Clarion Weekend, 18 September 2026

The Botley Road is re-opening on Sunday. Will you be there? (With thanks to our brilliant cartoonist for this commemmorative illustration!)

All the news from city and county in a week where the world’s media descended on an obscure Oxfordshire village – and our take on the controversy. Plus mobile reception in the city centre, moth sculptures, quiet lanes, and very posh cheesecake.

This week’s long reads

East Oxford’s best-kept secret? Every Saturday, a backstreet school playground hosts a market full of delicious local produce – from weekly essentials to Scotch bonnet chillies and single-varietal apple juice, all produced within 30 miles. Here’s its story.

(And if you can't make the trip to East Oxford, a reminder of our Market Directory – all the markets in Oxfordshire.)

This week’s top stories

The white lines are down, the signs are up, and Botley Road is ready to reopen on Sunday morning. In what must be a project first, the walkway work is running ahead of schedule, and both the north-side and south-side footpaths and cycleways will reopen with the carriageway on Sunday. So too will the replacement footbridge, parallel to the railway bridge.

The new bridge will enable a much-needed platform 5 to be built at Oxford station, meaning trains from London can terminate without blocking through services. A new western entrance will also be built, although some ambitions for this – such as retail space and a ‘living roof’ – are reported to have already been dropped from the plan. The work has been future-proofed for platform 2 (the Marylebone platform) to also become a through platform in the future, once the main station concourse is redeveloped.

Oxford’s traffic filters will start a week after the bridge reopens, on Monday 28 September, replacing the temporary congestion charge.

Classic “councillors at construction site” photo. Top marks. (Photo by Ed Nix.)

Construction has started on Oxpens Bridge, a new bridge for walkers and cyclists across the Thames between Grandpont and Oxpens which Oxford City Council say is a central element of the wider Oxford West End regeneration programme. Work will be complete in 2027. Alternative footpath routes will be available while the work takes place.

Cllr Anna Railton (Lab), cabinet member for planning, said: “I’m pleased to see work underway on the new Oxpens River Bridge, a vital piece of infrastructure to improve sustainable travel in the city and connect residents in the south and west of the city with the city centre.”

Tim McNally, chair of Piddington Parish Council, on GB News.

An opening salvo has been launched against plans for asylum accommodation at MOD Bicester – but the work of a cross-party campaign has been drowned out in the media by an eccentric ‘stunt referendum’ staged by a publicity-seeking parish council nearby.

The community-led ‘Wrong Plan, Wrong Site’ campaign is filing a legal challenge against the Government’s plans. They say that the decision to skip an Environmental Impact Assessment was unfounded, citing sewage capacity, a scanty ecological appraisal, an error in the building height assessment (“the maximum height permitted by the submitted parameters is twice the height used for the environmental screening assessment”), and potential collusion between the Home Office and the department doing the screening. The challenge has begun with a Pre-Action Protocol letter, the first step towards a judicial review.

The Government’s formal consultation closed last night. Three levels of council (Bicester Town Council, Cherwell District Council and Oxfordshire County Council), and local MP Calum Miller, have lodged objections. For OCC, Cllr Neil Fawcett wrote:

“Supporting people in need and standing alongside local communities are not mutually exclusive. A responsible accommodation policy must do both. In the council’s view this proposal does neither. We have not seen a sufficiently developed community engagement plan from Government to prevent and respond to misinformation and community tensions.”

But it may be too late to prevent “misinformation and community tensions” after Tuesday’s stunt referendum by Piddington Parish Council, which has already provoked a response from far-right groups. ‘Danny Tommo’, leader of the balaclava-clad Patriot Platform blackshirt rallies on the South Coast, visited Piddington the next day to meet with the parish council. He has since threatened to bring “5,000 men” to the village.

“I am going there to speak directly with the locals and to see, for myself, what is actually happening. I want to hear from the people who live there. I want to hear about safety concerns for their women and children.”

The far-right agitator, whose real name is Daniel Thomas, was jailed for two years in 2016 for a failed kidnap at knife-point. He previously served as bodyguard for ‘Tommy Robinson’ (Stephen Yaxley-Lennon).

The referendum, in which the village voted to leave the UK in protest against the asylum centre, was described as “an example of democracy in operation” by parish council chair Tim McNally. (McNally himself gained his role in May 2024 without a contested democratic election; Piddington has not had a contested parish council election since at least 2016, because not enough villagers volunteered to stand.) Styling Piddington as ‘The Village that Roared’, the parish campaign has been characterised by heavy use of AI imagery, an AI-generated “slightly satirical magazine” called the Piddington Eye, and even a 1940s-themed AI-generated song, The Battle For Britain.

McNally has been front and centre of the international media circus around the Piddington referendum. In an appearance on the Jeremy Vine Show, he refused to accept that the reason most asylum seekers were male was the perilous nature of the journey, proffering an alternative explanation: “I’ve seen those men throw women off the back of the boat and so have you.”

He has appealed to Elon Musk (a vocal backer of Tommy Robinson) and Donald Trump to intervene, posting “Given our Government’s treatment of its citizens, can Piddington be fast-tracked for asylum in America? Asking for an entire village!” But beyond Piddington, he has alluded to a wider motive:

“I have had a master plan from the beginning and it will all come clear as it rolls out. First I had to put Piddington on the map, phase 1 completed, next I have to get political opinions in newspapers and media active phase 2 completed. Next to have the issue amplified magnified and globally positioned phase 3 completed. Have every angry sore person activated phase 4 completed. Now what I am about to release will blow you mr mind just watch. [sic]”

In a series of self-aggrandising posts on X, McNally, the chair of an Oxfordshire parish council with 300 electors, has sought to position himself as the leader of an insurrection (“What I have done in 10 weeks no political party has done since Brexit!”, “Not a single party has manage to do what I have done in 10 weeks in making this topic front and centre regionally, nationally and globally”, “You will have to wait 2 years for the next election but if you follow my blueprint it could come sooner”). Describing his political outlook as “I am not a Green or a Lib Dem – I probably am way off the spectrum for most people”, he made a sinister allusion in a posting addressed to Elon Musk:

“I could fix this country with one action but most people will not like it.”

Housing developers Barratt Redrow have dismissed ‘forever chemical’ concerns at the former USAF Upper Heyford air base. Campaigners say a sample from the site had 32x the standard level of PFOS pollutant, which they believe could have been caused by fire training activities at the former airbase.

The sample was taken at a puddle off Rose Way, where they say “the water is seeping up from groundwater”. Julian Hodder from Barratt Redrow, who are building the adjacent ‘Heyford Springs’ development, responded:

“There is no evidence that this sample was taken within our development and the results presented do not in themselves constitute a credible report of any alleged contamination present. Heyford Springs is a private development and therefore the unauthorised commissioning of uncontrolled and unverifiable reports is not agreed or accepted by Barratt Redrow. I can confirm there is no accepted evidence of PFAS contamination at our Heyford Springs development and therefore we will not be taking any further action.”

The Gallos Brook campaign, however, say that “the works are approaching where we believe the most contaminated stream is flowing underground”. They say PFAS is already flowing from the airbase into the nearby Oxford Canal, but that the Environment Agency and Cherwell District Council are “passing the buck”. They are calling for extensive testing to take place.

Around the city

After new masts got the go-ahead in the city centre, the second of Oxford’s notorious mobile reception ‘notspots’, the St Clements area, could finally receive a signal after the City Council approved plans for new antennae on the roof of Alice House, a student accommodation block. Servicing the EE and H3G (Vodafone/Three) networks, they would replace those on Magdalen’s demolished Waynflete Building. Planners said although previous applications had been refused “due to the lack of public benefits outweighing the level of harm… the landscape and situation has changed and the need for 5G connectivity is now a significant issue”.
Three brand new lab space buildings on the Oxford Science Park are to be reworked and redesigned – even before the first tenants move in. The Ellison Institute of Technology, which has bought the three Daubeny Buildings for its Plant Biology and Generative Biology Institutes, has put construction on hold to “make their design more appropriate”. They have appointed Foster+Partners to “adapt and enhance three buildings that were previously under construction, retaining a substantial proportion of the existing superstructure”: the main change is linking the three buildings via two new “link atriums” (yes, classicists, we know). EIT intend to submit a new planning application including a height increase and internal changes.
The sale of 11 New Road, opposite the Westgate Centre, by Oxford City Council has been approved by the council’s cabinet but subsequently ‘called in’ by Green councillors. The sale will now be reviewed by the council’s scrutiny committee. St Peter’s College wants to buy the building, retaining retail on the ground floor but converting the first floor (currently a nail bar) to graduate accommodation. A petition opposing the sale, which appears confused about which local media outlet first reported the story, has attracted 427 signatures. Separately, a new nail bar, Maison Nails, is set to open 200m away in the Westgate Centre unit formerly occupied by Loakes shoemakers.

Last year's carousel. Photo by Roger Close.

Is it too early to use the C word? The ferris wheel and carousel that starred in Oxford's Christmas Market last year look set for a comeback, according to a planning application submitted to Oxford City Council. There's a countdown clock to the start of the market, should you wish to start feeling festive.
Oxford City Council has highlighted progress made in preventing homelessness, and supporting people experiencing it, in an annual review. Recent measures include agreement for a new £32m investment into additional temporary accommodation, which has grown from roughly 100 units in 2023 to approximately 275, helping reduce reliance on expensive hotel and bed & breakfast accommodation. In a recent Government funding round, Oxford City Council received over six times more funding than any Oxfordshire district, based on local homelessness levels.
England’s bishops descended en masse on Oxford this week. The Church of England’s twice-yearly bishops’ conference, the College of Bishops, met at St Hugh’s College to discuss Christian responses to AI: former Bishop of Oxford Steven Croft talked to the BBC about the issue.

Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg alongside *The Length of a Moment* by in Oxford North’s Canalside Park. (Photo by Thierry Bal.)

A public artwork by the internationally acclaimed artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg has been unveiled at Oxford North, within the meadow at Canalside Park. The sculptures draw attention to the overlooked work of moths: whereas butterflies are celebrated, moths pollinate unseen, mostly at night. Ginsberg has used computer modelling to simulate them, and has then cast the results in bronze, so that anyone in the meadow might notice the hidden lives at work around them. The park is being delivered by Thomas White Oxford, the development company of St John’s College.
The Story Museum has opened booking for its Christmas show Hoppily Ever After about a songwriting frog: “a big-hearted new musical about friendship, second chances, and discovering what love really sounds like”. It's for ages 5+, runs from 19 December to 1 January, and promises to be a ribbit-ing experience.

Around the county

Oxfordshire’s school transport backlog has fallen, with just 20 of the families who submitted applications on time still waiting for transport to be arranged, two weeks into the new term. More than 500 late applications, however, are still to be processed; some of these missed the deadline due to their school place not having been confirmed in time, and these are being prioritised. Oxfordshire County Council arranges school transport for over 8,500 families each year.
The promoters of Botley West Solar Farm say they are still on track to deliver the full 840MW output, even after a reduction in the number of panels. Although the theoretical maximum output (MWp) has fallen, they say “we have a contract with National Grid Electricity Transmission to deliver 840MW at the new substation and will do that”. A decision is due by 10 November.
Oxfordshire’s autumn fair season is underway with Chipping Norton Mop Fair this weekend, universally known as ‘Chippy Mop’ and with 13th-century origins. Mop fairs began as hiring fairs where some aspiring workers would carry a mop to signify the work they would do; today they are principally funfairs.
Not enough is being done to tackle “excessive vehicle noise and anti-social driving”, according to South Oxfordshire District Council. Leader Maggie Filipova-Rivers (LibDem) says: “There certainly seems to be a perception that those responsible, chiefly Thames Valley Police, don’t appear to be doing enough.” SODC has offered assistance in reporting data and “hotspot mapping” to identify problem locations. Cllr Filipova-Rivers has written to Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber asking what enforcement has taken place and if further initiatives are planned.
The site for the long-awaited GP surgery at Didcot's Great Western Park has been officially transferred from the developers Taylor Wimpey to the council, along with the Section 106 funding confirmed for the project. A timetable for building works is expected shortly. Great Western Park has been waiting for this surgery for approximately 10 years. Cllr Ian Snowdon (Con) sounded a note of cautious optimism, saying: "No victory lap just yet, but definitely a significant step in the right direction."
Last Friday was Rosh Hashanah, and Thames Valley Police deployed additional security measures to protect Oxfordshire's Jewish communities following recent attacks and a general rise in antisemitism. Assistant chief constable Christian Bunt, speaking ahead of the holiday, said: “We have a dedicated operation to protect our Jewish communities, so people can expect to see an increased police presence near synagogues including armed and unarmed officers as well as security measures people will not see.”
Residents and visitors in Banbury are set to see a cleaner town centre thanks to additional weekend street cleaning. Cherwell District Council is funding this as part of a plan to revitalise Banbury town centre. Cllr Ian Middleton (Green) said: "By investing in cleaner public spaces, we are making positive choices today that help safeguard our district for future generations." #BeMoreBanbury

La Maritxu, purveyor of Basque-style cheesecakes, is opening in Bicester Village on October 1, its first location outside London. The menu will feature a chocolate & orange Basque cheesecake created exclusively for Bicester Village. Prices start at £7 a slice.

Show me the money

We know Clarion readers are the folks who get things done in Oxfordshire. Recently a raft of funding pots have opened to help these things on their way: in an experiment, we've rounded them up for you. Let us know if it's useful and especially if you get any funds from it!

Thames Valley Police Community Fund: Using the proceeds of money recovered from criminal activity to fund groups that support policing objectives (protecting communities, people and property). Closes 28 September.
Community Capacity Fund: £770,000 to support projects that help people stay active, connected and independent in their communities. Closes 5 October.
Crisis & Resilience Fund: £121,000 available to help groups helping residents facing the cost of living crisis. Closes 27 September.
And finally just to show the money does go somewhere, in the same week, Oxfordshire County Council announced it had awarded grants to 54 organisations across the county to tackle the impact of high temperatures, floods, droughts, and storms in Oxfordshire caused by climate change.

Walking and cycling

The first new quiet lane in Oxfordshire, where through motor traffic is prevented, is to be trialled from 28 September. The mile-long Shepherd’s Pit Lane, from Oxford Crematorium to Stanton St John, will be closed at Bayswater Road (Oxford) to improve safety for walkers, cyclists and horse riders: the wider, broadly parallel Bayswater Road is already the “fastest route” for motor traffic from Stanton St John according to Google Maps. OCC is planning to trial a number of similar schemes across the county after parish council requests. One, Battle Road in Goring, could drop off the list after Goring Parish Council rescinded its support; it says it is still committed, however, to a traffic-free route to Wallingford.
New ‘School Streets’ traffic restrictions have started at five Oxfordshire schools, in Banbury, Didcot and Carterton. Didcot councillor Ian Snowdon (Con) appealed for people to observe the restrictions even though ANPR cameras have not yet been erected, and asked for installation to be sped up. “I absolutely support practical measures to improve safety around schools. But good intentions need good delivery.” In Carterton, however, Conservative leader Liam Walker has launched a petition to ‘Scrap the Carterton School Streets Scheme’, calling for “measures that improve safety without unfairly impacting those who live in the area”.
The Cottesmore Road footbridge works remain “frustratingly slow” according to local councillor Ed Turner (Lab), who reports that an engineering assessment has now been completed, and that two solutions (solar power and a mains connection) have been identified for lighting the ring road cycle track as an alternative route.
The Friends of Warneford Meadow have unveiled a signboard mapping the public footpaths which connect Headington and Cowley through the meadow and the neighbouring golf course. The map was drawn by a local student and installed on upcycled materials. Warneford Meadow became a 'Town Green' in 2010, a designation which protects it from development. The meadow belongs to Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, which is redeveloping the adjacent psychiatric hospital as a new college and research campus.
A second study is underway to design the new underpass or bridge that will link the Salt Cross garden village to Eynsham, on the other side of the A40. The crossing will be for pedestrians and cyclists and is seen as an essential requirement for children to get to school safely. The £75,000 contract, awarded to consultancy AtkinsRealis, is envisaged as a “detailed technical assessment to conclude the investigation”. The crossing itself would be funded by housing developers. Oxfordshire County Council expects to receive their report by January 2027.

If you like walking a lot you may be interested in the Chilterns Ultra Challenge. Starting and finishing in Henley, over 1,000 walkers, joggers and runners tackle distances of 50km, 25km and 10km, following a spectacular route through the rolling hills, ancient woodlands and picturesque villages that define the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Interested? Spaces are still available.

This weekend

Don't Hate the Player (£), Fri/Sat, Old Fire Station. If love is a game, how do you get a high score?
Flora's Fringford (free), Sat, Fringford. A day celebrating Lark Rise to Candleford for the 150th anniversary of Flora Thompson's birth.
Oxford Canal Festival (free), Sat, Aristotle Lane. Canal Olympics! Dog show! Donut Squad! (Not to be confused with 'CanalFest' opposite Oxford North the same day.)
Lullabies But Not to Sleep to (£), Sat, Bartlemas Chapel. The Oxford Improvisers perform in the 900-year-old leper chapel off Cowley Road.
Jah Makin It Happen (£), Sat, Oxford Playhouse. Reggae musical set in the Windrush era.
Morag Tong (£), Sat, Jericho Tavern. Slow and heavy rockers with local support from Indica Blues (latest album 'Universal Heat Death'). 20% discount code CLARION20.
Abingdon Heritage Weekend (free), Sat/Sun. 'From agriculture to atoms': the working history of Abingdon, with buildings open to explore including St Helen's belltower.
Living History Weekend (free), Sat/Sun, Hanwell Castle. Pop-up museum near Banbury: archaeology, astronomy, and re-enactments from the Sealed Knot.
Harvest Festival (free), Sun, Barracks Lane Community Garden. Apple pressing, Morris dancing, lavender bags, and reggae from DJ Baps.
The Future of Carnival (free), Sun, East Oxford Community Centre. An afternoon celebrating Cowley Road Carnival and a taster for its return in 2027.

This week

When the Blackbird Sings (£), from Wed. Board a bus in Blackbird Leys to hear the story of Oxford en route to the Schwarzman Centre.
This is Also a Love Story (£), Wed, Caper. Prizewinning foreign correspondent Sally Hayden reports on what we do for those we love, from Ukraine to Japan.
Art History's Funniest Bits (£), Thu, Modern Art Oxford. With art historian and comedian Verity Babbs.
Fat Tom Cruise (£), Thu, Old Fire Station. Standup storytelling with Olga Koch (Radio 4).
Doom Scrolls (£), Thu, Story Museum. Serious storytelling about the Sibyls (ages 14+).

Coming up

Life After Cars (£), Sat 3 Oct, Caper. The hosts of The War on Cars podcast come to low-traffic East Oxford.
Inside Life and Mind (free), Sat 3 Oct, South Parks Road. Science Fair in the vast new LaMB development opposite the University Parks.
The World's Music at Oxford, Sat 17 Oct. 10th anniversary season with Irish vocal quartet Landless. St John's College sponsors and hosts these free concerts showcasing global music from Afrobeat to zithers. Booking opens at noon today (be quick!).
Next weekend: Tiny Ideas Festival (across Oxford), Banbury Early Music Festival, Kidical Mass (Sun). More next week.

Oxfordshire’s independent media

Oxford City Council made a video about how much it costs to make a video. Maybe we should make a newsletter about how much it costs to make a newsletter.
Abingdon Blog tells of the harvesting of cricket bat willows near Radley.
The Oxford English Dictionary podcast Lexipoddery explains the 16 different meanings of 'toilet'.
The Rewind Room is a new podcast from the Ultimate Picture Palace, opening with an episode on slasher films.
The Oxford Sausage looks at headstones in Fringford Church.
Labour List profiles Cllr Duncan Enright, deputy leader of West Oxfordshire District Council and one-time rival of David Cameron.
Little Oxplorers has their usual excellent weekend guide.
Bitten Oxford went to the Harcourt Arms for American Night.
And Morris Oxford has compiled an alphabet of animals around Oxford.

Notes from Clarion HQ

We really didn’t want to write about Piddington. Oxfordshire parish councillors behaving badly is not exactly news, and frankly once you’ve seen Carterton Town Council, not much can surprise you any more.

But when the blackshirts threaten to turn up on your doorstep, suddenly the story shifts gear. Commentary elsewhere has described the Piddington stunt as a civilised protest. ‘Civilised’ is not a word often associated with blackshirt leader and convicted criminal, Danny Tommo. At a time of increasing hate crimes over immigration both elsewhere and, courtesy of Raise the Colours, here in Oxfordshire, an escalation in Piddington was entirely foreseeable – indeed, as we report above, parish council chair Tim McNally has been trying to escalate the situation for months. Did the people of Piddington really ‘elect’ a representative so he could appeal to Donald Trump to annex them, signed on behalf of the “entire village”?

Whether MOD Bicester is the right place, or the right approach, for asylum accommodation is another story entirely. But Oxford has a tradition of helping the world’s most vulnerable, and we want that to continue. Here’s Asylum Welcome and Oxford Stand Up To Racism. Show them your support. Have a great weekend and we’ll see you on Tuesday.