Clarion Weekly, 17 October 2025

This week’s top stories

It’s all go for Oxford United’s new stadium at the Triangle, near Kidlington, as the Secretary of State Steve Reed confirmed he won’t “call it in”. This means the Government has forgone the chance to order a further review, which it could have done over Green Belt issues.

Cherwell District Council will need to complete funding approval – a Section 106 agreement, detailing the payments OUFC will have to make for work consequent on the stadium being built – before construction can begin. The football club has agreed to move out of the Kassam Stadium by May 2028.

Oxford University has opened its new Life & Mind building on the corner of South Parks Road and St Cross Road. Over 1,400 scientists, academics and postgraduates will be based at the building. It replaces the Tinbergen building, closed in 2017 after asbestos was found.

Features include sleep labs, a virtual reality and motor lab, experimental classrooms, rooftop glasshouses, and controlled-environment laboratories, as well as a dedicated home for the University’s 1m botanical specimens. In a statement that suggests the University’s new partnership with ChatGPT is already bearing fruit, Vice-Chancellor Irene Tracey said “The Life & Mind building isn’t just a world-class facility – it’s a place designed to bring people together.”

Speedwell House will be Oxfordshire County Council’s new HQ after all – but the recent archaeological finds mean that plans to extend the building won’t go ahead. The council will use it “as a city centre hub alongside its other properties across the county”.

The redeveloped building is expected to be ready in April 2028. OCC is due to move out of County Hall in late 2026, having sold the site for use as a hotel, but says it will use other existing buildings in the interim. The Government decision on council reorganisation will also be a factor. Here’s our long read on Speedwell, just in time for St Frideswide’s feast day:

Have we found St Frideswide’s Priory?

An unexpected discovery at Oxfordshire County Council’s proposed new HQ could transform our understanding of Oxford’s history. Madeline Odent explains more… Oxfordshire County Council received some unfortunate news this month. Its move to Speedwell House must be paused, perhaps permanently, by the discovery of ‘well preserved walls’ beneath

Oxford ClarionClarion guest contributor

Oxfordshire towns and villages will be able to request that their street lights are switched off overnight under a proposed County Council initiative – but OCC says “major urban areas such as Oxford are unlikely to be suitable to take part in the scheme”. The plans revise a proposal made last year.

The programme would work the same way as the 20mph rollout, where parish councils can make a request that lights are turned off in their area. OCC says it would not consider requests at “major road junctions, rail crossings, traffic calming, waterside paths, remote alleyways, and high crime areas”. OCC leader Liz Leffman said “Part-night lighting would only be implemented on a case-by-case basis and there would not be a one-size-fits-all approach. Reducing light pollution can help improve biodiversity and nature recovery.” The proposal will be considered at OCC’s Cabinet meeting next week.

New cycleways, safe pedestrian crossings, rural traffic calming and main road links to Carterton are all proposed in a £27.5m Oxfordshire County Council programme to spend long-held developer funding. A cycle bridge across the A34 near Milton Park is among the schemes moving forward.

Unspent developer contributions in Oxfordshire had reached £278m when first reported by the Clarion in May 2024. Following our report, an OCC committee later that year “highlighted an ongoing need to accelerate delivery and spend”. The council has now lined up 33 schemes which together total £27.5m, 10% of the total. They include an improved Carterton–A40 link; cycle corridors in Bicester; Mid-Cherwell/Heyford Park traffic calming; and new crossings in Benson, Culham, and Witney.

Design work would be carried out for several new cycle routes though not construction yet, including the much-desired Milton Heights bridge over the A34, Milton Park–Abingdon, the Witney–Hanborough “missing link” at North Leigh, Western Banbury & Hennef Way, and Wallingford–Cholsey station (full list of schemes).

Around the city

• After 110 years on Cornmarket, stationery shop W.H. Smith has been rebranded T.G. Jones – a name invented by investment company Modella Capital, which acquired the high street shops in June. The Abingdon branch was renamed in August. The outlet at Oxford railway station will remain W.H. Smith, as the original company has retained its station and airport shops. The travel outlets had previously made a profit of £63m over six months while the High Street business earned just £20m.
• A solar-powered digital postbox is coming to St Clement's. Royal Mail is installing 3,500 boxes across the UK with parcel drawers and barcode scanners linked to a posting app.
• An entry fee could be charged at the Museum of Oxford in the Town Hall. Oxford City Council says visitor numbers are half of what they expected, leading to a £77,000 “unbudgeted revenue pressure” last year: “Marketing the museum is challenging in a market which includes world renowned museums such as the Ashmolean and National History Museum. MOX is housed in a civic building without any ‘shop window’ at street level; it isn’t clear what the building is for and who is allowed access.” Tickets would be £4 for adults, £2 for children, with 12 free-entry days each year. People on benefits, carers, under-5s and Oxfordshire school groups would go free. The proposals will be considered at a City Council meeting next week.
• Parents in Oxford have issued “Paternity Charge Notices” resembling parking tickets on buggies, as part of a nationwide wave of action. Fathers from the 'Dad Shift' say that costs have soared in the past few years, but the country's paternity leave system is stuck in the past: “Dads and non-birthing parents get just two weeks on less than half the minimum wage, £374.36 for the fortnight - not even enough to buy the average pram. It's the worst offer in Europe.”
• Littlemore residents and businesses are invited to decorate their windows for this winter’s Window Walkabout (November 21–23). Free workshops on creating beautiful window decorations will be held at St Mary & St Nicholas Church. City Councillor for Littlemore, Cllr Tiago Corais, said: “This is yet another inspiring project from the Littlemore Arts Hub – it’s a joy to see how these events strengthen our community.”

Around the county

• Kennington became the first village in the UK to twin with a Kenyan village in a joyous celebration on Saturday. The twinning is the culmination of a relationship between Kennington and Musanda built over the last decade, including children producing a book together, Cosmic Cats. Celebrations linked the two villages via Zoom and included the Kennington Chorale serenading their twin village, dancing, and tree planting. The chair of the Parish Council, Alan Cobb, made a moving speech both in English and Swahili, which he learned for the ceremony. Residents hope that seeing the twinning signs will remind everyone that flags can be used to celebrate or to exclude, and symbolise friendship not fear.
• Thames Water has announced that the hosepipe ban for OX postcodes is to continue after receiving 50% of the average rainfall over the last six months. They also warn of localised flooding during heavy rain on exceptionally dry ground, due to increased runoff.
• On-the-ground work has begun on the £300m+ HIF1 road around Didcot and Clifton Hampden, including site setup and archaelogical investigation. Main construction is expected to start in the spring.
• 310 rental apartments are proposed for a site on the edge of Bicester between the Bicester Avenue shopping complex and Tesco. The plan is part of the Bicester Arc site which would also include offices and lab space.
• Another Oxfordshire golf club could be replaced by housing. Bloor Homes are proposing 200 homes on the current Shrivenham Park Golf Club, situated between Shrivenham and Watchfield in Vale of White Horse. The club says “we will remain open as long as we are able to operate”, but doesn’t own the land.
• Meanwhile North Oxford Golf Club, close to Oxford Parkway station between Cutteslowe and Kidlington, will close later this month. The site is owned by the University of Oxford and two colleges who are planning to redevelop it for housing. A Guardian article in 2023 argued that “Building houses on Britain’s vast, exclusive golf courses makes sense for everyone – even golfers” while a Telegraph headline this year claimed “UK golf courses under siege by Rachel Reeves”. (Why must sub-editors on the nationals insist on building up bogeymen by personalising headlines like this? It’s trite. Grrr.)
• A chorister from Dorchester Abbey has won the BBC’s Young Chorister of the Year competition. 15-year old Al Mucklow, from Oxford, took the senior title announced during the final on Sunday. The Bishop of Dorchester praised his “clarity and confidence”.
• Villagers in Great Bourton, north of Banbury, are campaigning for their local pub not to be turned into a house. Cllr Chris Brant said “The pub was closed, run down and never offered back to the community. To claim it is unviable is a result of neglect, not inevitability.” The Bell, formerly run by Hook Norton Brewery, was sold into private hands in 2024. Cherwell District Council refused planning permission for change of use earlier this year but the purchasers have appealed against this.
• But an application to turn the Woodman in North Leigh into a house has been refused by West Oxfordshire District Council. Planners said “a high marketing price would inevitably deter potential [purchasers], and the submission provides very limited information on how this figure was reached”.

Oxfordshire politics

Let’s start with the national announcements. The Government unveiled £9.6m funding for winter homelessness support in the South East. Oxford City Council’s Cllr Linda Smith said “Every pound will go into bolstering initiatives that support the City’s Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy: more multidisciplinary support for those with complex needs, a faster protocol to get vulnerable people to a place of safety, and further support helping them to be rehoused.” But Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran said: “We need a new homelessness strategy to tackle the huge rise in families in temporary accommodation. With Oxford city having the highest average rent outside of London, homelessness is on the rise here.”

Oxfordshire’s LibDem MPs have warned of cuts to hospice care for terminally ill patients. Helen & Douglas House hospice in Oxford recently had to rely on £44,000 of public donations for urgent roof repairs. They are campaigning for ring-fenced funding for children's hospices.

Turning to our local MPs:

• Banbury MP Sean Woodcock is very happy about the OUFC stadium news. He's asking businesses in the Banbury Improvement District to fill in a survey. He offered congratulations to Antep Kebab House and to Best Kebabs Van Chipping Norton who have both been nominated as finalists in the Turkish Restaurant and Takeaway Awards. Week 5 of cat watch and still no cat.
• Bicester & Woodstock MP Calum Miller met the Minister for Policing, Sarah Jones, to raise concerns about antisocial behaviour in Long Hanborough and the growing pressure on police resources across rural areas. He called the OUFC stadium go-ahead “great news”. With Oxfordshire’s military bases in mind, and particularly MOD Bicester housing in Ambrosden, he welcomed a victory in Parliament that will ensure military family housing is held to the same legal standards as civilian rented homes.
• Witney MP Charlie Maynard was on BBC Oxford talking about the 18,000 houses the Government says should be built in his constituency (vs 48,000 there now). He called for action on “the infrastructure required to support them – rail, road, education, health and sewage”. He was at the Healing Military Minds Ball.
• Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds’ flurry of social content has slowed this week, but she does appear to have led a parliamentary delegation to Senegal, 2885 miles away. Much closer to home, she ran the 13 miles of the Oxford Half Marathon. She issued a joint statement with Sean Woodcock on OUFC's stadium news.
• Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran is either back from parental leave or just doing remarkably effective KIT days. This week she was thanked by Harrisons Fish Shop on the Botley Road for raising issues of soaring costs around local hospitality businesses. She spoke up for pharmacies in the community, met the Ukrainian Speaker, and of course asked the PM to confirm his commitment to the two state solution in Palestine. (Welcome back, Layla, we hope it's not been too tough to leave the little one.)
• Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover opened the new visitor centre at Culham campus, the culmination of a four-year £184m programme. Whilst in Culham he met the Culham Bicycle User Group who are campaigning for improvements along the A415, including the Tollgate crossing and the narrow causeway to Abingdon. He's been out on the doors in Ridgeway for the upcoming by-election.
• Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo was at the launch of the shiny new Chiltern Railways trains. He visited Ewelme to check on progress for enhanced broadband. And he wrote to the Health Secretary to advocate for newborn screening for Spinal Muscular Atrophy, saying that a treatment exists, yet we’re not screening early enough to make best use of it.
• Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber has written an interesting opinion piece on identity cards. He highlighted National Hate Crime Awareness Week, calling out legal protection for race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity. He’s running business surveys and residents’ surveys on crime. Finally he was on BBC Oxford, talking about reduced speed limits in Oxfordshire and enforcement. He's been out on the doors in Ridgeway for the upcoming by-election (twice). No Labrador but some excellent ducks.

University and research

• An extension to Corpus Christi College’s library has been completed, adding 55 new reader spaces, and consolidating the college's special collections (including works by Galileo and Erasmus) in an environmentally controlled core. The site has been built to Passivhaus standards and access is step-free for the first time.
• A sauropod dinosaur trackway 220m in length, the longest in Europe, was unearthed this summer at Dewar's Farm Quarry near Bicester. ‘Oxfordshire's dinosaur highway’ has already yielded hundreds of footprints, including from the carnivore Megalosaurus. The extraordinary fossil site dates to the Middle Jurassic, 166 myr ago. Excavations were led by researchers from Oxford University Museum of Natural History. The fossil that started it all, the Megalosaurus jaw from Stonesfield, is on display at Oxford’s Natural History Museum until 13 April; it was first described in 1824 by Oxford's eccentric "undergroundologist", Prof. William Buckland.
• A delegation of Shuar leaders, elders, students and professors from Ecuador concluded their tour of UK museums with a well-attended special public event at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. The event included an audience Q&A with the Shuar delegation. Researchers from the Pitt Rivers Museum also shared the work of Proyecto Tsantsa, a partnership between the museum & institutions in Ecuador that seeks to incorporate the Shuar's perspectives & expertise into the study and treatment of their cultural artefacts, including tsantsas, or shrunken heads.

• A new play area has opened at the University of Oxford’s Harcourt Arboretum. It includes a traversing wall and rope walk, a den building area, a wooden tunnel, and “the perfect picnic bench for supervising adults”. [University Parks and Christ Church Meadow next? Please and thank you from the Mini Clarions. Bonus points for Oriel Square.]
• The University of Oxford is reported to have suspended a student videoed chanting “put Zionists in the ground” last weekend. Police confirmed that a 20-year old man has been arrested “for inciting racial hatred”. Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has written to vice-chancellors across the country, calling for universities to intensify their policies and practices to counter antisemitism: “Universities have a clear role to play not just keeping Jewish students safe, but as anchors to the communities they serve.” The directive follows the recent attack at Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester in which two people were killed.
• And full marks to Magdalen Street all-you-can-eat buffet Cosmo for its attempt to capture the student vote with “brainpower on a plate” Seafood Tuesday Nights. All the fish you can eat for £20.99. Has anyone told the college cats?

Walking and cycling

• Five primary schools in Oxford and Didcot are to have their school streets made permanent, with motor traffic restricted at pick-up and drop-off time. The scheme has been running as a trial, first with volunteer wardens and then with ANPR cameras.
• At the same Oxfordshire County Council transport decisions meeting, Cllr Andrew Gant also approved Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plans for Carterton and Thame, lower speed limits for Weston-on-the-Green, and right-turn restrictions from Barnard Gate onto the A40. But a plan to put ‘side road entry treatments’ on the slip road at the Rose Hill junction in east Oxford was rejected, with officers asked to look at options including modal filtering and making the slip road one-way.

Trains and buses

• A £71m hole has opened up in the plan to replace Oxford’s southern bypass bridge over the mainline railway. The Kennington rail bridge project was budgeted at £180m, but inflation, engineering challenges, and “a complex two-stage Thames Water pipe diversion” (sounds familiar…) have caused the shortfall. The Government recently announced a Structures Fund for replacing worn-out infrastructure. Oxfordshire County Council says that when the Department for Transport publishes more information, it will make a bid to bridge (ahem) the funding gap.
• New arrangements for running the county’s buses will be on the table at next week’s Oxfordshire County Council cabinet meeting. Council officers have recommended closer engagement with bus companies (Enhanced Partnership+), but Labour has launched a petition in favour of franchising, where the council would set routes/timetables itself. A consultants’ report says EP+ would bring “more influence over network development” than now, while franchising would “enable new or direct services to be provided, but this may come at additional cost”.
• Chiltern Railways’ new trains for the Banbury and Bicester line were unveiled on Tuesday at Marylebone station. The 13-strong fleet will replace five rakes of 1970s carriages. The trains are not expected to run to Oxford, but have been flying through the station on test runs recently, and will free up other stock for the line.

This weekend

• Oktoberfest. Saturday, midday–5pm at College Cruisers, Mount Place, Canal Street, Jericho. Beer, bands, sausages. Who's in?
• WolvLitFest. Saturday at Wolvercote Village Hall, 10am–4pm, hosted by Oxford Independent Authors. Bookstalls, talks and workshops for readers and writers of all ages.
• Rare Book Fair, Saturday at Brookes. (Like we need a reason to buy more books. Sigh.)
• IF Oxford, the science & ideas festival, continues.
• Oxford International Song Festival does too.
• Oxfordshire Day is this Sunday, the feast day of Oxford’s own St Frideswide. There’s a specially composed hymn (‘This is the house which holy Frideswide founded’) at the 11.05am service at Christ Church Cathedral. (We also love the tune ‘Highwood’!)

This week

• Tom, Mon 20 Oct, University Church. The Oxford Literary Cafe Society presents 'a new verse drama based on the life & works of T.S. Eliot'. £10 on the door.
• The End of the World - and What We Can Do About It, Tue 21 Oct, Caper, Magdalen Road. Journalist Tom Ough discusses his new book The Anti-Catastrophe League.
• Sheldonian Series: Cancel Culture, Tue 21 Oct. The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University in conversation with Sunder Katwala, Helen Mountfield, Zoe Williams, and Toby Young. Free, booking required.
• Glow ride, Wed 22 Oct, Manzil Way. Light up your bike on this women-led ride.
• Spartimu, Wed 22 Oct, St Barnabas Church. Corsican vocal music and optional singing workshop.
• Huh, That's Funny. Thu 23 Oct, Lynrace Spirit, Jericho. The return of Oxford’s comedy and science night with Chris Lintott (BBC Sky at Night) and Liz Johnson (animal scientist & comedian).
• Sudan, Remember Us. Fri 24 Oct, Jesus College Digital Hub. Free screening of this documentary (certificate 18) about Sudanese activists for Black History Month. Booking required.
• Love is Lit. Fri 24 Oct, Gulp Fiction. Singles night in the Covered Market bookshop.
• Clive Myrie comes to Jericho. Fri 24 Oct, 10am, St Barnabas Church on Cardigan Street. Booking essential. One of the UK's best known television faces comes to Jericho.
• Apple Day at Makespace. Sat 25 Oct, Aristotle Lane. Bring your own apples for identification or pressing.

Oxfordshire’s independent media

• Morris Oxford follows Oxford’s long journey towards equal rights for women.
• The Oxford Sausage has been to Worcester College chapel and the photography is stunning.
• Little Oxplorers has a guide for what's on this weekend for the Mini Clarions.
• Bitten Oxford rounds up the best hotels for food in Oxfordshire
• Ox in a Box has all the reactions to the local hotels, pubs and restaurants in the latest Michelin guide.
• Cherwell says “Oriel is so back” after the college bar reopens. This is bringing back memories of our long gone student days (Cheeky Vimto please… IYKYK).
• And finally: vlogger Phil Carr spent a night in the converted toilets under St Giles (aka boutique hotel, the Netty) and it is very funny.

Ozymandias update

We have been inundated with an email requesting a cat update as a “sane and furry centre of a confusing world”, and frankly we don't need to be asked twice. Here is your pictorial update on Magdalen’s famous feline furry fellow. Please submit pictures of other college cats.

Notes from Clarion HQ

We now have so many writers we can't all fit on the same pub table; this is about half of our editorial meeting (with Welsh cakes). Our ability to be discreet is vanishing rapidly, so we can only hope people in the Royal Blenheim earlier this week weren't Clarion readers.

One of the things we discussed was the amount of time it takes to condense our week's tweets down to a shorter (honest!) newsletter. We have had comments about the length of our newsletters, but you all keep sending us interesting news, which we love; this week we’ve had to carry over seven stories.

So we're wondering about publishing twice a week: a more newsy issue in midweek, with Friday being more events/media-focused to see you into the weekend. What do you think? Let us know by email (news@oxfordclarion.uk), or pop a comment on the social post where you find this. Oh look! It's a consultation! Have a great weekend.