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City councillor resigns
Patrick Murray, LibDem city councillor for Barton & Sandhills, resigned on 30 August, as he is moving away from Oxfordshire.
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Works on London Road
The second stage of Oxfordshire County Council's London Road scheme (Osler Road to Wharton Road) which started on 26 April 2010 continues until November. Full information (last updated 19 August):
Work to divert underground services in the area of the new retaining wall outside Iceland was delayed which means this phase will not be completed until late September. To ensure that the overall scheme is completed on time, the work opposite St Andrew’s School will take place sooner than originally planned
The subway has been filled in and replaced by a pelican crossing. There will also be a trial zebra crossing near Stile Road.
Each pavement stage is being completed before Ashridge Construction Ltd moves on to the next. They are storing all their plant and machinery on the Dorset House site.
Shop owners are complaining about loss of business:
Carriageway resurfacing will take place towards the end of the project and will require some overnight working and road closures.
Subway panoramas online
Oxfordshire County Council has put online two panoramic sweeps of the pictures in the Headington subway:
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Headington crossroads
A cabbie explains why he thinks that the central Headington crossroads is one of the most dangerous areas in Oxford:
There was a car crash at these crossroads at lunchtime on Friday 9 July:
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Ripples closed
Ripples Bathroom showroom at John Leon House, 138/140 London Road closed down in July 2010. Customers needing help are being dealt with by the Henley shop, and should call head office in Bath, 01225 335111.
Connell's, the owners of the building, repossessed the ground-floor premises on 2 August 2010.
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New shops
Reynold's Blinds has moved into the former chemist shop in Windmill Road, and another off-licence is moving into the former Nicolas shop at 83 London Road. |
Heart surgery at JR
The paediatric heart surgery unit will remain suspended until arrangements are made for improving care.
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New homes west of Barton
Oxford City Council is planning to build a thousand dwellings on land to the west of Barton. The period of consultation ended on 23 July.
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Houses in Multiple Occupation
Since 6 April 2010 there has been a new C4 category of housing in Oxford for "Houses in Multiple Occupation" (HMOs). These are private houses let by absentee landlords to groups of between three and six normally unrelated tenants. About 5,000 such houses already in existence in the city fell automatically into the new C4 category.
Planning permission is however now required to turn a dwelling house (category C3) into a new HMO, and in week ending 9 July 2010 the first five permitted development checks for C4 status were submitted, one for a house in New High Street (and four in east Oxford).
Oxford City Council links:
Housing & Planning Minister John Healey announced in Oxford Town Hall on 26 January that existing legislation would be amended so that local authorities could introduce compulsory licensing schemes for landlords of student houses from April.
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Death of Brian Lloyd
Dr Brian Beynon Lloyd of High Wall, Pullens Lane died in the John
Radcliffe Hospital on 29 June 2010. An Emeritus Fellow of
Magdalen College, Oxford, Dr Lloyd was the first Director of Oxford
Polytechnic. He was also Chairman of the Health Education Council and
Director of the International Nutrition Foundation. As Chairman of the
HEC he strenuously campaigned to raise public awareness of the dangers
of smoking, for which he received the CBE in 1983.
The Lloyd
Building at Oxford Brookes, which is soon to be demolished, was named
after him. |
Ruskin College, Headington
Ruskin wins appeal
Ruskin has won its appeal against the city council's decision to refuse permission for its car-park.
Walled garden
Ruskin College plans a gardening venture in its walled garden, and by 2012 garden strips will be available for local residents.
Move to Headington
Ruskin College has sold its site in Walton Street to Exeter College for £7m, and work is now starting on developing its new campus in Old Headington.
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Highfield traffic management scheme
The county council's proposed traffic management scheme for the Highfield area in Headington is now on hold until it is reviewed with the rest of the county council's capital programme.
The consultation has now finished, and 353 responses were received via the feedback form, and there were a number of longer, more detailed responses by letter.
As well as bollards in All Saints Road to the east of Barrington Close, the scheme includes the following controversial turning bans:
From London Road: No right turn into Latimer Road Lime Walk, and New High Street.
From Old Road: No right turn into Lime Walk, Stapleton Road, and Bickerton Road.
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Father Michael Brewin retiring
Father Michael Brewin, who has been Vicar of St Andrew's Church since 1987, retires in 2010. His last Sunday service is expected to be at 10am on Sunday 19 September.
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New free bus service
A new free bus service has operated just twice a week since 9 June 2010 to give people from Old Marston and the Headley Way area a chance to get to the Headington shops.
The H1 bus will run from Old Marston – Marston shops – Headley Way – Franklin Road – White Horse – London Road – Headington shops on Wednesday and Friday mornings.
Times will be 11.05 at Franklin Road to Headington, and 12.30 return from Headington.
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Beckley television mast
The main TV transmitting antenna damaged in the fire on 13 May will have to be replaced. Meanwhile TV services continue to be transmitted from the reserve antenna, and some homes are having difficulty.
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Holy Trinity Church summer opening
Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry will again be open at weekends this summer.
Saturday 5 June to Sunday 12 September 2010
Weekends only, 2–5pm.
Visitors will be able to explore the whole of the church and the churchyard. They will be able to enjoy the "Narnia" window inside the church and visit C. S. Lewis’ grave in the churchyard. A range of souvenirs depicting the church and C. S. Lewis will be available for purchase. |
Two cannabis farms raided
Police raided a house in Weldon Road, New Marston on Monday 17 May and seized cannabis worth more than £100,000.
A week earlier on 10 May they raided another cannabis farm in Headley Way.
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Warneford Meadow
Warneford Meadow has now been officially registered as a Town Green.
A High Court judge upheld the decision of Oxfordshire County Council to register the meadow, following the Judicial Review requested by Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Mental Health Trust that took place in February 2010.
Meanwhile the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust is building a new 18-bed adolescent mental health in-patient unit to replace the Highfield Unit (which provides services to young people aged 11–18) on the Warneford Hospital site.
Initial enabling work started on 15 March 2010. This includes the development of a new temporary road to allow construction traffic to access the site without causing any disruption to the main entrance. The road (which will be closed when the development is complete) will link Roosevelt Drive to the development site from a temporary entrance . |
Bury Knowle Park gets grant
Bury Knowle Park has been awarded a £47,000 Playbuilder grant, and the work will be undertaken by the charity Groundwork.
Details of how to become a Friend of Bury Knowle Park are on their website, which includes a description of the park's facilities and a brief history.
The Friends are hoping to get green flag status for the park:
The park now has a new management plan:
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Brookes plans
On 18 March the full city council approved Oxford Brookes University's revised plans for the redevelopment of its site. (The plans had been called in following approval by the City Council's Strategic Development Control Committee on 24 February.)
The brief description of the plans is "Erection of new library and teaching building (NLTB) consisting of lecture theatre, library, teaching accommodation and social facilities, plus linked extension to the Abercrombie building and arcaded building to new entrance piazza to Headington Road".
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Jacobs & Field
Jacobs & Field opened at 15 Old High Street (the former Thresher's off-licence) on Tuesday 9 March 2010.
The new shop provides"a range of locally reared meat, seasonal fruit and vegetables, sustainable fish, a large selection of artisan cheeses, charcuterie, home baked dishes, sandwiches, fresh baked bread and [their] own label fine foods including chutneys, relishes and jams, hampers of fine wine, pork pies, artisan cheeses and chocolates. The products will be available for take away and also to be consumed on the premises".
An application for "Erection of two-storey side extension to provide stairway to first floor flat. Internal alterations to provide enlarged retail area on ground floor and enlarged bathroom in first floor flat" was approved in December 2009. An application for a licence for on and off sales of alcohol 11.00–23.00 hrs, seven days a week, has also been approved.
An application for "Demolition of rear single storey extension and erection of 2 storey
rear extension to create new ground floor commercial unit (class 1/A2), 1st floor 2 bed flat and 1 bed flat in roof space" is pending.
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Sikh temple appeal dismissed
In March 2010 the Sikh community lost its appeal against the North-East Area Committee's decision on 20 January 2009 to refuse retrospective planning permission for a semi-detached house at 69 Cherwell Drive to operate as a Sikh temple after neighbours spoke of the problems caused by traffic and parking. They have to move out within one year of this decision.
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New unit on cricket ground approved
The Strategic Development Control Committee has approved plans for a new 20-bed adolescent psychiatric unit to be built on the cricket ground of the United Oxford Hospitals Cricket Club at the Warneford Hospital.
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Barton gym plan approved
The North-East Area Committee has approved the plans for Barton gym, and it could be open by October.
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Headington NAGs amalgamate
The Headington North and South neighbourhoods have now amalgamated to just Headington. The new neighbourhood team is as follows: Sgt Claire Grant, PC Chris Miles, PCSO Dave Hession, PCSO Rachel Cooper, PCSO Steph Barras and PCSO Eva Jordan. |
Poor television reception
Headington people are currently reporting poor digital television reception from the Beckley transmitter on ITV channels. This problem will continue until April, as a temporary transmitter is being used while the main one is being converted ready for the digital switchover.
This switchover takes place in March next year, and all old televisions will then need to be fitted with a set-top box.
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PCSOs "bought" by Brookes
Oxford Brookes University has "bought" two police community support offices to patrol the Headington campus and
surrounding areas where students live.
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Joint ticketing for buses
The London Road in Headington is one of the routes chosen by the Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach for their new joint ticketing scheme, which they hope to bring in by the end of the year. This will include a new £2m multi-operator smartcard ticketing system.
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Wood Farm School to be rebuilt
Work on Wood Farm Primary School will start this year, and a planning application has been approved for:
"Demolition of existing school. Erection of new building to provide primary and nursery school accommodation (primary school to be increased from 1.5 form entry to 2 form entry), community facilities, children's centre and primary care trust facilities (new building to be constructed in 3 phases). Erection of temporary classroom accommodation for duration of construction works and relocation of existing Youth Action Group Building."
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More Park-and-Rides to the JR
RH Buses has been running two new bus services from the Seacourt and Redbridge Park & Rides since 4 January 2010. The services run half-hourly from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
- The 100 service from Seacourt stops at Frideswide Square and Banbury Road, reaching the JR via Marston Ferry Road
- The 200 service from Redbridge dovetails with the X13 bus, thus providing a 15-minute service
- Oxford Mail, 3 January 2010:
"New buses will be a tonic for patients"
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Slade Barracks development
This £30m project now comprises 374 student study bedrooms and 72 houses and flats.
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Black Boy
Since 15 November 2009, the Black Boy restaurant has been open seven days a week. It is featured in the Good Food Guide 2010 and the Michelin Guide 2010.
The Black Boy's 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.
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“Charity” clothes collections
Despite having six genuine charity shops, central Headington has since 2006 been targeted by commercial firms asking people to give all the spare clothes they have for them to sell to the poor.
There were 15 bags or leaflets delivered in Headington in 2007 and 9 in 2008. So far in 2009 there have been only three, all from "Helping Arms". A kidney charity, however, is now working jointly with "UK Clothing Collections Ltd".
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Food hygiene
The Scores on the Doors website launched on 16 June 2009 made councils' food hygiene ratings available to the public for the first time, and the 2010 round of reinspections has begun.
Four local eateries which are open to the general public got the top rating of five stars in 2009: McDonald's at the Green Road roundabout; Subway in central Headington; the Brookes Training Restaurant; and the Mediterranean Fish Bar in Cherwell Drive.
At the bottom end of the scale, two restaurants or cafés in central Headington received no star at all because of their “very poor” kitchen hygiene standards: La Croissanterie and, Yummy. Those with no stars were either given either a written warning or an enforcement notice to improve or else face court action. Yummy was reinspected on 19 January 2010 but still received no stars.
The other two places in Headington & Marston which originally gained no stars have been taken over and have improved. The Hang Chow has been awarded four stars under its new name The Chinese Restaurant, and in Marston the Bricklayers Arms awaits inspection.
Twelve establishments in Headington and Marston which are not open to the general public also get the top five-star rating: Mulberry Guest House; Cotuit Hall; Galliano's at Brookes: Albany Nursing Home; Kids Unlimited Nursery; Sandfield Day Nursery; Ruskin Hall; Slade Park Fire Station; Carillion Health at the JR; Aramark at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre; Catermasters at Sobell House Hospice; and Centromere in Roosevelt Drive.
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9th Headington Beer Festival
Mason's Arms in Quarry
Friday 3, Saturday 4, and Sunday 5 September.
45 real ales and 10 Ciders. Free entry |
Old Headington Conservation Area walkabouts
Oxford City Council Conservation Officer Robert Lloyd-Sweet plans to run a number of walkabouts for the public in the Old Headington Conservation Area on Friday 10 September to support the preparation of a first draft of the conservation area appraisal.
If you would like to look around the conservation area on one of the walking tours or take part in its appraisal, please telephone him on 01865 252804 or email .
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Cherie Blair public lecture at Brookes
Subject: The value of social entrepreneurship in transforming the lives of people in developing nations.
Thursday 16 September 2010
Main lecture theatre,Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, 6:30-8:30pm. To book tickets email or telephone 01865 483813. |
Mesopotamia closed
The University Parks Department has closed Mesopotamia Walk until about mid-September to repair the sluice gates and retaining wall at King's Mill. It will not affect the cycle track |
Sheepskin shortlisted for prize
Sheepskin (a holiday business launched last December and based at 41 Old High Street),
has been shortlisted for the Best UK Cottage/Self Catering Booking
Company prize in the 2010 British Travel Awards.
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Heritage Open Days
The following buildings in Headington & Marston will be open during the Heritage Open Days weekend (no booking required):
The full list of Oxfordshire buildings open is here. |
Get your event in Headington Monthly
Headington Monthly Magazine is a free A5 magazine for Headington with a page for the free promotion of local non-commercial and charitable events.
Please e-mail Headington Monthly with your event by the 19th of the month preceding the date of the event. There is space for two or three lines: your text may be edited if it is too long. |
Repatriations
The funeral cortège of war dead from Afghanistan always passes along Marsh Lane and Headley Way on its way to the JR, and members of the Royal British Legion hold tributes as they approach the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Members of the general public are welcome to join them.
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Blue plaques
The new blue plaque for Norman Heatley unveiled at Old Marston on Saturday 17 July brings the total number of plaques in Headington & Marston to four:
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Dial House application
The Dial House at 25 London Road has submitted a planning application for: "Demolition of single storey structures. Erection of 2x1 bed flats, 2x2 bed flats and 1x3 bed flat. Provision of cycle and bin stores and communal garden area".
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Childhood memories of Barton
Roger Thomas,Tales of an Oxford Lad – A Barton Childhood 1942–1957 (Robert Boyd Publishing, 2010) costs £7.95 and is available at Pen to Paper (95 London Road), Barton Centre; the Spar Shop and Barton Chippy (Underhill Circus); and at Model World (The Roundway). It can also be ordered by telephone on 01993 703474.
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Botnar Phase 2
The following planning application for the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre site has been submitted: "Erection of two-storey research building (Botnar Phase 2). Provision
of 4 disabled parking spaces, 22 cycle hoops and new barrier-
controlled access road."
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Funding cuts for Headington projects "under review"
Because of cuts in government funding, Oxfordshire County Council is to scrutinize all major schemes planned for the next five years. The following three projects due to take place in Headington are now back "under review":
Headington Library – extension. This work was due to start in August, with completion at the end of November. It involved the “erection of extension to provide wheelchair access to rear of library building, including: creation of a platform lift; accessible w.c.; a new door opening between the existing library building and new entrance and other associated works”. The plans had been approved by Government of the South East: 08/02355/CC3 and Oxfordshire City Council 08/02358/CC3
Thornhill Park-and-Ride extension. The county council had planned to add 540 spaces to the 850 at the Park & Ride, and were also investigating the possibility of charging people who park there in order to go to London.
Bayards Hill Primary School. The county council had planned to spend £6.4million on demolishing the current school and rebuilding it.
In addition, Cheney School will not get the funding it had expected.
Barton Play Area. Despite the fact that contracts had already been signed, this scheme has now been put back under review.
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Headington Inc scam
This international email scam is still operating. An email in different languages claiming to be from "Headington Inc" offers a modelling contract opportunity with Coca Cola at Heathrow Airport, but in fact just tricks people out of their money.
The message from "Headington Inc" is signed by various people, including "Pamela Jones", "Steven Macfoy", and "Shevko Martin" (allegedly the Financier). It gives its address as Gipsy Lane, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0BP (the address and postcode of Oxford Brookes University).
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Headington & Marston websites
See full directory of Headington & Marston websites
New websites added in 2010:
- Clearwater Pools, 81 Langley Close:
- First Move Letting, 4d New High Street
- Headington Community Centre, Gladstone Road
- Kitchen Installations Oxford Ltd, Headley Way
- Levick Jones Property Services
115 London Road
- New Marston Pastoral Centre, Jack Straw's Lane
- Northway Community Centre,
Dora Carr Close
- Oxford Art and Design, Hugh Allen Crescent
- Oxford Solar Heat, 48 Mortimer Drive
- Radio Cherwell
- RC-Choppers, 1 Windmill Road
- Reynold's Blinds, 8 Windmill Road
- Sheepskin, 41 Old High Street
- Viking Sports Club, Old High Street
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Crematorium gates stolen
The wrought-iron gates of Oxford Crematorium in Bayswater Road were stolen in June 2010.
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Headington Festival 2010
Pictures on Flickr by Margaret Stranks
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Bury Knowle Health Centre patients
Patients of Dr Yenugula Srinivas, who was at Bury Knowle Health Centre in 2008/9, have been asked by police to come forward if they have any concerns.
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All Saints' Church centenary
All Saints’ Church is celebrating its centenary in 2010. A special service was held on 29 May (the anniversary of the consecration of the church), at which the Bishop of Oxford gave the sermon.
Improvements have been made to the church for its centenary, including the enhancement of the chancel ceiling with coloured panels.
Celebrations will continue until the church's patronal festival on 1 November: see Events.
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Islamic Studies Centre
The new Islamic Studies Centre on the Marston Road is due to open in 2011. More than £50 million has already been spent on the building, but another £25 million is needed.
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Annie Sloan moves
The Annie Sloan shop moved from Headington to 33 Cowley Road in June 2010.
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Election results: 6 May 2010
General Election
Andrew Smith (Labour) held Oxford East, which had a 4.1% swing to Labour.
City Council election
The seat of one candidate in each of the six city council wards covering Headington & Marston was contested. Van Coulter (Labour) gained Barton & Sandhills from LibDems. The other five seats remained as they were.
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Air pollution
Oxford City Council is proposing to declare all of Oxford, including Headington, an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA).
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Recycled bicycles
Recycled bicycles are now being sold from the ground floor of the tattoo studio in Windmill Road, and the shop is also offering bike repairs. |
Graffiti
Headington is suffering from a spate of graffiti; contact streetscene@oxford.gov.uk to get it cleaned. |
Barton, Risinghurst, and Sandhills now on Google Street View
The Google van with its rooftop camera visited Barton, Risinghurst, and Sandhills in 2009, and those areas are now available on Google's Street View. The rest of Headington was visited in the summer of 2008.
To see your house, first go to Google maps and put your postcode in the search box to get a satellite view of your street. Then move the little orange person on the left on to the street that you want to view house by house.
The links below show the shops on the London Road in Street View: keep clicking the left and right arrows on the picture to view them all.
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Marston added to World War I dead
Brief biographies of the 36 men of Old and New Marston who died in the First World War have been added to the 120 Headington ones.
Memories and photographs from family members would be very welcome.
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Former fish & chip building
Building is now complete on the new shop and flats which have placed the former Smart’s Fish & Chip takeaway at 81 London Road near the subway.
Work started in September 2008 on the new four-storey building comprising a Class A3 unit on the ground floor, and three flats over the first, second, and third floors.
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Headington Car Club
Headington Car Club, operated in conjunction with Commonwheels, has acquired a second car.
The first car, based in St Leonard's car park, was booked 112 times between July and December and it was driven for 354 hours, clocking up 2,891 miles.
As registration takes some time and there is no yearly fee, it is a good idea to sign up for the scheme well before you actually need to borrow a car. You can then book it instantly online if an emergency occurs.
Local people who join the scheme can hire the car for as little as half an hour for £4 an hour (plus mileage). Members are issued with a Smartcard which unlocks the vehicle, and booking can be made by phone or online via Commonwheels.
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New Headington shops in 2010
Vacant Headington shops in 2010
- Annie Sloan, 117 London Road, became vacant in June 2010
- The former Reynolds Blinds shop at 118 London Road has been empty since 2008
- Ripples at 138/140 London Road closed in June 2010
- Matthew Clulee hairdressers moved out of its Holyoake Hall branch on the London Road in November 2009
- Newly-built coffee shop at 81A London Road (on the site of the former Smarts Fish & Chip shop)
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Retail shops and the Local Plan
The Local Plan is designed to protect the Headington shopping centre. No café or takeaway (A3/A5) use should be granted until the number of A1 (retail) shops at ground-floor level rises above 65%. Hence planning applications by coffee shops (A3) and offices (A2) are being turned down.
The link below gives further details about recent applications and appeals as well as similar applications in the past:
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Can’t find a news item?
Older news items are moved to separate pages Links to news pages from 2009 back to 2001 can be found here. |
Windmill House
Windmill House at the south-east end of Windmill Road has been demolished and is being replaced by facilities for vulnerable young adults and people with learning difficulties.
Windmill House was built as a children's home on the site of the old windmill in 1957.
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Maggie's Centre
Planning permission has been granted for a charity centre on stilts near the Julia Durbin day nursery.
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Thames Valley Police
To find out which Neighbourhood Action Group you are in
For press releases about local crime, follow the link below and search for "Headington" etc:
The Headington North Neighbourhood Action Group area includes the shopping centre and is holding surgeries at Headington Baptist Church this summer:
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Parkopedia
Enterprising householders living near the hospitals are renting their driveways via the Parkopedia website. The going rate appears to be £5 or £6 a day.
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Headington in Wikipedia
Many parts of Headington now have their own entry in Wikipedia.
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Geograph Britain
Central Headington is now well represented on the Geograph British
Isles website by seven pictures, including the shark and the
new Baptist Church.
Other parts of Headington mapped with pictures are Barton
(St Mary’s Church), Sandhills (Thornhill Park & Ride),
Shotover (egg-rolling), Headington Hill (Cuckoo Lane), Marston
(Vicky Arms), and the west side of Quarry (Rock Edge).
Other parts of Headington and Marston are still waiting for
people to submit pictures; and it is always possible to add
extra pictures to occupied squares.
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Aerial views of Headington
Google Earth has now
covered the whole of Headington and Oxford (special download
required).
You can also see all of Headington on Microsoft’s maps site
(no downloads required unless you want to use the 3D effect).
You can use your keyboard arrow keys to move away from the
shark in the link below to visit your part of Headington.
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Headington city council ward
City councillors David Rundle and Ruth Wilkinson have a website with news relating to the central Headington ward. As their ward includes most of the central shopping area, it will also be of interest to people in other parts of Headington.
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Collecting post
Since the closure of Lime Walk sorting office, Headington people have had to collect packages that could not be delivered from the East Oxford Delivery Office in Ledgers Close (off Sandy Lane West in Littlemore).
If you cannot collect, you can arrange for parcels to be redelivered to a local post office (50p fee) or to your house (free) by telephoning 01865 747585.
Do not attempt to collect Saturday parcels first thing on Monday morning, as they will not have been sent back to Littlemore from storage in Headington Post Office. |
Richens plans approved
Plans submitted by Neil Richens for the old Dring’s bus garage site at the top of Windmill Road were approved in August 2008. The existing Richens building is due to be replaced by a new three-storey building providing two B1 units on the ground floor, with three flats (which will have an amenity courtyard) upstairs.
Richens Mobility occupied the site until 22 July 2006, when their workshop suffered a severe fire. They are now based at 6 The Roundway (Mon–Sat, 9.30am–1.30pm). Their telephone number remains unchanged: 01865 769778.
Two earlier sets of plans for the site which included more flats were rejected.
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Dorset House
The developers who own the Dorset House site, Quintain, demolished the nineteenth-century house in June 2009.
They have not yet submitted any planning applications for the site (except for the removal of one tree, for which it transpired that permission was not required).
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