Clarion Weekend, 14 November 2025

When we started the Clarion as a Twitter account in 2022, we didn’t anticipate that we’d be reporting almost every week on massive new tech developments around Oxford. But the life science and AI booms are rapidly reshaping the city and its environs – as several of our stories relate this week. Read on…

This week’s top stories

But are people being left behind? In a long read, we took a look at deprivation in Oxford and the city’s housing crisis after new statistics were published.

Gentrifying Oxford vs the left-behinds

Oxford’s poorest areas are not sharing equally in the city’s increased prosperity, new figures suggest. Parts of Minchery Farm, Rose Hill, and Wood Farm are now suffering more deprivation compared to 2015, while Littlemore, Northfield Brook and Temple Cowley have seen little change. Meanwhile, areas of East Oxford

Oxford ClarionOxford Clarion

A massive new research and innovation campus is proposed to bridge the A34 between Oxford and Kidlington – becoming a neighbour to Oxford United’s new stadium. EXOq, so-called because it will be built on land owned by Exeter College, would be centred around High-Performance Compute infrastructure. A new foot and cycle bridge across the A34, the East-West rail line, and the A4260 Oxford Road would link the site directly to Oxford Parkway station.

Exeter says “Workers and visitors will arrive on foot or cycle to enjoy a high-quality public realm, free of vehicular traffic.” As well as “innovation units”, the site would include parkland for public use, a further education college, a low-carbon heat facility, and a hotel. Paths would link to the adjacent canal towpath. A public exhibition opened yesterday and plans are available online.

A new Quantum Cluster has been launched at Harwell Campus this week. The cluster aims to encourage quantum businesses, organisations and entrepreneurs to work closer together, accelerating innovation & commercialisation. It will create over 1000 jobs and entangle over £1bn of investment. (The Cluster will be like particles brought together to increase their energy levels. The results will, of course, be uncertain until observed.) The National Quantum Computing Centre, launched in 2022, will be at its core.

Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Science and Technology, said: “From helping doctors discover new medicines faster to batteries that last longer, quantum technology can change our everyday lives in really practical ways. This cluster at Harwell shows we're serious about grabbing that opportunity.”

The Quantum Cluster is the fourth at Harwell, after Space, Energy & Health. Harwell has attracted over 250 organisations from the European Space Agency and the Rosalind Franklin Institution to one-person startups, academic institutions and support services.

A keenly contested by-election in Vale of White Horse, the first Oxfordshire election since the congestion charge was introduced, has been held by the Liberal Democrats. The Ridgeway seat was last contested in 2023. Hannah Griffin will be the new councillor.

• 🔶 Hannah Griffin, LibDem: 442 (43.1%, -15.0%)
• 🔵 Charlotte Dickson, Conservative: 250 (24.4%, -17.6%)
• ➡️ Henry de Kretser, Reform UK: 204 (19.9%, new)
• 🌍 Kiera Barnett, Green: 122 (11.9%, new)
• 🌹 Rob Blundell, Labour: 8 (0.8%, new)

Around the city

• Stained glass in Merton College’s Old Library, the (mostly) car-free Market Street, and Hinksey Park’s tern rafts all took home prizes in the Oxford Preservation Trust’s annual awards. The awards recognise the best in conservation and new design around the city. The Merton stained glass won the Building Conservation award, with Harris Manchester College’s chapel renovation victorious in the Adaptive Re-use category. Repairs to the weathervanes on Magdalen’s Great Tower, using real gold leaf, won the Judges’ Choice award. Hinksey saw winners in both the Community Impact (for Little Wheels and Wet Play Park) and Green Spaces (for the tern rafts) categories. Oxford University Development’s graduate homes scheme at Court Place shared the New Buildings award with an Oxford Brookes workshop. The redesign of Market Street won the Public Realm award. Fourteen highly commended projects include the refurbished Gasworks Pipe Bridge, Brookes’ Edible Streets community gardening project, and several college projects. Full details here.
• Can't park here mate: The City of Oxford College has been told again that it can’t use its parking area, off Oxpens Road, as a public car park. Oxford City Council said it was not convinced that there was precedent of using it “continously and without interruption for ten years”. The college markets it as “the affordable all-day alternative to hourly-rate car parks”, charging £6 per day. Consent had previously been refused for a 2023 application. City Council officers said “the use of the car parking by anyone other than students and staff of the City of Oxford College would be a breach of [a 2019 planning] condition”. The college had appealed against the previous refusal, but the appeal was dismissed for not showing 10 years’ use.
• Diesel taxis could stay on the city’s roads for longer if Oxford City Council approves a plan to postpone a requirement for electric (and Ultra-Low Emissions) vehicles for the second time. The council’s cabinet will be asked next week to delay the plan until a new unitary council is created. Black cab drivers’ association COLTA says the arrival of Uber, who “can pump millions of pounds into their business model”, has affected Oxford cabbies’ viability. They also reference the Botley Road closure, delays to the Zero Emissions Zone, and suggestions to deregulate Oxford taxis; they worry that a unitary council covering a larger area could allow non-electric taxis from out of town to ply their trade in Oxford, putting Oxford drivers at a disadvantage.
• More high end lab space incoming: Oxford Science Park has announced the acquisition of nearby Northbrook House which, following refurbishment, will house science and technology start-ups and growth businesses. It is served by a regular bus service and the planned Cowley Branch Line station. (Clarion note: There is another Northbrook House in Oxford. It is not that one. Before anyone thinks sheltered accommodation is being converted to labs.)
• Oxford coffee mini-empire the Missing Bean is to open a seventh outlet in 2026, in a co-working space in the Trinity Building in Cowley. It will join outlets in Oxford, Abingdon, Woodstock, Charlbury and Maidenhead. While we're on the Missing Bean, they have just launched this year's Christmas range, including ‘Noche Buena’ a coffee from the Celibe farm in Honduras, named after Christmas Eve, and coffee cherry tea, made from the fruit of the tea plant.
• Protests failed to materialise outside the Oxford Union last night despite a heavy police presence anticipating disturbance. The student society’s debating topic was “Israel is a greater threat to regional stability than Iran”. Speakers included former Palestinian PM Mohammad Shtayyeh, former British Ambassador to Iran Dominick Chilcott, and former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind.
• Over 20 community organisations are calling on the community in Oxford to march against racism “in celebration of Oxford's diverse City of Sanctuary” on Sunday. The march will start at Templars Square at 12.30pm. Ian McKendrick from Oxford Stand Up To Racism said: “A toxic narrative in mainstream politics that blames refugees, and migrants for social problems created by austerity is giving a green light for racists to abuse and attack people.” County councillor Imade Omedosomwan added: “Racism divides us, but peace unites us. No one is born with hate – it’s something we can choose to unlearn.” The full list of organisations supporting this march is here.
• Tapas restaurant Arbequina has been given the all-clear by Oxford City Council to open their new site in the Covered Market. Planning permission for the former Blue Blood sports shop was signed off this week. Arbequina on Cowley Road was named “best restaurant in Oxford 2025” by Time Out last month.
• And finally… Oxfordshire County Council has clarified that the Ghostbusters hearse would not be exempt from the city’s Congestion Charge. A spokesperson said: “It’s not as simple as buying a hearse. In order to qualify for a permit, you must also be a funeral care business.” And if you’re wondering why they told us that, see Hack 12.

Around the county

• Industrial action at Oxfordshire’s hospitals this weekend is leading to appointments being postponed. Resident doctors are striking over pay erosion and what the BMA calls a “training places crisis”. Oxford University Hospitals says it is prioritising patients with the highest clinical needs, including cancer and dialysis patients. OUH’s Felicity Taylor-Drewe warned: “Patients may experience longer waiting times, particularly in our emergency departments at the John Radcliffe and Horton.”
• Parking enforcement team to enforce parking: Oxfordshire County Council have signalled a clampdown on motorists who park badly in response to a “perceived increase in dangerous parking”. This includes on double yellow lines and outside schools during drop-off and pick-up times. Cllr Andrew Gant said: “This focused crackdown will allow residents to see a greater presence by our officers in their neighbourhoods, enforcing the parking restrictions to make our streets safer and keep the transport network running for all users.” (The Clarion is running a book on how quickly other media outlets use the phrase ‘war on motorists’…)
• Housing developers are holding back new homes in Oxfordshire, a council meeting was told this week. Cherwell District Council’s scrutiny committee heard that over 11,000 homes with planning permission still remain unbuilt. Because it cannot demonstrate a “five-year housing land supply”, the Government-set metric for house-building underway or shortly to begin, Cherwell currently has a limited ability to object to new developments not listed in the area’s Local Plan. Cllr Chris Brant (LibDem, Cropredy) said: “It’s absurd. We’re approving the sites and putting homes in the pipeline, but we’re punished because developers aren’t building fast enough. Councils should be empowered to get homes moving, not blamed for a problem caused by developers sitting on land.”
• Once bittern, twice shy: Oxfordshire’s new Local Nature Recovery Strategy was unveiled at a launch with minister Mary Creagh. OCC’s Chloe Edwards described it as “a powerful framework to direct energy and resources towards habitat and species work where they could offer great benefits”. Priority species include bitterns, curlews, hazel dormice, white-clawed crayfish, and plants such as downy woundwort, fen violet (found in Otmoor), black poplar trees, and Devil’s bit scabious.
• North Oxfordshire residents will be able to put their empty Christmas glass bottles in their recycling bin for collection, Cherwell District Council have announced, with kerbside glass recycling starting on 1 January. Cllr Ian Middleton said: “Kerbside glass collection is one of the most requested changes to our recycling service. Bottle banks have attracted litter and fly-tipping, with the taxpayer having to pick up the costs.”
• Burglars broke into the house of a former Royal Engineer and stole his medals – together with the WW1 medals of his grandfather – while he was attending an Armistice Day event on Tuesday. The veteran, in his 60s, had cycled the Western Front Way this year to raise money for the Royal British Legion. The burglary took place in Broadwell, near Carterton, between 11.30am and 4pm on Tuesday. Appealing for information, DC Mark Lowman said “These medals were stolen on the very day that is there to remember all those who served around the world.”
• Work has started at the A4130 junction near Steventon to install a new bus lane and provide a new roadside cycleway towards the Milton interchange. Work is expected to take around one year.
• The building that housed Henley’s River & Rowing Museum has been put up for sale for £3m. The RRM closed in September after trustees said it was no longer financially sustainable. Architect David Chipperfield’s design, said to have been “inspired by local river boathouses and the traditional wooden barns of Oxfordshire”, won awards including a RIBA National Award in 1999. Part of the site is currently let as offices.
• Blenheim Palace will go a bit Pete Tong next June as the veteran Ibiza DJ headlines the Blenheim Palace Festival, which replaces Nocturne in the calendar. Katy Perry and Teddy Swims will also head the line-up.
• Monty Don and Alan Titchmarsh have come out against the proposed 9,000-home new town at Heyford Park in North Oxfordshire. In a letter to the Times, they claim that “the town will be visible from important vantage points in Rousham, the best surviving 18th-century garden in Britain”. They also say that residents of the new town catching the train would have “a disastrous impact on the capacity of Heyford station”. Other signatories to the letter include fashion designer Jasper Conran, polemicist AN Wilson and Will Palin, son of a famous comedian. (Next week, we ask Ainsley Harriott about education policy.)
• The public examination into the proposed Botley West Solar Farm has ended after six months. Four planning inspectors have listened to objectors and supporters at hearings in Oxford, considered thousands of pages of written submissions, and visited the site and nearby areas several times. For the promoters, Mark Owen-Lloyd said: “We would like to thank the Examining Authority for their very diligent approach. We are confident that they will find a robust case for why this project is needed – and the clean, reliable, lower-cost energy it will provide.” Local MP Calum Miller said the application was flawed. “Liberal Democrats strongly believe in the need renewables – but that doesn’t mean we sign off on any project. The community benefit offer is far too low, the flood risk is too high and there are still too many questions left unanswered.” Key issues raised in the examination included the views from nearby homes, the level of community funding to be provided, the source of the scheme’s finances, and the effect on footpaths and the countryside. A decision by Secretary of State Ed Miliband is expected in spring 2026.
• Cock horses will be limited to 20mph after the speed limit around Banbury Cross was dropped. The new limit will affect Southam Road, North Bar/Horsefair/South Bar, Bloxham Road and Oxford Road in the centre of town. Oxfordshire County Council is taking the measure after a coroner’s recommendation as a result of a fatal collision in 2023; local councillors supported the new limit while bus companies offered no objection.
• A new community and youth centre in Thame took a step forward as over £700,000 of developer funding was approved. The building will include a community hall, a music room, kitchen, and a dedicated youth club, with EV charging, bike racks, a refreshed play area, and accessible toilets. Cllr David Rouane, leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “This new facility will help meet the needs of Thame’s growing community by creating a safe, welcoming, and inclusive space for everyone."
• Cherwell District Council has announced funding is available for community projects that support the cost of living, including food provision, growing and cooking, nutrition, hygiene products and household equipment. Grants of up to £3,000 are available.
• Grove Rugby Football Club is to receive over £80,000 from developer (S106) funds to improve its facilities. Graham Mundy for Grove Parish Council said: “We’re delighted to support this S106 application. It is so important to support local sports clubs.”
• WRFM, the local radio station formerly known as Witney Radio, will be heard on digital radio (DAB) in West Oxfordshire after winning a licence from Ofcom. The station already has FM licences in West Oxfordshire and DAB in Oxford city. WRFM’s sister company WOXDAB has been granted the licence to operate a small-scale DAB multiplex, meaning several “new and exciting digital radio stations” stations can be carried on its frequencies.
• The National Grid is upgrading its Didcot substation to connect data centres and battery energy storage systems to the electricity transmission network. 650MW of battery schemes will connect, completing a transition from ‘coal to clean’ at the site. Peter Hancock, National Grid, said: “Our Didcot substation extension marks another step forward in powering the UK’s digital future. By enabling new data centres and battery storage systems to connect to the grid, we’re supporting both the energy transition and the growth of the digital economy."
• Primary school applications for next year are now open. Parents of children born between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022 need to apply before 15 January.

Walking and cycling

• 300 cyclists were stopped for riding without lights in the dark and were given temporary lights to get them home safely, as part of Oxfordshire County Council's (OCC) Vision Zero event on Broad Street last week. As well as advice on how to be safe and seen (for example, while riding near HGVs), cyclists were warned that if they are stopped without lights, they face a fine of up to £80. The joint ‘Be Bright, Be Seen’ operation was carried out by OCC's Fire and Rescue Service and Thames Valley Police. TVP also registered 127 bikes on Bike Register, making it easier for them to be reunited with their cycle in the event of it being stolen.
• Oxford’s e-bike and e-scooter rental schemes could be rolled out to Bicester and Didcot. The proposal is featured in two new transport plans published by the County Council, just published for consultation. The plan for Bicester and the Mid-Cherwell area (around Heyford Park) envisages new buses to employment sites, better links to Heyford station, and battery trains. E-cargo bikes will be used for ‘first and last mile’ deliveries across the town. In the Wantage and Didcot area (‘Science Vale’), greenway cycle routes are proposed along the River Thames, the old Wilts & Berks Canal, and the Ridgeway. The new Milton Heights cycle bridge would be built across the A34 and a station opened at Grove.
• The much-campaigned-for Haddenham to Thame Greenway (walking and cycling route) has taken a step forward as Oxfordshire County Council confirmed its commitment to delivering the project as part of its new Strategic Plan 2025–2028. A planning application is expected by 2027. Cllr Kate Gregory said: “With this commitment we’re moving from talking to taking action.” Freddie van Mierlo, MP for Henley and Thame, observed: “This is a three-mile stretch that could transform local travel, offering a safer and greener alternative to the A418. It should not be harder to build a cycle and walking path than a bypass.”

This weekend

How is it beginning to look a lot like Christmas already?

• Blenheim Christmas Lights (£). From Friday until 3 January. The illuminated trail is an Oxfordshire rite of passage.
• 90 Years of Arvo Pärt. Music at Oxford’s season continues until Sunday. Somerville's Sunday event is free to attend, while Christ Church will also be singing Pärt’s Beatitudes for Evensong on Sunday (6.05pm).
• Eliza Carthy & Jon Boden's Wassail. Friday 7.30pm, Oxford Playhouse. Folk megastars sing seasonal songs (sadly not involving bollards).
• Victorian Christmas Market. Until Sunday, Broad Street. 
• Sapphic Sounds (£) Fri 14 Nov, Varsity Club. Queer club night for anyone over 21 who identifies as a 'womxn, femme-aligned, or non-binary'.
• Christmas Light Festival, 14-16 Nov, Oxford. From Cutteslowe Light Trail to Leys in Light, via the Oxford Christmas Light Bus.
• Abingdon Bonfire and Fireworks (£). Saturday afternoon/evening. £20 for, literally, money going up in smoke, but it's “officially the UK’s largest” so there you go.
• Breakfast with Santa, Sat 15 Nov, Covered Market. Meet Father Christmas, between 10 and 12 noon.
• Christmas Art Market, Sat 15 Nov, Greyfriars Church Hall. Ceramics, glass, jewellery, prints and paintings from East Oxford Art Collective.
• Sounding the Renaissance (£) Sat 15 Nov, St Edmund Hall. Join in an afternoon of early music with cornetts and sackbuts, culminating in a choral performance.
• Road Death Memorial Service, Sunday, St Mary the Virgin, Thame. The annual service of remembrance for 'lives lost and broken on the roads', organised by Thames Valley Police.
• Etsy Oxford, Sunday 10am-4pm, Examination Schools, High Street. Lovely handmade Christmas gifts for everyone who wants to put a bird on it.

This week

• Change is Gonna Come (£) Tuesday, Old Fire Station. Seven new plays by members of Oxford Playwrights.
• Boom! + Polyester (£) Wednesday, Ultimate Picture Palace. Double bill of Tennessee Williams and John Waters (with 'Odorama' scratch-and-sniff cards) in the UPP's season of Melodramarama!
• Type Designers of the Twentieth Century, Wednesday, Weston Library. The history of modern typography (free, booking required).
• An Hour with Caroline Lucas, Wednesday. Organised by Oxford For Europe, online. The former Green MP & MEP and Oxfordshire councillor speaks on 'The UK, the EU and planetary health in the time of Trump'.
• Theatres of Time, from Wednesday, St John's College. Free exhibition of Piranesi's engravings of Roman ruins.
• Trans Day of Remembrance, Thursday. Service at New Road Baptist Church and vigil in Radcliffe Square. Open to all.
• Martin Keown 'My Oxford' (£) Thursday, St Barnabas Church. Oxford-born football legend in conversation about Oxford with Jim White, Daily Telegraph sports columnist.

Oxfordshire’s independent media

• The Oxford Sausage tells the unspeakably sad story of Oxford's connection to the two minute silence, each Armistice Day.
• Morris Oxford takes a look at a recent photo exhibition which asked the question ‘What's your Oxford?’. Spectacular.
• The Witney Gitzette (still a parody) explains why it exists, and says the quiet bit out loud. Brutal.
• The Oxford Blue interviews Jesus College’s Access Fellow.
• Cherwell, who admittedly had the freshers’ flu at the time of writing, rips into the Sheldonian series and doesn't hold back.
• Ox in a Box finds out about Ginger & Spice, the modern Punjabi takeaway opening at the Covered Market.

Ozymandias update

As we have moved to two newsletters a week, we have room for an update on Magdalen’s furriest Fellow. Apparently he persuaded his staff to give him two breakfasts and is very pleased with himself. (Cat content via Magdalen President Dinah Rose's Bluesky account, for all stars must have an agent.)

Notes from Clarion HQ

We know, we said that Tuesday was the new politics day. But we’re making a small exception today because apparently #CatWatch is not over. Banbury MP Sean Woodcock celebrated the government announcement that it will phase out animal testing in drugs and cosmetics with… a picture of him and his three cats.

If they’re anything like the cats at Clarion HQ, they will have poked their heads tentatively out of the cat-flap this morning and wandered along the garden path for all of five seconds before reversing and miaowing in a rather cross and, frankly, soggy manner. Is this a good time to remind you all of our article on how to reduce local flooding by planting? Good luck to all our readers with Storm Claudia and we’ll see you again on Tuesday.