considerations”.

Headington Plan

The City Executive Board formally accepted the Headington Neighbourhood Plan on 20 June 2017, and at a full meeting of Oxford City Council on 20 July 2017 the Council resolved that the Plan be made.

A referendum on the proposed plan for those living in the Plan's designated area was held at the same time as the county council election on 4 May 2017. The question asked in the referendum was:
Do you want Oxford City Council to use the neighbourhood plan for Headington to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?

Results (turnout: 38%):
   Yes: 3,310 (86%)
   No: 543 (14%)
   Spoilt or blank papers: 322

Hedena Medical Group

Four medical practices in the Headington area were combined in 2017 under Hedena Health:

  • Bury Knowle Health Centre
  • Barton Surgery
  • Marston Medical Centre
  • Wood Farm Health Centre

The former websites of the Bury Knowle Health Centre and Marston Medical Centre have been taken down, and there is a joint website for all four practices: https://www.hedenahealth.co.uk

This new medical group appears to have been named after Hedena, the man who by Saxon times had given his name to Headington.

Black Boy

The Black Boy now calls itself “The Black Boy Pub and Hotel”, with the hotel part upstairs (five rooms) opened in 1017

A planning application for “Change of use of first floor to provide 5 en-suite guest bedrooms and a studio flat. New external door to replace existing window and new external fire escape” was approved in July 2009:

In August 2012 an application to extend the time limit for the above application by another three years was approved:

Frontier Estates

Frontier Estates were very active in Headington in 2017. The two projects below are underway, but they have also made approaches to house owners in other parts of Headington, as this discussion on the Headington & Marston Neighbourhood Forum reveals:

Beech House student accommodation, Latimer Road

Beech House on the corner of Latimer Road, which accommodates 175 students, was completed just in time to admit its first students at the beginning of the 2017/18 academic year. It is owned by the developers Frontier Estates (Oxon) Ltd and is managed on their behalf by Unite Students.

Frontier first outlined their plans for this new student development at a public exhibition at Oxford Brookes University on 21 October 2014, and their consultant David Morris listened to the concerns of local residents at The Hub in Headington on 7 November that year. They then held a public exhibition on 27 January 2015 at St Clement's Family Centre.

The following planning application was submitted in March 2015. It was originally refused at the East Area Planning Committee meeting on 2 December 2015 but was called in by twelve councillors and was approved at the meeting of the Planning Review Committee held on 27 January 2016, with conditions on completely screening the view to the school building next door. and approved in April 2016:

“Demolition of residential houses at 36, 38 and 40 London Road and 2 Latimer Road. Erection of 167 student study rooms and ancillary facilities on 4 and 5 levels plus basement, together with 2 x 2-bed and 2 x 3-bed maisonettes. Provision of 4 car parking spaces and 1 car parking space for disabled drivers, 88 cycle parking spaces, landscaped areas and ancillary works.”

Another planning application was submitted in April 2016 “to enable the student accommodation to be occupied by cultural and academic visitors and by conference and summer school delegates outside of term time”, and this was approved in January 2017:

In May 2016 details were submitted “in compliance with conditions 3 (Samples), 4a (Tree Removal), 4b (Operational Details), 5 (Arb Watching Brief), 6 (underground services), 7 (Hard standing - trees), 13 (Construction Travel Plan), 15 (Bin and bike stores), 18 (Bio-diversity enhancement), 19 (Drainage) and 20 (Screening)”. These details were approved in June 2017:

The demolition of four houses on the west corner of Latimer Road and London Road to make way for the development took place in  May/June 2016, and work has been continuing since then.

Care Home, Pullen's Lane

Frontier Estates held a public exhibition on 27 July 2016 at St Anthony of Padua Church Hall of new plans for a 55-bed care home on the site of the present bungalow at 1 Pullen's Lane. They will be submitting updated plans to the city council's design review board:

They made two earlier applications for the home:

(1) The first application was for “Demolition of existing house and flat. Erection of 55-bedroom care home facility on three levels, together with 17 car parking spaces, landscaping and associated works”. This was rejected in August 2014:

(2) The second application was for for “Demolition of the existing buildings and erection of a new 55 bedroom care home with associated landscaping, hardstanding and infrastructure”. This was withdrawn in May 2016.

2017 General Election result in Oxford East

Anneliese Dodds (Labour) was also elected as Member of Parliament for Oxford East on 8 June 2017. She is resigning her previous position as MEP for the South East (which includes Oxford).

Andrew Smith (Labour), the former MP for Oxford East, has retired: see his Message to his constituents.

Results:

More Headington heat pipes?

A joint study commissioned by Oxford City Council and the University of Oxford published on 11 May 2017 puts forward three additional heat-network options for Headington:

(1) Old Road Campus & Warneford Hospital scheme (1.6km)
This would connect a new energy centre at the Warneford to adjacent buildings and the Old Road Campus

(2) Clive Booth Student Village scheme (0.7km)

(3) Headington West scheme (2.8km)
This would join large loads around Oxford Brookes University and Headington School with an energy centre at the Warneford Hospital.

2017 City Council by-election

A by-election was held in Barton & Sandhills Ward on 4 May 2017 to replace Van Coulter (Labour) who died on 13 March 2017. The new city councillor is Mark Ladbrooke (Labour), and the votes were as follows:

Chaka ARTWELL (Independent): 208
Symon James HILL (Green): 103
Mark LADBROOKE (Labour): 698
Peter SAVILLE (Conservative): 284
Steve WHEELER (Liberal Democrat): 194

More details about the above candidates can be downloaded here.

2017 County Council election

The four-year term of all Oxfordshire county councillors came to an end simultaneously, so every division in the county was contested in the election on 4 May 2017. The former county councillors in the four divisions covering Headington & Marston all stood again and were all re-elected until May 2021:

  • Barton, Sandhills & Risinghurst Division
    Glynis Mary PHILLIPS (Labour)
  • Churchill & Lye Valley Division
    Liz BRIGHOUSE (Labour)
  • Headington & Quarry Division
    Roz SMITH (Liberal Democrat)
  • Marston & Northway Division
    Mark Robert LYGO (Labour)

See full results for the above divisions here

Proposed new research building at JR Hospital

The University of Oxford plans to build a new neuroscience research facility at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

The new building is intended to provide purpose-built facilities for the Centre for the Prevention of Stroke and Dementia (CPSD), as well as providing additional research and desk space for the Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB). Both of these organisations are component units of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences (part of the University’s Medical Sciences Division). When the development is complete, it will create the UK’s largest dedicated centre for stroke research.

A planning application is expected to be submitted to Oxford City Council in July 2017 to take forward the development of this new facility with construction to begin in early 2018.

Members of the University and the design team held two consultation events at Osler House on 28 and 29 April 2017 and construction is due to begin in 2018.

Development at Wick Farm?

Harry Aubrey-Fletcher and his family (Wick Farming Ltd, who in 2012 bought the 280-acre Wick Farm site off Bayswater Road) have announced their intention to built 1,850 homes there:

Wick Farm Ltd and would-be house-builder Berkeley Homes also want to build there a 250-bedroom accommodation block for the new Oxford School of Nursing and Midwifery being launched this year, and a 100-bed convalescent home for older patients to ease bed-blocking at the hospitals. There could also be a car park for the hospitals with a shuttle bus.

Plans could also include a 20-acre parkland cemetery next to the Crematorium.

Unlike the site of Barton Park, this land is (1) in the Green Belt and (2) falls under South Oxfordshire District Council. No formal approach has yet been made to SODC, and it is not included in their Local Plan, which has just been published.

In May 2017 South Oxfordshire District Council agreed that prior approval was not required for Aubrey-Fletcher's planning application for "Change of use of agricultural buildings to storage of moveable storage containers": P17/S1055/PDA

Christ Church owns adjoining land to the west of Barton Park and was also reported to be interesting in developing it.

Public art in Headington

Three new pieces of public art were unveiled in Headington in 2017:
    “Origin” bridge sculpture at Old Road Campus
    Aslan in Bury Knowle Park
    Wood Farm Mosaic.

With at least seventeen works of public art having appeared in Headington since 2008, it is no longer possible to show them all on one page. Each can now be found (with the newest at the top) linked to its own page in this new section:

Death of city councillor Van Coulter

Van Coulter, who was Oxford City Councillor (Labour) for Barton & Sandhills Ward from 2010 and Chair of the East Oxford Planning Committee, died suddenly on 13 March 2017 at the age of 57.

A by-election for this city council vacancy will be held on Thursday 4 May 2017, at the same time as the county council elections and the referendum on the Headington Plan.

Diabetes research centre for Headington

Novo Nordisk is to invest £115m over ten years in a new science research centre to be based in the Bioescalator Building currently under construction on the Old Road Campus.

Stansfeld Park, Quarry Road

The application for “Demolition of redundant former outdoor education centre buildings; construction of a new science education centre and innovation centre with parking, access and landscape enhancement” submitted by the Oxford Trust (Science Oxford) was approved by the East Area Planning Committee on 8 February 2017:

The Trust announced on 2 February that it had completed the acquisition of the former Stansfeld Outdoor Education Centre. On 27 October 2015 it announced that (subject to planning permission) the centre would become the Wood Centre for Science and Innovation (WCSI), which will be twinned with the Oxford Centre for Innovation (OCFI).

This 7.2 ha site was originally bought by John Stedwell Stansfeld so that children from St Ebbe’s could stay in the countryside, but in 1933 his family sold it to Birmingham City Council.

Background to the sale

Birmingham City Council agreed on 17 March 2014 to cease their outdoor learning service here after 31 July 2014.

Birmingham Property Services put the centre up for sale by informal tender in 2014. The centre was registered as an asset of community value, so community groups had a chance to raise the funds to bid for the 250-year lease on the land for six months after it was put up for sale. The two unsuccessful bidders were the Oxford Co-Housing group and a care provider.

The Friends of Stansfeld group was formed in June 2015 to represent the community in the sale of the Stansfeld Outdoor Centre. The aim of the Friends is that the woodland area is protected in perpetuity (and opened to the public if possible) and that the site provides educational facilities, especially a Forest School.

JR to Churchill Hospital heat pipe

Work on the Headington heatpipe that will run between the John Radcliffe and Churchill Hospitals is behind schedule and is now expected to finish a week later than anticipated, on 26 May 2017 on Churchill Drive

Work in the streets of Headington began on 28 November 2016, with three dig teams, and ended on 12 March 2017.

Latimer Road: St Luke's Hospital

St Luke's Hospital's planning application for “Removal of the existing pitched roof, a new reception area with 2 additional bedrooms over, an off-site constructed second storey to house 20 new bedrooms and associated external works” was approved in September 2016:

“Botnar 3” plans approved

The plans submitted by Nuffield Orthopaedic Limited for a new development at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre were approved by the East Area Planning Committee in January 2017. They are for “Demolition of temporary office building. Erection of freestanding two-storey research building (Botnar 3) with glazed footbridge link to existing Botnar Research Centre building. Provision of 4 disabled car parking spaces and covered cycle store for 200 bicycles”.

This building will be situated to the south of the present Botnar Research Centre (on the other side of the access road) and connected to it by a bridge. Two related plans have also been approved

  • Erection of new electrical substation: 16/02686/FUL
  • Formation of replacement car park for eight vehicles for a temporary period: 16/02688/FUL
Barton Park

Mosaics Oxford is now marketing the first homes built on Barton Park.

For full details about this development please see the separate page:

29 Old High Street

29 Old High Street

An “application to certify that the proposed sub division of existing house to form 2x 2-bed flats (Use Class C3) and erection of 3no. dwellings to create a 2x 2-bed flat and 1x 1-bed flat (Use Class C3) is lawful development” was refused on 28 November 2017: 17/02576/CPU

An earlier planning application submitted by Martin Young in June 2017 was refused on 24 August: 17/01686/FUL

Full saga of 29 Old High Street

C.S. Lewis Nature Reserve

A "Save the C. S. Lewis Nature Reserve” petition to Oxford City Council has over 4,000 signatures. It relates to a planning application by the Wychwood Foundation for housing adjacent to 4 Wychwood Lane for vulnerable adults:

“Erection of 2.5 storey building to provide 9 apartments (4x3 beds, 3x2 beds and 2x1 beds) on behalf of the Wychwood Foundation. Provision of ancillary facilities, 22 car parking spaces, cycle parking and amenity space. Creation of new vehicular access from Lewis Close”

This access road runs very near the reserve. Over 200 people have objected to the application.

New house for Lime Walk
120 Lime Walk

A planning application 6 for the semi-detached house at 120 Lime Walk: “Demolition of existing dwelling, garage & outbuilding. Erection of 1 x 4-bed dwellinghouse (Use Class C3). Provision of car parking and private amenity space” was approved in February 2017:

Ronald McDonald House

Ronald McDonald House Charities have been granted planning permission for a new four-storey building on the disused tennis courts (0.4 hectares) at the John Radcliffe Hospital. The site is bounded to the north by Hospital Car Park 2a, to the east and south by Woodlands Road, and to the west by the rear gardens of Sandfield Road.

At present the charity can only offer 17 rooms on the top floor of the children's hospital and cannot meet the demand. The approved application is for “Ronald McDonald House to provide 62 bedrooms including communal areas, admin facilities, plant and store rooms along with associated landscaping and drop off area”.

Holy Trinity Church extension

On 7 September 2016 the East Area Planning Committee approved the planning application by Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry for “Erection of single-storey extension to north elevation”:

The church withdrew an earlier planning application submitted in February 2015 so that pre-application discussions could be held with the planning officer.

 

 

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Headington shop & business changes 2017
Sandra Homewood Funerals

Central Headington's fourth funeral establishment opened in the former Electric Aids shop at 5 The Parade, Windmill Road, in November 2017

Heavenly Desserts Café

A Heavenly Desserts café opened on 10 October 2017 in the former Morrison's shop at 73–75 London Road.

The shop had been closed since November 2014, and was advertised as available to rent leasehold at £60,000 per annum. The premises measure 1,893 sq. ft, and loading is only possible via the front of the shop.

New office

Black Mamba Tattoos moved in with Vente Hairdressers in July 2017, so their shop at 9A Windmill Road has been refurbished as an office.

Former Pet & Garden Stores

150a London Road. Closed on 27 February 2016

Headington Butchers & Groceries opened on 14 December 2017 in the former Pet & Garden Stores at 150a London Road. The shop was offered to let with the Central Business Agency at £19,500 per annum (reduced from £25,000), or for offers in the region of £295,000 (reduced from £395,000) for freehold.

Dance Inspires

Headington's Pole Dance Studio moved to the Oxford Sports Academy in 2017, as their premises above Savers are being turned into a flat.

Headington Dry Cleaners and Alterations

This opened at 99 London Road on 10 August 2017 in the former W. H. Smith shop (which closed on 23 March 2017). It was advertised for sale at £615,000.

Temple Bookbinders

In April 2017 Temple Bookbinders moved to Yarnton from the Old Dairy at 12 Stephen Road, Headington:

Cox Hinkins Accountants

In June 2017 Cox Hinkins Accountants whose former office moved into the former premises of Temple Bookbinders at 12 Stephen Road. (They had to move, as their former office above the empty Morrison's at Charterford House is being turned into flats.)

The Letting Centre

The Letting Centre (TLC) has been taken over by Breckon & Breckon: they too had to move out of Charterford House in April 2017.

Angels Hair merger with Fusion Hair

The former Angels premises at 111 London Road closed in May 2017 after the business merged with Fusion Hair. Angels then reopened in Fusion's premises at 97 London Road.

Children's Air Ambulance Charity Shop

108–110 London Road

This opened on 31 March 2017 in the former Clic Sargent charity shop next to the HSBC Bank. This shop closed in August 2016 and was advertised to let at £30,000 per annum.

Acropolis Greek Taverna

This opened at 146 London Road in September 2017.

These premises were formerly occupied by the Bar Meze. This closed in early 2017, and the Desi Lounge opened there on 10 February 2017, but the premises were repossessed by the landlord, Khushi Properties Ltd, on 4 April 2017.

Jacobs Brasserie

Jacobs Chop House had a refit and reopened on 18 February 2017 with a new menu and a new name, Jacobs Brasserie:

Dragon Express Gourmet Food

This opened on 8 June 2017 at 81 London Road (the premises of the former Rose Tree restaurant which closed in 2016).

An application for “Display of 1No. internally-illuminated fascia sign and 1No. internally-illuminated hanging sign” has been approved

The city planners have certified that “the proposed change of use of outside seating area to public highway is lawful”. The new owners feel that the outside platform is an obstacle to the customers' willingness to go into the premises, but so far it is still in place:

Savers

Savers at 112 London Road has been granted a licence to sell alcohol:

Grill House (Turkish-themed)

137a London Road

A Grill House will be opening shortly in these premises next to Bury Knowle Park, following the approval of a planning application to turn this former office into a hot-food takeaway (17/00639/FUL).

A second planning application for a single-storey rear extension was approved in November 2017 (17/02505/FUL)

This shop was tacked on to the end of the row of former Victorian houses called Westbourne Terrace in the 1960s (61/11381/A_H). It was latterly the office of Connell's estate agents, and was vacated in May 2016 when they moved to larger premises nearby at 129–133 London Road. The premises were offered for sale (offers in the region of £400,000); alternatively a new lease could be offered at a commencing rental of £27,500 per annum. There was a restriction on not using the premises for estate agency, lettings, or financial services.

Aldi at Horspath Driftway

Aldi opened in the former Curry's shop at Horspath Driftway on 9 March 2017:

Costa Coffee at Horspath Driftway

An application by Costa Coffee for “Erection of a single storey coffee shop unit (Sui Generis) with associated drive-thru facility, car parking, landscaping and associated works” on land next to Homebase was approved at the East Area Planning Committee on 8 February 2017:

New office building for All Saints Road

Planning permission was granted on 17 July 2017 for a two-storey office building between 7 and 9 All Saints Road (at the rear of 73 Lime Walk):

An earlier application for an office building here was approved in September 2015 (15/02281/FUL), but an application to remove conditions from the plans was refused in May 2017 (17/00435/VAR).

Expansion of Manor Surgery

The new extension of the Manor Surgery in Osler Road was officially opened by former Oxford East MP Andrew Smith on 13 May 2017.

The surgery, whose patient numbers rose by two thousand in the previous two years, was awarded £1.2million to extend its practice building to provide six new consultation rooms and two practice nurse rooms. It plans to offer space for an out-of-hours service and community-based clinics.

Planning applications for a two-storey extension and alterations to the existing car park were all in 2015:

Headington items on That's Oxford TV, 2017
Cotuit Hall planning application

A planning application submitted In March 2017 for the EF International Academy (based at Cotuit Hall on the west side of Pullen’s Lane) was refused by the East Area Planning Committee on 8 November 2017 but this decision was overturned by the Planning Review Committee on 13 December 2017.

The application was for: “Demolition of single storey lecture hall and refectory buildings. Change of use from Student Accommodation (Sui Generis) to Residential Institution (Use Class C2). Erection of connecting buildings, a new accommodation block at the western end of the site, reconfiguration of the retained buildings, and provision of associated car parking and cycle parking spaces, landscaping, plant, and associated works.”

The application included 139 documents, and by May 2017 there were also 128 public comments.

This is the first planning decision which took into the consideration the new Headington Neighbourhood Plan.

In 2013 EF withdrew an earlier planning application 12/01106/FUL following concerns expressed by local residents. This was for “Erection of 3 new buildings on 3 floors plus basement to provide teaching, residential and ancillary accommodation, together with underground common room to frontage. Refurbishment of existing Marcus and Brewer buildings, including alteration to existing elevations. Provision of new pedestrian footpath from Pullens Lane”:

The Academy is a school for 16–18-year-olds on two-year residential courses studying for A-levels and the International Baccalaureate. At the moment Cotuit Hall is used only for teaching, but the college hopes to expand it to accommodate 350 boarding students in 142 bedrooms (with between one and three students per room).

A Headington Hill Umbrella Group (HHUG) was formed by local residents:

EF bought Cotuit Hall from Oxford Brookes University in 2011. It previously housed 102 Brookes students.

First World War 100-year remembrances: 2017

32 Headington men died in 1917. They will be added here in the month before the anniversary of their death

February 1917

Poppy Serjeant Harry Dan Godfrey (21) of the Royal Fusiliers, a builder whose parents lived at 99 Lime Walk: killed in France on 17 February 1917 and buried at the Regina Trench Cemetery, Grandcourt

Poppy Second Lieutenant Arthur Fry (24) of the OBLI, former undergraduate of Hertford College who lived at Boundary Cottage (at the south-east corner of present Headington School site): died at No. 5 Casualty Clearing Station in France on 28 February 1917 and buried at Bray-sur-Somme Military Cemetery.

Poppy Private (George) Richard Morris (35) of the OBLI, a gardener who grew up in Headington Quarry but lived with his wife and children in north Oxford: killed in France on 28 February 1917 and remembered on the Thiepval Memorial

March 1917

Poppy Private Aubrey Gurl (21) of the OBLI, a printer's labourer of Quarry High Street: killed in France on 3 March 1917, and buried at Hem-Monacu

Poppy Private Edwin Charles Edwards (20) of the Worcestershire Regiment, a former butcher's boy presumed to be of Headington Quarry: killed in France on 4 March 1917 and remembered on the Thiepval Memorial

Poppy Private Reginald Miles (31) of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, a coal porter of 41 New High Street: killed in France on 27 March 1917 and buried at the Tincourt New British Cemetery

April 1917

Poppy Lance-Corporal Albert Louch (21) of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, who lived with his grandmother in Old High Street: killed in France on 9 April 1917

Poppy Lieutenant Harry Olivier Sumner Gibson (31) of the London Regiment, Assistant Inspector of the Board of Agriculture (Fisheries), a married man with two children who had grown up at the Rookery in Old Headington: killed near Gaza on 19 April 1917

Poppy Serjeant Walter George Herbert (26) of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, a married plasterer who grew up at 99 Windmill Road: killed in France on 19 April 1917

Poppy Private Alfred Robinson (27) of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, a married warehouseman with two children who lived in Holyoake Road: killed in France on 23 April 1917

Poppy Lieutenant John Percival Curtis Ashworth (25), who had been working on a sheep ranch in Australia but returned to England in 1915 to enlist and lived with his mother at 3 St Andrew's Road: killed in France on 28 April 1917

May 1917

Poppy Reginald Harry Neville Prior (22), described as a student in 1911, who lived at Highfield Park (later the Park Hospital) with his parents: died of pneumonia in France on 1 May 1917

Poppy Private Albert Edward Oliver (29), boat builder, who was living with his wife's parents at 17 New High Street : killed in France on 3 May 1917

Poppy Richard John Kimber (18), machine-room feeder at Oxford University Press: died of cerebrospinal fever while in training in Tidworth, Wiltshire on 11 May 1917

June 1917

No deaths of Headington men

July 1917

Poppy James Welford Griffin (28), labourer from Lime Walk who had emigrated to Canada: died in France on 24 July 1917

August 1917

Poppy Francis John (“Jack”) Jacobs (19) who was living with his parents in New High Street: killed in Belgium on 7 August 1917

Poppy William Francis Cooper (26), a compositor at Oxford University Press, who lived with his parents in Stile Road: killed in Belgium on on 16 August 1917

Poppy Frank Arthur Edmund Hathaway (19), who lived with his parents at 73 Lime Walk (and probably worked for them in their dairy in All Saints Road): killed in Belgium on 16 August 1917

Poppy Jesse Louch (31), a house painter who lived with his parents at 6 St Andrew's Lane: killed in Belgium on 16 August 1917

Poppy Stanley Norgrove (18), who lived with his uncle in Lime Walk: killed in Belgium on 16 August 1917

Poppy Donald Murray (30), an insurance agent who lived on the London Road: killed in Belgium on 16 August 1917

Poppy Frank Gardner (20), former errand boy who lived with his parents in New High Street: killed in Belgium on 22 August 1917

Poppy Thomas George Kimber (21), a gardener who lived with his parents at 11 New High Street: killed in Belgium on 24 August 1917

Poppy Harold Thomas Grain (19), who lived with his parents at the Butcher's Arms: died of wounds in France on 27 August 1917

Poppy Ernest Albert Alick Knight (20), a former newsboy who lived with his widowed mother in Barton: died of wounds in France on 31 August 1917

September 1917

Poppy William White (29), a married man with children who worked at Mattock's Nurseries and lived in Gardiner Street: killed in Belgium on 10 September 1917

Poppy Emanuel Coombes (29), a married man of Gathorne Road who was a grocer's assistant: killed in Belgium on 26 September 1917

Poppy Francis Jeffreys (23), a married man of Windmill Road who was a waiter at Merton College: killed in Belgium on 27 September 2017

October 1917

Poppy Eric Woods (22), undergraduate of St John's College, who lived with his mother in one of houses replace by Iceland: killed in Belgium on 9 October 1917

Poppy William Dipper (19) of 16 Stapleton Road: killed in Belgium on 26 October 1917

November 1917

Poppy Edwin Hudson (20) who grew up in the fish & chip shop at the top of New High Street, died in Belgium on 23 November 1917

Poppy Sydney Bullock (30), a farm carter whose wife's family lived in the Croft, killed in Palestine on 28 November 1917

December 1917

No deaths of Headington men

Biographies of all 120 Headington people who died

Offices/studio becoming flats

Nielsen's

Nielsen's, which has been on its present site on the London Road near the Thornhill Park & ride for 60 years, sold their 12-acre site to developers in 2016 and will be moving to the Oxford Business Park by early 2018.

Since May 2014 the conversion of B1(a) commercial property to C3 homes can be granted immediately under permitted development rights as long as specified aspects (such as transport and highway impacts, and contamination and flooding risks) are checked first. In December 2017 an application submitted by Shaviram Headington Limited for “Change of use of Nielsen House and annex from office (Use Class B1(a)) to residential (Use Class C3) to provide 114 x 1-bed flats and 20 x 2-bed flats” was approved:

In December 2016 prior approval was granted to Headington Developments Ltd for “Change of use of Nielsen House and annex from office (Use Class B1(a)) to residential (Use Class C3) to provide 30 x 1-bed flats and 63 x 2-bed flats”.

An earlier application was rejected because the developer provided insufficient information relating to flooding and contamination risks:

New applications for flats in 2017
Kingsway House

An application by London & Cambridge Properties relating to the offices above Kingsway House, 77a–81C London Road for “Change of use of from office at first floor level (Use Class B1(a)) to residential (Use Class C3) to provide 2 x 2-bed flats” was approved in March 2017. These offices are above Coco Noir, The Garden, and the Cancer Research UK charity shop and are at present occupied by Ferguson Bricknell Solicitors.

Dance Inspires studio

A planning application has been approved to turn Headington's former pole-dance school above 112 London Road into a one bedroomed flat. (The rest of the premises above Savers was granted permission to be turned into two flats in 2016.)

Seven earlier applications

Three other conversions have already taken place in Headington under this new relaxation of planning permission, including Kennett House.

In addition approval was granted in 2016 for four more smaller offices in the Headington shopping centre to be turned into flats:

Pub News
The Chequers

A planning application (part retrospective) has been approved for “Removal of window and section of external wall. Replacement with 1no. entrance door incorporating pitched roof porch over and alterations to the existing front entrance”. This will allow customers to enter the Aziz restaurant without passing through the pub:

Fairview

Planning application 16/02112/FUL was approved in November 2016 to turn this pub in Glebelands into a five-bedroomed house.

Crown & Thistle

This pub in Old Road closed in 2011. Fleurets advertised it as a pub to let (guide rent of £22,500 per annum) in early 2016, but the advertisement has now been withdrawn.

Meanwhile three four-bedroomed houses have been built on the car-park:

Ampleforth Arms

This reopened on 25 November 2017 and is run by the community, bringing Headington's total number of pubs back to ten.

The planning application by Box Development Management Ltd submitted in December 2016 for the Ampleforth Arms pub at 53 Collinwood Road, Risinghurst was approved at the East Area Planning Committee meeting on 8 March 2017. This is for: “Part demolition of the existing public house. Part redevelopment and conversion to create a new community run public house at basement and ground floor level and 3 x 2-bed and 3 x 3 bed residential apartments over ground, first and second floors. Erection of 1 x 3-bed dwellinghouse (Use Class C3). Provision of private amenity space, landscaping, car parking and associated infrastructure”:

The Amp Revival group, which got the pub listed as an asset of community value and has been raising funds to save it, was involved in this application.

The pub was built by Ind Coope in 1938, and was the local of C. S. Lewis. It is currently boarded up, and was put up for sale with offers of £625,000 + VAT invited (reduced from the original £700,000 + VAT).

Quarry Gate (site of)

An outline planning application for this site submitted on 14 August has been approved. This is for “Outline application (seeking approval of access, layout and scale) for the erection of 1 x 3-bed dwelling and 2 x 4-bed dwellings”:

The appeal made by the developers in 2016 against the East Area Planning Committee's refusal of planning permission for an earlier application was dismissed on 21 June 2017. This was for “Erection of three storey building to provide 1 x 1-bed, 3 x 2-bed and 2 x 3-bed flats (Use Class C3). Provision of car parking and bin and cycle storage”:

An earlier application for three five-bedroomed houses was also refused:

The Quarry Gate pub at 19 Wharton Road (on the corner of St Leonard's Road) was demolished in 2015. No member of the public sought to get it listed as a heritage or community asset, and Seville Developments were told that prior approval for the method of demolition was not required for the method of demolition”: 15/00591/DEM.

The developer gave as the reason why demolition needed to take place: “To facilitate future redevelopment of the site”. They stated in their application:
“The Quarry Gate is a former public house located on the corner of Wharton Road and St Leonards Road in Headington. The building is not listed. The proposed demolition does not constitute “relevant demolition” for the purposes of s.196D of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, as the site is not located within a Conservation Area. Oxford City Council has no Article 4 Direction in place which prevents the operation of the GPDO in respect of demolition.”

This pub was for sale for a very long time (with its price latterly reduced from £899,000 to £775.000) and was bought by Seville Developments for £600,000 in mid-2013. Internal work on the building took place in January 2014 and until now Seville have been using it as their offices.

Old Road Campus/Churchill & Park Hospitals
Link Street

A planning application has been approved to form a Link Street around the campus:

Sobell House

The Sobell House Charity plans to build a new specialist facility at the Churchill Hospital aimed at patients with more complex illnesses such as dementia. It will overlook Southfield Golf Course and cost £5m.

New Heart Centre

A new £45m heart centre, jointly run by the University of Oxford and the British Heart Foundation, is planned for 2018.

Bioescalator/Amenities Building

Planning application was approved by the East Area Planning Committee on 3 June. This was for

  • 15/00996/RES: “Erection of Bioescalator/Amenities Building, together with landscaping and ancillary works. (Part reserved matters of outline planning permission 12/02072/OUT relating to Plot B4, seeking approval of appearance, landscaping, scale and layout.)”.
Big Data Institute

The Big Data Institute will develop approaches for generating, storing, and analysing large datasets in medical science for a better understanding of human disease and its treatment. The following planning application was approved by the East Area Planning Committee on 6 August 2014:

  • 14/01586/RES: “Erection of medical research building (Big Data Institute) on 3 levels plus basement and plant enclosure at roof level, together with landscaping and ancillary works. (Part reserved matters of outline planning permission 12/02072/OUT relating to plot B5, seeking approval of appearance, landscaping, scale and layout)”
  • Oxford Mail, 8 August 2014:
    “World's first Big Data Institute given go-ahead”
  • Oxford Mail, 20 June 2014:
    “£45m data institute plan sets sail”

Following a consultation in May 2014, the University reduced the size of the planned Big Data Institute:

The outline planning application submitted by the University of Oxford relating to the integration and development of the 28-acre Park Hospital site (which it now owns) with its Old Road Campus in Headington was approved at the East Area Planning Committee meeting on 8 January 2013.

Car Park

There will be a 459-space multi-storey carpark (replacing the current 260 spaces, so the net increase is 199 spaces) built on the Old Road Campus.

Two applications for a temporary 100-space car park while work is going ahead were approved:

  • 14/01494/FUL: “Demolition of various vacant prefabricated building. Retention of one prefabricated building plus the construction of 3 storey research building, catering building, 100 space car park and ancillary work for temporary period during construction of proposed Big Data Institute (BDI) Building on adjacent land”
  • 15/00996/RES: “Construction of 100 space temporary car park, together with ancillary works and new vehicular access from Roosevelt Drive during construction of Bioescalator/Amenities Building on adjacent land”
Precision Cancer Medicine Institute

Universities, Science, and Cities Minister Greg Clark visited the Old Road campus on 23 October 2014 and announced that a new £110m cancer centre, the Precision Cancer Medicine Institute is planned to open in 2017 or 2018 on the Churchill Hospital site or the Old Road campus. It will have 200 workers and will study drug, surgery, and radiation therapy in cancer patients.

Bike repairs

Bob Williams, formerly of Headington’s G. H. Williams, is still doing bike repairs from home in central Headington: tel. 01865 762664 or mobile 07962 896 663. He has fifty years’ experience of repairing bikes and is strongly recommended.

Park & Ride for John Radcliffe Hospital?

The county council has said that green-belt land close to Marsh Lane and the northern bypass is being considered for a park-and-ride site for the JR Hospital.

The Holyoake Road home of C. S. Lewis

Hillsboro, the house at 14 Holyoake Road where C. S. Lewis lived with Mrs Moore in the 1920s before buying The Kilns with her, was advertised by Strutt & Parker in 2013 as land for potential re-development.

A planning application was approved in May 2017 for “Demolition of existing side extension. Erection of 2 x 4-bed semi-detached dwellinghouses (Use Class C3). Provision of new access with car parking for 2No. vehicles, private amenity space and bin and cycle store”:

A second application submitted later that month was approved in July 2017. It is for “Demolition of existing single stor[e]y side extension and replacement of 2no. doors with 2no. windows. Erection of first floor rear extension and insertion of 1no. window to existing south elevation and 2no. roof lights in existing south roofslope. Removal of chimney stack on west elevation”:

The following two earlier planning applications for the site were submitted and then withdrawn:

(1) July 2015 for “Demolition of existing side extension. Erection of 2 x 5-bed dwellings (Use Class C3). Provision of dropped kerb, car parking, private amenity space and bin stores”:

(2) December 2014: An earlier planning application with an identical description:

According to the “Our Property” website, 14 Holyoake Road sold for £1,600,000 on 2 May 2008.

The name Hillsboro can be seen engraved over the downstairs window. Lewis must have been on his way up to this house when he was famously converted to theism in 1929 while on a bus going up Headington Hill.

In recent years there was a chiropractice at this house.

New development at Northway

Construction of the new development at Northway started on 14 January 2015. The building work is being carried out by Haboakus (Kevin McCloud’s development company Hab in partnership with the housing association GreenSquare). Oxford City Council provided land in Northway for the developers, who in return have rebuilt Northway Community centre and are providing 47 new homes in Dora Carr Close and 21 flats in Westlands Drive. The Emmaus Charity furniture store moved to Cowley in May 2016.

The two Northway planning applications for the £18m regeneration project in Northway and Cowley were approved by the East Area Planning Committee on 5 June 2013; and the Planning Review Committee approved the associated Cowley application on 25 June:

  • 12/03280/FUL Demolition of existing buildings. Erection of 47 residential units (9 x 1-bed, 14 x 2-bed, 15 x 3-bed, 4 x 4-bed, 5 x live/work units) plus community centre in 5 blocks on 2, 3 and 4 levels. Provision of 78 car parking spaces, 102 cycle parking spaces and landscaping
  • 12/03281/FUL Demolition of existing building. Erection of 21 flats (14 x 1-bed, 7 x 2-bed) on 3 floors, together with 21 car parking spaces, 56 cycle spaces and landscaping.