Clarion Weekly, 14 February 2025

Happy Valentine’s Day to all our readers. We love that you’re here. Let us bring a romantic flavour to your Friday lunchtime with some… in-depth budget coverage?

This week’s top stories

There was a point on Thursday evening, with Oxford City Council deep in debate about garden waste bin charges, that your Clarion live-tweeter started to wonder about their life choices. Roses are red, violets are blue, it will cost £4 more next year to put them in the garden waste bin.

Recycled jokes aside (or even composted ones), this is the most important week in local politics outside election season. This was the week when both Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council set their budgets for the coming year. The sums are vast. The County Council spends almost £1bn a year, over half of it on social care. The City Council has a smaller budget, but (arguably) more freedom on how to spend it.

Since both councils are now ‘minority administrations’ (no single party has a majority), that means councillors have to compromise to get a budget over the line. And there was a certain symmetry this week. The County Council, run by the LibDems and Greens, adopted most of Labour’s “modest” suggestions into their budget. The City Council, run by Labour, adopted similarly modest suggestions by the LibDems and Greens. For one day, at least, these were coalition councils.

What will change?

For the County Council, it was all about potholes. A colossal £58.9m is going towards road repairs. Watlington is getting £11m towards its relief road. £5m has been put aside for the prospect of council mergers, and £1m for railways including the Cowley Branch Line. There was also a long list of green schemes, some of them workaday but necessary (replacing fossil fuel heating in old council buildings), others creative (a ‘nature catalyst investment facility’).

The Conservatives were under no illusions that the rest of the council would vote for their amendments. That freed them to make a classically Conservative case: £6m more on roads, less on walking and cycling, fewer press officers, council tax down, cancelling vegan meals for councillors. Labour’s amendment focused on child support initiatives.

Of all the heartfelt speeches, perhaps the most impressive speaker was council leader Liz Leffman, struggling through despite having almost no voice – at one point she spilled her glass of water over the 500 pages of budget tables, leading to an inevitable joke about ‘trickledown economics’. But the standout performance was by the council’s finance officers, after the LibDems and Greens agreed to accept most, but not quite all, of Labour’s amendments. They redrew, balanced, and reviewed the figures, uploaded them to the council website, and distributed them around the chamber, all in around half an hour. Chapeau.

(You can read our long read analysis of the budget plans, and for the truly dedicated, follow our Bluesky live tweets in three parts.)

Oxford City Council’s budget is focused on housing. It plans 1,500 new council houses over the next eight years. There was cash for the East Oxford and Blackbird Leys community centre projects that are already underway, and energy efficiency improvements to the council’s housing stock. The Covered Market, Hinksey Splash Park, and Cowley’s Templars Square are all set for funding boosts too.

Agreeing the City budget is best described as “inching towards consensus”. A draft budget was reviewed by a group of councillors. The Labour administration took on board many of their suggestions. The Liberal Democrat and Green groups produced their own amendments. Then, unusually, Labour drafted an amendment to their own budget, taking on many of the suggestions by the LibDems and Greens.

By Thursday evening, there was barely an Oxford comma between the three parties’ positions – so much so that the LibDems actually dropped their amendment, saying that most of it was addressed by the revised Labour proposals. The Greens put forward a reduced amendment to increase garden waste bin charges by £4, with the income going to “ward priority funds” where councillors can choose projects to support in their area. This was passed after an exhaustive debate.

Oxford City Council’s political makeup is more complex than this, of course. Two of the independent groups put forward their own amendments. The Independent Oxford Alliance wanted to reduce spending on gritting pavements and cancel plans for a bike park. The Oxford Community (formerly Socialist) Independents called it a “cuts budget” and wanted a fly-tipping amnesty. Neither were passed.

In our City budget preview, we remarked that two motions passed by councillors that year – to build a city centre playground, and to make Oxford a more walkable city – didn’t have any funds allocated to them in the draft budget. The amendments changed that, with Labour, LibDems and Greens all putting funds to pavement repairs and playground work.

(We looked at the budget proposals in much more detail this week, and live-tweeted proceedings on our Bluesky account.)

South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, and West Oxfordshire also passed their budgets this week. (Cherwell’s is later this month.) At a time when the future of district councils is uncertain, Cllr Andrea Powell, Green group leader at South Oxfordshire, said a balanced budget would be the legacy of the council:

“It is a remarkable achievement that we are being recommended a budget with no cuts to services, with service innovation embedded in every area, with increased investment in our priority strategies of social housing, climate adaptation, nature recovery and community well-being and an operating surplus for the first time in many, many years!”

Around the city

• Two new places to eat and drink opened in Oxford this week. The Oranges & Lemons pub on St Clement's had its “grand reopening” on Wednesday. It is reverting to the apt name it took in 1970 (after the nursery rhyme), following 34 years as the Angel & Greyhound (after the nearby meadow). At the other end of Magdalen Bridge, Japanese restaurant Ramen Korner (not to be confused with Ramen Kulture on St Giles') has opened in a building at Longwall Street which has been empty since the pandemic.
• Oxford City Council has applied to itself for retrospective permission to advertise on The Plain roundabout. The grassed island has five advertising boards and one ghost bike, marking the site where medical researcher Dr Ling Felce was killed by a drug driver in March 2022. Graves from the old St Clement’s Church, rebuilt in Marston Road two hundred years ago, remain underneath the grass from the construction of the roundabout in 1950. The City Council charges £1,080 per year to advertise at The Plain. (Maybe we should have a Clarion crowdfunder?)
• Plans are being drawn up to redevelop the Ozone leisure facilities by the Kassam Stadium, currently home to the Vue cinema and Hollywood Bowl. Landowner Firoka (Firoz Kassam) and “life science campus” developers Pioneer Group say they want to create “a vibrant science and community cluster”. Oxford-based architects Transition By Design will be holding community engagement events this month to gather ideas for “the leisure use and community elements of the project”. The plans envisage 500,000 sq ft of office and laboratory space. As well as the football stadium and Ozone leisure park, the Firoka holdings at Grenoble Road include the 15th century Priory, formerly a pub but vacant and derelict since 2013. (We promise that you do want to follow that link! Thank you to the Clarion correspondent who suggested it.)

• A bid has been submitted to revive the Magdalen Street cinema. Alejandro Whyatt, who runs a cinema in Burnham-on-Crouch (and previously in Flint and Sittingbourne), has applied under the name of Roxy Cinemas (The Oxford Cinema) to run a “two-screen traditional cinema with cafe in foyer”. Odeon formerly operated cinemas at both Magdalen Street and Gloucester Green, but the former closed in 2023 and the latter this January. The city centre now only has the Curzon cinema in the Westgate, plus the Phoenix in Jericho, Ultimate Picture Palace on Cowley Road, and Vue on Grenoble Road.
• Renters’ union Acorn has called for Oxford City Council to adopt a “zero tolerance approach to rogue landlords” It says over 60% of Oxford tenants are suffering unresolved repair issues, over 40% damp or mould, and over 20% a pest issue. Acorn believes the City Council should follow Brighton and Hull councils in increasing enforcement action on landlords: “As the council meets to agree its budget, we ask where the income from the selective licensing scheme is going if not towards enforcing better housing standards?”

• Plans have been lodged to redevelop Cantay House, on Park End Street, as a café/bar and live music space with offices above. The building currently houses Oxford Audio Consultants and until recently the Atik nightclub. The building was erected in 1901 as a furniture packing and storage warehouse for Archer & Co, with a steel frame and iron columns cast by William Lucy’s Eagle Ironworks in Jericho. Archer was bought by Cantay in 1971; tenants have since included Phillips auctioneers and Waterfields bookshop. The application envisages a “drinking establishment (with live music), restaurant, live music performance or events space” on the ground floor, plus an additional commercial unit. Floors 1–3 would be offices, with the rear of the building extensively rebuilt to provide more space.
• Road transport remains the greatest contributor to NOX (nitrogen oxide) emissions in Oxford, according to new research. It accounts for 32% of emissions, with cars and vans contributing 74% of this. Since most city buses became electric, buses cause just 4% of road transport emissions. Domestic combustion contributes 26% of NOX and is the leading cause of PM2.5 (fine particular matter), with most of this being from wood burning. Smokeless fuels are responsible for just 1% of PM2.5. The Oxford Source Apportionment report was carried out by Ricardo Group for Oxford City Council. Cllr Anna Railton said “The report highlights that we must address the growing issue of domestic wood burning,” while for Oxfordshire County Council, Cllr Andrew Gant said “The impact that the new fleet of electric buses is having on air quality in Oxford is remarkable.”
• Helen Smee, director of Christ Church Cathedral’s girls’ choir, has been appointed director of music at Southwark Cathedral. She will be leaving Oxford to take up the new role in September. The choir, Frideswide Voices, was founded in 2014 and became part of the cathedral’s choral foundation in 2019 when Helen was appointed director. It sings at Christ Church every Wednesday, drawing its choristers from more than 25 schools across the city and county. Christ Church organist Peter Holder said “We are thrilled for Helen: Southwark will be delighted to have appointed so experienced and committed an ambassador for its music.”

Around the county

• Charlbury (population 2,830) has equalled Oxford (population 165,200) in the latest Michelin Guide, with each having two listings. Arbequina on Cowley Road and Pompette in Summertown are joined by the Bell and Bull in Charlbury. The Bull was awarded a Bib Gourmand for “quality cooking at a reasonable price”. Oxfordshire’s starred restaurants are Le Manoir in Great Milton (2*) and the Nut Tree in Murcott (1*); other listings include Nicholsons’ Yurt at North Aston, Killingworth Castle near Woodstock, the Lamb in Little Milton, and Five Little Pigs in Wallingford. (Our Bluesky replies inform us that there are better still places to eat in Charlbury.)
• An old weir on the River Thame, just upstream of Dorchester, could be removed to enable fish to migrate upstream. The River Thame Conservation Trust wants to replace the Bucks Pool weir by the A4074 bypass with a fish pass for European eel, brown trout, and increasingly rare coarse fish. The Trust say the project is “highly challenging” due to the need to maintain a consistent flow, a large pool immediately downstream, the conservation value of the adjacent water meadow, and difficult site access. The identified solution is a rock ramp, regrading banks and adjusting bed levels. A planning application is currently with South Oxfordshire District Council. The Trust hopes to organise “open house events” for local people once permission is obtained.

• A drive-through EV charging station has been proposed for the A40 at Eynsham. Fastned, a Dutch company which operates 300 charging stations across Europe, has applied to build an 8-bay station by the B4449 roundabout. Charging time is typically 20 minutes. Fastned says the site is a “strategic location”, particularly for Oxford–Witney drivers. The plans, which include an unmanned amenity unit with a WC and vending machine, and petrol station-style totem signage, are now with West Oxfordshire District Council for consideration.
• The Madni Mosque in Banbury has applied to build a community centre in a dual height portacabin in their car park on Merton Street. Working with Age UK, the space is planned as a community space for for the elderly, children, mother and child groups/newborns as well as seminar space. The space will be used for all ages, ethnicities and religion. Although classes currently happen daily, in the event of any deaths amongst the community, classes are cancelled at short notice due to the nature of the Muslim funeral rites.
• Thames Valley PCC Matthew Barber is calling for a change in legislation to ban pony and trap racing on public roads without a license, after a large police dispersal operation took place at the weekend near Gerrards Cross. This led to a smaller event causing delays on the A40 near Minster Lovell. Such racing is not illegal on private roads, unlike motor racing, but can cause significant disruption; the event last weekend was expected to attract up to 7,000 spectators. Barber would like to see events licensed in a similar manner to cycling road races.
• A Gurdwara in Banbury plans to move from its current residential location in West Street, Grimsbury, to Thorpe Close, to alleviate parking constraints for local residents and its congregation, and make for easier walking and carpooling to the Gurdwara. In a planning application for change of use from a commercial unit to Gurdwara, the applicant says the proposed location is within an industrial estate and comes with eight parking spaces as well as neighbouring businesses being closed on Sundays, when the Gurdwara's primary activities occur.

University and research

• Oxford University has extended paid paternity leave from 2 to 12 weeks. It says “this new scheme reflects a progressive approach to supporting new parents, ensuring that employees can fully embrace this life-changing moment with fewer financial or professional concerns”.
• This term’s Sheldonian Series, “aimed at promoting open discussion of major topics, underpinned by the University’s commitment to freedom of speech”, looked at the search for extra-terrestrial life; what it means to be human; and life in the age of AI. The University news pages have a brief recap.
• Would you like a sneaky peek into some of the University’s most beautiful libraries? Of course you would.

Trains and buses

We have been transfixed by this video on the lost stations of Oxford. We'll have a return to Port Meadow Halt please!

Walking and cycling

• The Thame–Haddenham Greenway has moved one step closer following this week’s County Council budget, which earmarked funds for a detailed feasibility study. The much-sought cycle path would connect Thame to its nearest railway station at Haddenham, just 2.5 miles away but currently with no link other than a dangerous A road. The budget also included funding for small walking and cycling improvements in rural areas, and for the ‘Oxford Greenways’ project which seeks to improve low-traffic and traffic-free routes out of the city.
• Oxfordshire County Council has been awarded £3.5m by Active Travel England for accessible walking and cycling schemes. Minister Simon Lightwood said “Investing in our national cycling and walking infrastructure is a key part of our mission for growth”. The funding is in two parts: £868,081 comes from the Active Travel Fund 5 for 2024/25, and a further £2,650,279 under a Consolidated Active Travel Fund for 2025/26. The schemes it will fund have yet to be announced. Active Travel England also announced new guidance on how local authorities can engage communities in the development of transport schemes.
• A new Active Travel Map for Oxford will be launched next month, highlighting cycle and walking routes. The Oxfordshire Community Rail Partnership says it will “support you to embrace sustainable travel and navigate the city with ease”. A launch event will take place on 2 March in the Westgate.

Oxfordshire politics

In this section we round up what we see our MPs have been up to. Some of this is press releases, sometimes things we spot on their socials. We tend to stick to constituency matters, and away from front bench/APPG issues, which, together with casework can be a large chunk of the day to day. And it’s just a flavour rather than a comprehensive list, as per this from Calum Miller.

• Layla Moran, MP for Oxford West & Abingdon has been unusually quiet on her socials this week. We reached out to her team who said that Layla had been focusing this week on the first evidence session of the Community Mental Health Inquiry with the Health & Social Care Select Committee, of which she is chair. The committee wants this inquiry to be led by people’s lived experiences of mental health services in the UK. The whole evidence session was streamed: you can see it here.
• Didcot and Wantage MP Olly Glover shared this resource on Safer Internet Day. Marking HIV testing week, he shared details of how to get a free test kit. With the other Oxfordshire LibDem MPs he wrote to Health Secretary Wes Streeting to appeal for SEND services in Oxfordshire. He visited Williams Racing's HQ in Grove, talking about engineering, innovation, and their support for new train stations at Grove and Wantage. (Also excellent topiary.) Finally, in Parliament he raised the need for infrastructure such as GP surgeries, transport and schools to accompany new housing, asking for reform in the planning system. (Watch this space. We have got a series of articles coming up very soon that may be very interesting to you…)
• Witney’s Charlie Maynard celebrated the farm protest in Westminster, calling for the family farm tax to be dropped. He too signed the letter on ADHD services in Oxfordshire. He continues to make the running on Thames Water, arguing against a bailout and a suggested 59% price rise.
• Calum Miller, MP for Bicester & Woodstock, made calls to tackle executive pay and debt within water companies. He too signed the letter on ADHD services in Oxfordshire. He attended the public consultation on the proposed Puy du Fou theme park near Bicester, saying that residents had expressed concern about increased traffic: he asked the Puy du Fou team to look at the best way to reduce traffic on B4100. Also a county councillor (until May), he attended Tuesday's Budget meeting and celebrated the passing of the Lib Dem/Green budget.
• Freddie van Mierlo, MP for Henley & Thame, is also a County Councillor until May. This week, he celebrated the confirmation of funding to design the Haddenham & Thame Greenway and to build the Watlington Relief Road in the County Council budget. More transport issues: he went on BBC Radio Oxford to discuss issues including potholes, supported a nine year old's campaign to re-open Marsh Lock footbridge over the Thames, and met with Chiltern Railways to discuss improving services between Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and London. He visited Shiplake College to field questions from students and also Thame Food Bank. Whilst in Shiplake (we presume) he went canvassing.
• Banbury MP Sean Woodcock celebrated England's performance in the rugby at the weekend, Labour's investment in apprenticeships, and also landlord reform. Speaking of landlords, he wrote to RMG to discuss issues with the management of properties in his constituency. He visited Green Pastures Nursing Home in Banbury (a Psalm 23 reference?). He celebrated Labour's success in pushing through amendments to the Lib Dem/Green county council budget, and made fun of Tory MPs after Kemi Badenoch's questionable performance at Prime Minister's Question Time.
• Oxford East’s Anneliese Dodds wrote to Thames Valley’s Police & Crime Commissioner to push for improved local policing, following last week's community event with the police in Cowley. She published this round-up of her January activities.

This weekend

• Community Litter Pick in the Leys. Saturday, 11am-1pm. Meet at the Premier shop on Pegasus/Crowberry Road.
• Railway Heroes, a 2021 Chinese film celebrating WW2 railway workers who fought occupying forces, is being screened by the Communist Party in Didcot on Saturday afternoon. For our left-wing public transport enthusiast readership (you know who you are).

Dates for your diary

• It’s half-term and, as always, Oxford’s inimitable Daily Info has acres of family-friendly listings every day of the week.
• One of the Mini Clarions was transfixed last weekend by the (free) ‘Bird Photographer of the Year’ exhibition at the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock, just a short ride on the S3 or S7 bus from Oxford: it continues all week. Woodstock Bookshop has a great kids’ section while you’re waiting for the bus home.
• Listen In, a new exhibition at the Weston Library on Broad Street, tells the story of the early years of radio broadcasting. Next Thursday evening will see a special performance recreating the first BBC broadcasts, which itself will be recorded and broadcast on Radio 3 next month.
• Oxford Orpheus are staging Verdi's Requiem on February 22nd in the Town Hall. (Tickets here.) If you know the piece, you know why you need to snap these tickets up. If you don't… just have a listen to this. The closest you'll get to flying with your feet on the ground. The concert also raises funds for The Oxford Bach Choir's Schools Project, who work in local secondary schools introducing pupils to the joys and benefits of singing choral works.
• Fundraising Quiz Night for Broken Spoke Bike Co-op. Wednesday 19 February at the Star.
• Huh, That's Funny: “a night where comedy and science collide”. 7pm, Thursday 27 February at Lynrace Spirit, Jericho. Helmed by Chris Lintott (BBC Sky at Night) and Liz Johnson (Animal Scientist and Comedian) alongside a collection of smart comedians, funny scientists and the just plain curious.

Oxford’s independent media

• The Oxford Sausage looks at snowdrops in Oxford cemeteries.
• Bitten Oxford reckons Dosa Darlings is set to become a Cowley Road favourite.
• Muddy Stilettos has written a February half term guide, and Little Oxplorers has a February guide.
• Cherwell reports that students in the wealthier Oxford colleges have fewer complaints about their accommodation, while those at poorer colleges “contend with pests, faulty heating and unresponsive administrations”.
• The Oxford Blue asks if the Oxford–Cambridge corridor can ever compete with America’s venture capital-fuelled startup culture.
• We were fascinated by this, the weekly menu for the Allen Family, a man, wife, and three children from Oxfordshire in 1912. The author said they were a “cheery, plucky family”. From How the labourer lives: a study of the rural labour problem. (Found on Facebook.)

Notes from Clarion HQ

For us, just as for Oxfordshire’s councillors, budget week is the busiest week of the year. As our (very curated) version of the news this week mainly focuses on the council’s financial discussions, this week you have fewer stories on other things. To those who sent us press releases, thank you for your patience, and we’ll try and get to it ASAP: we’re volunteers after all.

But we do hope you've enjoyed this week's coverage. We hope to shine a light on things that might previously have been a little inaccessible. (Oh, and the Clarion’s budget reporting was mentioned in the chamber – thank you Cllr Hicks!) To everyone working so hard for Oxford and Oxfordshire this week, we raise our glasses and hope you have a peaceful weekend. See you next Friday.