Clarion Weekend, 16 January 2026

This week’s top stories

A legal bid to halt Oxford’s congestion charge has been turned down. The High Court yesterday refused an application for judicial review by Open Roads For Oxford Ltd, which had raised £60,000 “from private donations, transfers from aligned funds, and our GoFundMe campaign” to bring the case.

ORFOL was set up by Emily Scaysbrook of High Street games shop Hoyle’s, Paul Major of Pens Plus, and Independent Oxford Alliance chair Anne Gwinnett. It had argued Oxfordshire County Council “appeared to have made its decision before the consultation concluded”.

However, the judge dismissed its arguments in short order, saying that both the consultation and the Equality Impact Assessment appeared to have been carried out properly, and refuting the notion that the congestion charge was a fait accompli. Costs of £8,400 were awarded against ORFOL.

ORFOL says it still has the opportunity to put its case in person, and is appealing for further funds to do so. It writes: “We now have the right to request an oral permission hearing, at which the decision is reconsidered by a judge in person. This is not an appeal, but a further opportunity – expressly included in the rules – to demonstrate that the case is arguable through oral argument.”

Oxfordshire County Council has not yet commented. For the Coalition for Healthy Streets & Active Travel, Robin Tucker said: “The public can continue to enjoy the improved bus services, safer and less polluted roads, and better access to Oxford that we’ve seen since the Congestion Charge started.”

“Elections should go ahead,” Oxford City Council’s leader Cllr Susan Brown has told Government, after Wednesday’s meeting in which most councillors expressed strong support for holding elections in May as planned. Postponement had been floated in connection with impending council reorganisation. Cllr Brown said:

“We were asked if there are capacity issues caused by reorganisation, and there are. In my letter I will be setting out council's view that elections should go ahead but also acknowledging the capacity issues we face dealing with the biggest change in local government for 50 years.”

We covered the meeting live on Bluesky. Most councillors – not just from the opposition parties, but also several from the Labour group – said elections should not be postponed, summed up by LibDem Katherine Miles as “We should never cut the budget for democracy.” Those in favour of postponement cited the work required to bring new councils into being, with Labour’s Anna Railton arguing: “We want a Greater Oxford. Delivering this will take real work. This is finely balanced, but I am just on the side of deferral.” Many councillors expressed disappointment that they were not permitted an indicative vote at the meeting.

Cllr Brown’s letter to Government has now been published in full.

Around the city

• Oxford City Council says it is urgently looking to intervene at Jericho Wharf – the canalside site sitting derelict for 18 years – and could consider compulsory purchase as a last resort. Cllr Ed Turner said he was “extremely frustrated by the lack of progress on the site… We have remained in dialogue with the landowner in order to try and bring forward either the existing planning permission or a new application. Unfortunately there has been no demonstrable progress over the last year and the current planning permission is due to lapse imminently.”
       The site, formerly owned by British Waterways, was sold on to Hong Kong-based Cheer Team in 2013, outbidding a community offer of £2m. But the Jericho Wharf Trust says that, with the lack of progress, “the community is being held to ransom”. The City Council now says its patience has been exhausted, and that officers will prepare a paper on its options to intervene, including compulsory purchase “as a last resort”.
       We looked at the history of the site in a December 2024 article. Community organisation My Jericho will be organising a debate about the site in St Barnabas Church on 10 February.
• Campaigners against the introduction of charges at the Museum of Oxford say an expert report commissioned by the City Council backs up their case. Museum consultants The Revels Office wrote in 2024: “Charging would not fix the problem, and would counter the Museum of Oxford’s core purpose”. The City Council decided in October to introduce charges following a £77,000 loss in 2024-25. The museum was redeveloped in 2021 with a new shop, improved facilities, and hire spaces at a cost of £2.8m. Currently it operates a “pay what you can” model; charges take effect from the end of January.
       The expert report argued that a better approach would be to target “Oxford families and history-loving retired people”, and to integrate the museum better into the Town Hall. Its 24 recommendations also included premium Oxford gift sales, birthday party hire, and increasing revenue from schools.
       In a response to the campaign, council leader Susan Brown wrote: “The Museum of Oxford is currently getting a subsidy of nearly £250,000 a year. We have to approve a budget that adds up, and for the last two years, there has been additional subsidy for the Museum of Oxford beyond what was planned.” Council officers say the decision was backed by “information and research from across the sector”, calling it “the only option available for them to reach the financial position needed”. The campaign is collecting signatures and visitors’ stories through their website.

• Detailed plans have been submitted for Oxford University’s new building between Wellington Square and Little Clarendon Street. It will replace the 1970s concrete building which is largely empty except for the Common Ground cafe and events space on the ground floor. The plans retain retail/commercial use at the Walton Street corner of the building, with other parts of the building dedicated to teaching (“set to house one or more departments from the University of Oxford”). Trees would be preserved at the Walton Street and Little Clarendon Street entrances. The Victorian terrace facing onto the west side of Wellington Square would be refurbished as graduate student accommodation, replacing the former bedrooms in the 1970s building. A planning application is with Oxford City Council (25/03242/FUL).
• The family of an 80-year old man killed in a road traffic collision on the ring road have released a tribute. Max Farrar was born in Utah, travelled the world as an explorer and archaeologist, and retired to Oxford where he donated time and money to wildlife and democracy charities. His family called him “the most wonderful friend and grandfather”. Police are still seeking witnesses to the collision: a 28 year-old man has been bailed after being arrested on suspicion of causing death whilst driving a vehicle unlicenced/uninsured.
• The collapse of the Byron burger chain has cost Oxford City Council £100,000 in unpaid rent. The restaurant, in a council-owned building on George Street, closed in 2023 after the company went into administration. A document for next week’s Cabinet meeting says: “COVID-19 had a significant impact on the Council’s retail, food and beverage tenants. All avenues of debt recovery have been explored, and we have been notified by the administrators that there are no remaining funds available.”
• Oxford Mutual Aid have tallied up their 2025 in their latest newsletter: With the help of more than 500 volunteers, they packed and delivered more than 10,000 food parcels in Oxford last year. An eye-opening 885 of their more than food parcel recipients were children under 12. In case you missed our guest-written article on Oxford's hidden food emergency and the work Oxford Mutual Aid are doing, it's here.
• Oxford tapas superstars Arbequina are a step closer to opening their new venue in the Covered Market with an application for a licence to serve alcohol. Opening hours in the former premises of Blue Blood Sports would be 11am–6pm Sun–Wed, and 11am–10.30pm Thu–Sat. (Can you tell we’re excited?)
• A gallery at the Churchill Hospital is hosting wildlife photography by an Oxford journalist. ‘The Wild Encounter’ is inspired by Robert Edwards' mother's experience of cancer and the comfort his family found in nature. Proceeds from sales go to Oxford Hospitals Charity.

Around the county

• On-the-ground work to build the new junction connecting Eynsham Park & Ride to the A40, and to add bus lanes from Eynsham to Oxford, will start this spring. The Park & Ride is due to come into operation in 2027, with road works continuing until summer 2028. The Park & Ride, mostly funded by central Government money, was agreed by Oxfordshire County Council’s previous Conservative administration in 2014, but the awarded funding proved insufficient. We took a look at the background in a 2024 article.
• The Oxfordshire sport of Aunt Sally has been proposed as a contender for UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage inventory. Dating from the 17th century, it involves players throwing a stick at a dolly resting on a pole, and is known in France as jeu de massacre. An annual World Championship event takes place at the Charlbury Beer Festival. Also proposed for consideration are “Traditions Relating to Examinations at the University of Oxford”.
• Thame’s new Community & Youth Centre has taken a leap forward as the Town Council wins approval for a public loan of £3m. Most of the funding is now in place, but the promoters are still working towards their local fundraising target of £1.4m. Construction will start later this year.
• Plans to turn the area around M40 junction 10, at Ardley, into a colossal warehouse park have been refused by Cherwell District Council. A record-breaking planning meeting, which lasted over seven hours, saw councillors turn down four applications by Albion Land and Tritax Big Box to build a total of 570,000 sq m of warehouses (140 acres). The warehouses would have been leased by logistics companies such as DHL. Objectors had said the motorway junction was already congested and that the developments would harm the natural landscape.
• 340 new homes at Kidlington were also turned down at the same planning meeting, despite officers’ recommendation they should go ahead. Councillors were sceptical of the argument that the ‘land behind the Moors’ site, on the northern edge of the village, was Grey Belt under the Government’s new definition; they also expressed worries about flooding.
• A 350-home development at Carterton by the same developers, however, has been approved by West Oxfordshire District Council’s planning committee. Developers Harper Crewe Bloombridge have positioned Kilkenny Farm as the first of two ‘new villages’ here, in what is technically the parish of Brize Norton. As we reported last week, a third plan would see another 2,500 new homes in the same area.
• A 30-home development, half of them ‘affordable’, has been proposed for the south-western corner of Eynsham, off the B4449 and Pink Hill Lane. Developers Brickell Land say the site is within easy walking distance of the village centre. An application is with West Oxfordshire District Council.
• Cherwell District Council has become the first of Oxfordshire’s principal councils to leave X (formerly Twitter). Cllr Chris Brant said “Elon Musk's platform no longer meets the standards we expect for public engagement.” (… and bears no longer meet the standard we expect for woodland hygiene.)
• Waste investigators are asking the public if they recognise distinctive floral-patterned wall tiles, found illegally dumped in a woodland near Bletchingdon. The fly-tipping at Ash Wood is believed to have taken place in the week beginning 5 January. Cllr Rob Parkinson, for Cherwell District Council, said: “This is a serious fly-tip with enough waste to fill a transit van. All the evidence points to the crime having been committed by a rogue contractor working on a property renovation.” Anyone with information is asked to call 01295 227007.
• The Abingdon Abbey Buildings Enhancement Project has been supported with a £100,000 loan from Vale of White Horse District Council. The Abbey Buildings date to the 13th Century and were part of the Abbey that put the 'Ab' into Abingdon. Cllr Helen Pighills, an Abingdon member of the District Council, said: “I’m really pleased that the Vale is able to help fund the restoration of a key piece of our local history that the community will be able to enjoy for many years to come.” The Buildings are Grade 1 listed, but have been in disrepair. A campaign led by The Friends of Abingdon Abbey Buildings Trust recently won a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant to weatherproof the buildings, improve access and make them a community and visitor asset for the future.
• The public consultation for Abingdon Reservoir has been extended after complaints about word limits on their online consultation form. Thames Water will accept comments by email until 23rd January. The email address to use is sesro@ipsos.com.
• The best time to plant a tree…: The Government has opened up the search for “official delivery partners” for the new National Forest in the Oxford–Cambridge Corridor, which will be up to 600 square miles in size with 30%+ tree cover. Candidates are expected to demonstrate “experience of successful woodland creation projects at scale”. The deadline is 30 January and the Clarion might consider applying if the council hasn’t picked up the Christmas trees from our street by then.
• Control of the Oxford–Cambridge Corridor should be given to a single development corporation with extensive powers, argues a thinktank closely associated with Keir Starmer. Labour Together says “Project Hawking” should aim to triple economic growth in the area by 2050. Their report notes acidly that “every government promises, then fails, to turn the corridor into the UK’s Silicon Valley”. It recommends the model of Franklin Roosevelt’s Tennessee Valley Authority “using a strong state to get stuff built for the people”, saying Government should “go big, and quick”. The Hawking Development Corporation would make landowners pay for infrastructure by “more powerful land value capture tools… it’s unfair that landowners enjoy huge windfalls from infrastructure built by the public sector”. It would be the planning authority and environmental regulator in the area. The report strongly backs congestion charges for Oxford, Cambridge and other towns in the area, “with a portion paid to the local authority and a portion kept by the DevCo to improve transport”. The full PDF can be downloaded from the Labour Together website.

Walking and cycling

• 45 new cycle racks are being installed across Oxford at locations requested by residents, funded through developer contributions. 23 will be sited on the main carriageway with work starting soon, while another 22 at off-carriageway sites were installed from December. The locations are: Boundary Brook Road, Turner Close, Courtland Road, Cowley Road, Meadow Lane Recreation Ground, Elsfield Road (off-carriageway); Magdalen Road, Boulter Street, Leckford Place, Market Street, Observatory Street, St Andrews Road, Wilberforce Street (on-carriageway). For Oxford City Council, Cllr Anna Railton said “These new racks give residents more places to securely park a bike close to their homes and destinations,” while County Cllr Andrew Gant said they would “help people choose active travel for more of their trips”.
• The trial of allowing cycling access on Sheep Street, Bicester’s main shopping street, has shown that cyclists slow down, stop, or move aside for pedestrians in 86% of cases. Pedestrians gave way to cyclists in the other 14%. 320 behaviour observations were made via mobile CCTV. Sensors show that cyclists now account for 7% of the daily users of the road, with an average of 4,737 pedestrians a day and 334 cyclists. Oxfordshire County Council is considering a permit scheme to allow disabled cyclists access on Fridays (market days), the one day when cycling is otherwise prohibited.

This weekend

• Oxford Photowalk, Saturday, Carfax. Bring your camera for a tour of the city centre.
• The Mother + Luna's Story (£), Saturday, Ultimate Picture Palace. Two short films with local folk singer Peggy Seeger about a meadow in Iffley and its white badger.
• Three Wonders Mark This Holy Time, Saturday, Christ Church Cathedral. A service for the Epiphany season sung by the Cathedral Choir, including the world premiere of a new motet by Nico Muhly.
• Short performances of Emma, Sunday, Weston Library. Regency re-enactors the Georgettes of Oxford perform selected scenes alongside their 'Dancing with Jane Austen' display.
• Concert for Ukraine, Sunday, Wolfson College. Piano recital (Bach, Schubert, Liszt, Chopin) by Magdalene Ho. Donations to Save the Children.
• Funomusica Family Concert (£), Sunday, Town Hall. Harry Potter, Frozen, Star Wars and more in the Oxford Philharmonic’s family-friendly concert. Costumes encouraged.
• Hammer & Bronze (£), Sunday, St Hilda's College. Showcase for the 'British crack gamelan ensemble' as part of the Jacqueline du Pré Music Building's third January New Music Weekend.

This week

• Brutalist Imaginaries, 19 Jan-14 Mar, Maison Française. Paris and Oxford seen through brutalist architecture in this free exhibition (special event Fri 23 Jan).
• Educating Women Under the Taliban (£), Tue 20 Jan, Trinity College. Learn about the world's only boarding school for Afghan girls.
• This is Kingland (£), Tue 20 Jan, The Library. Frat party theme for the first anniversary of Oxford's drag king showcase.
• We're Going to Need a Bigger Brush!, Thu 22 Jan, Modern Art Oxford. Opening night for Shadowlight Artists: film, costume, and photography by learning-disabled and autistic adults. Exhibition continues until 22 March.
• BODY (£), 23-25 Jan, Harwell Campus. A fantastic voyage through the zones of the human body featuring a giant steampunk scent gun.

Dates for your diary

A selection of upcoming events for which you might want to book in advance.

• William Shakespeare's Walking with Dinosaurs (£), Fri 30 Jan, University Museum of Natural History. New tickets released for the prehistory plays.
• Zadie Smith (£), Thu 5 Feb, Sheldonian Theatre. Gulp Fiction presents the award-winning author and her new essay collection Dead or Alive.
• Stand-up for Ukraine (£), Wed 11 Feb, Cowley Workers Social Club. Benefit night for frontline medical vehicles with comedy activist Mark Thomas.
• Oxford Literary Festival (£), 21-29 Mar, Weston Library and elsewhere. Austen, Alice, animals, AI, antisemitism, and Pam Ayres begin an alphabet of talks.

Oxfordshire’s independent media

• The Witney Gitzette (still a parody) writes of mishaps at a roundabout on the A40 and it is very very very funny.
• Little Oxplorers have a family guide to this weekend with options for all ages of Mini Clarions.
• Cherwell reckons streaming undermines the value of music.
• Daily Info has a guide to exploring Oxford University for non-members.
• The Oxford Sausage visits Jericho’s Elijah Terrace in the company of “Cordelia, resplendent in the elegant red coat she wears only on the days between Advent and Epiphany”. We like Cordelia already.
• Ox in a Box somehow managed to get a table at the new Oli's Thai.

Notes from Clarion HQ

January can be a challenge in many ways. If you're doing Dry January, may we remind you of the excellent milkshake shop in the Covered Market, or if you need something later in the evening, Amorino?

Alternative formats for January exist. So… if you're doing Pie January, perhaps try Pieminister in the Covered Market, a home pie from David John, or out of town, the Brewery Tap in Abingdon and the consistently excellent Pie Pub near Banbury. If you're doing Spy January, the Oxford Illusion Museum might amuse your mini Clarions. If you are at ‘Why, January?’, perhaps a walk in nature might help: the Earth Trust manages nature reserves across the county. If your January is more ‘Sigh… January’ may we suggest a short break from the Oxford Mail? And if this has helped you into Wry January, then maybe consider sharing this newsletter, or even our new Facebook page, with your friends. Always newsy, occasional whimsy. See you next time.