Clarion Weekly, 18 October 2024

This week’s top stories

The Odeon cinema on George Street is to be demolished and replaced with a StayCity aparthotel and community space. Oxford City Council gave planning permission for the new development on Tuesday, with hopes voiced that the aparthotel could help tackle Oxford’s short-term let problem.

Cllr Alex Hollingsworth said: “An aparthotel sits in the same economic sphere as – I can’t use the name of the big company because they send me lawyers’ letters – the short-term let sector. Whole portions of streets have been converted from private rental to short-term lets.”

Councillors also welcomed replacing the “miserable blank walls” of the Odeon, saying the new development would “activate the fourth side” of Gloucester Green and provide a safety improvement for people walking along George Street at night. Concerns were expressed about the choice to demolish the 1930s building rather than refit it, while Independent Oxford Alliance councillor David Henwood said he could not support the plans due to “the harm in relation to the Conservation Area and the views from the mound”.

Much of Botley Road Retail Park will be replaced by “a vibrant science quarter for Oxford” if two new planning applications are approved. Landowners British Land say that Oxford currently has one-third of the laboratory space that Cambridge has.

The planning applications envisage demolishing the units occupied by Currys, Pets at Home, Screwfix and others. The developers say the existing buildings are unsuitable to repurpose into offices, with little natural light and a footprint not appropriate for lab space.

Instead, they propose a series of new-builds, each with roof terraces. The frontmost building will include a “flexible ground floor commercial space”. They promise high-quality cycle facilities, with car parking spaces reduced from 242 to just two, and an on-site community space.

Over the road, a separate application seeks to demolish New Barclay House beside Seacourt Park & Ride (currently a Mazda dealership with offices above) and build a new life science lab space, offices, ‘Botley Road Café’ and gym. The design, by Foster+Partners, seeks to be a “gateway site” for Oxford. There will be a dedicated cycle store, plus changing room with showers, but just five car parking spaces.
All three applications are now open for comment on Oxford City's planning website.

Oxford University has announced that 38 applications have been successfully submitted for the role of Chancellor. These include front-runners Peter Mandelson, William Hague, Elish Angiolini and Jan Royall, but not Imran Khan. Other candidates include politicians Dominic Grieve and David Willetts, lawyer and union activist Harry Stratton, reconstructive surgeon Simon Kay, lawyer and diversity campaigner Margaret Casely-Hayford.

In a long read, we rounded up each and every single one of them for your inquisitive minds to peruse. Who do you think will win? Voting starts on 28 October.

An occasionally tumultous Oxford City Council cabinet meeting on Wednesday saw the proposal to allocate affordable housing to Bertie Place, off Abingdon Road, approved. Objectors wanted the site to be retained as a recreation ground.

The City Council, through its OX Place subsidiary, plans to build 31 homes on the site. 22 will be let at ‘social rent’ levels and 9 available for shared ownership. It says the former children’s play area will be replaced with “a new modern play area and multi-use games area”.

Objectors say that the local community has had access to Bertie Park for 85 years, and that “without Bertie Park there will be nowhere safe for children to gather and play”. A campaign group, Save Bertie Park, was formed to mobilise opposition. They told the meeting: “We question the council’s prioritisation of housing over other considerations on this specific site, when it promotes development elsewhere that prioritises job creation over housing. The land is still required for the purpose for which it is currently held.”

Cllr Linda Smith spoke in favour of the plans. “The proposals realise the potential of the site for housing while getting the balance right, preserving opportunities for play and enhancing residents’ access to greenspace. An area of current wasteland roughly equal in size will be opened up.”

As the discussion progressed, the Cabinet was heckled by attendees to such an extent that council leader Cllr Susan Brown had to clear the room after the vote was taken. The councillors approved the proposals for housing unanimously. Cllr Brown told attendees: “I know this is not what you wanted to hear, but we have to bear in mind the severe housing shortage that we have in our city. I think this is a balanced decision.”

Environmental groups across Oxfordshire held a day of climate action meetings with the county’s MPs. Anneliese Dodds, Freddie van Mierlo, Olly Glover, Calum Miller and Charlie Maynard met constituents to discuss the need for more effective action on climate and nature.

In East Oxford, over 60 people joined a meeting with Anneliese Dodds organised by Oxford Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace Oxford. She said: “We had a really good discussion about new homes while protecting the environment, and how to deliver a just transition & create new jobs where needed.” Chris Church of Oxford Friends of the Earth added: "It was a very useful dialogue on issues from local flooding to planet-wide cooperation. We do not agree on every aspect of government policy but there is plenty of common ground. We need to see the ideas turned into real action.”

In Benson, Olly Glover and Ivan Mierlo attended a meeting of 50 people organised by Wallingford group Bioabundance. Glover said: “Climate change is an existential problem - it is important that the Government focusses upon it.” Van Mierlo stressed that “we need a stronger focus on the climate and nature emergencies, with firm plans to reach net zero and put the decline in biodiversity into reverse”. Both MPs support the Climate and Nature Bill which would update the UK's environmental legislation.

In Kidlington, Calum Miller met with 45 people from Sustainable Woodstock and Oxford Friends of the Earth, and highlighted the role of Oxfordshire's Lib Dem MPs in holding the Government to account on these issues and dealt with many questions on local and national issues. In Witney, Charlie Maynard welcomed ideas from the MP Watch Witney group – set up under the previous parliament – and agreed to meet regularly.

Chris Church summed up the event positively: "It was encouraging that our MPs responded so well. This was also a great example of cooperation by environmental groups across the county.” (And we make no apologies for elevating this to a lead story – there is a climate emergency after all.)

Around the city

• A new cycle crossing, dubbed the “Noodle Bridge”, has been approved over the A40 eastern bypass. It will connect Barton Park and the forthcoming 1450-home Bayswater Brook site to Marston and Headington. The plans were voted through unanimously by Oxford City’s planning committee. The housing development itself has already been approved by South Oxfordshire District Council. Six smaller bridges over the Bayswater Brook, for pedestrians, cyclists, and buses, were agreed as part of the same application.
• The Museum of Oxford has won a £136,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to mark its 50th anniversary. It aims to engage Oxford’s diverse communities in celebrating & sharing their heritage and the city’s history. The Museum of Oxford will collaborate with Oxford’s communities to co-create an exhibition and year-long programme of events and identify existing and new objects, stories, and artefacts that reflect the cultural diversity of Oxford’s residents. These materials will become part of the museum’s permanent collections through loans or acquisition, ensuring they remain accessible to future generations. City Council cabinet member Alex Hollingsworth said: “We are really pleased to have won this grant. By working closely with local communities, we’re not just celebrating 50 years of the museum, but also creating a lasting legacy to represent everyone who calls Oxford home.”
• Leisure centres in Oxford are partnering with national charity the Children’s Book Project to collect books for underprivileged children until the end of October. Residents are asked to donate donate good-quality kids’ books, which will be distributed to children across the UK.

Around the county

• Work starts later this month on rebuilding the southern approach to Banbury station via Tramway Road. A dedicated bus and cycle route will provide direct access to the station forecourt, with an improved car park to follow. Construction will be complete by September 2025. Oxfordshire County Council has warned that diversions will be in place from 24 October with Tramway Road completely closed. It has signposted an alternative route via Cherwell Street (A4260) though a shorter walking route with steps is available via the canal towpath.
• The unlikely-sounding notion of a hydrogen-powered fire engine could be seen on Oxfordshire’s roads. A £7.8m project to install a hydrogen fuelling rig at Oxfordshire County Council's Drayton depot, for hydrogen-powered fire engine and ambulance prototypes, is set to be signed off tomorrow. OCC says the fully grant-funded project will “offer access to green hydrogen for other hard-to-decarbonise heavy duty vehicles” such as road sweepers and highway maintenance vehicles. Hydrogen specialists Ulemco are using fuel cell technology developed for the Toyota Mirai car.
• Local charity Oxfordshire Breastfeeding Support is trying to raise £10,000 as part of the Big Give’s Women & Girls’ Match Funding campaign this week. The UK has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world, but 8 out of 10 women stop breastfeeding before they want to. OBS provides specialist antenatal and breastfeeding support, online and in-person, in ways that are flexible and tailored to individual families’ needs. It relies entirely on donations and grants, receiving no statutory funding. Donations up to £5,000 during the campaign week will be doubled by Big Give. £25 covers the cost of a family’s visit to an OBS session. Any funds raised beyond the £10,000 goal won't be doubled, but will still help to provide infant feeding support across Oxfordshire.
• Investigations at the site of the A34 Lodge Hill Interchange have unearthed deeply buried sediments from ancient river systems, which date back to the Middle Pleistocene period, and some flint tools. These reflect early human presence near Abingdon. Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for infrastructure, Judy Roberts, said: “Archaeological investigations are an important part of delivering construction schemes. They help us identify and understand past features and residents of the area and record them for future generations.” Last week, we reported on an Iron Age settlement uncovered by Barratt Homes on a housing site just south of Banbury.
• Residents are being asked not to use Accident & Emergency services unless very urgent, in a bid to manage winter pressures on the NHS in Oxfordshire. All those eligible are also encouraged to book their flu and Covid vaccinations.

University and research

• With the Government’s plan to ban LGBTQ+ conversion practices very much in the news, Oriel College will host leaders from public life, academia and faith to speak at the annual David N. Lyon lecture on the Politics of Sex and Gender Identities in Diverse Societies. The event’s sponsor, David Lyon is a philanthropist focused on LGBTQ+ rights. He said: “The UK has made substantial advances in equality, but there’s still much more to do.” The event takes place on Tuesday 19 November at Convocation House, Oxford. Speakers include Ilias Trispiotis, Professor of Human Rights Law; Jayne Ozanne, Oxford evangelical and director of the Ozanne Foundation; and prominent LGBTQ+ campaigner Phillip Ayoub.
• Former Oxfordshire MP (and Prime Minister) David Cameron has been appointed chair of the Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre’s advisory board to lead international outreach and fundraising. The centre is seeking to deliver 40 new treatments for rare diseases in the next decade. Lord Cameron, who has a house near Chipping Norton, said: “As a father I know all too well the impact of rare diseases. We miss our son Ivan every day – all these years on our loss is still so raw. But the steps we are taking now mean that families like ours will have hope.”
• A Hong Kong independence activist and fugitive has been accepted as a University of Oxford scholarship student with additional Government support. Honcques Laus fled HK in 2020 after repressive security laws were imposed. He said: “Oxford is a vigorous place for intellectual discourse and political engagement where I can continue my relentless pursuit of civil liberty and emphatic protest against tyranny.” He plans to publish campaigning works via his own press.

• The Lord Mayor of Oxford, Cllr Mike Rowley, will uphold a 600-year-old tradition by inspecting the city’s historic walls on 23 October.
  This unique ceremony honours a centuries-old agreement between Oxford City and New College Oxford, which has been preserved since 1379. The tradition began when King Richard II granted the land for the founding of New College on the condition that the college maintains the city’s defensive walls – and Oxford's Lord Mayor checks that they do. The procession will be led by the City Mace and stop at New College’s gate on New College Lane. There, the Mace Bearer will knock three times, symbolically requesting permission for the Lord Mayor and councillors to enter. Cllr Rowley said: “It is a privilege to continue this tradition, which connects our modern city to its medieval roots. The walls are a testament to the strength and resilience of Oxford, and it is an honour to carry out this duty on behalf of the city and its people.”

Trains and buses

• Local bus campaigners say a “no blame, just a solution” approach paid dividends in restoring a bus service to Donnington Bridge. Oxfordshire County Council is using its own minibus fleet to run the 46A, a stand-in for the 46 which was thwarted by the emergency weight limit on the bridge. Judith Secker from the 46 Bus Campaign said “I think we might have seen the fastest solution ever from an Oxfordshire local authority”, and thanked local Labour councillors Brad Baines and Charlie Hicks: “The voice of residents had a major impact on their ability to act so quickly.”

Walking and cycling

• The National Cycle Network in Oxfordshire could see £2.8m of improvements if a funding bid succeeds. Oxfordshire County Council is bidding for Government funds to upgrade cycle routes across the county, including safe crossings across busy roads, bridge repairs and path resurfacing. The bid would fund works to improve the route from Horspath to Oxford, repair bridges in eastern Abingdon, and remove or improve barriers in Abingdon and Didcot. There are also 11 longer-term schemes for which the council is seeking funding to carry out design work. These include improving routes through Jericho, North Oxford and Cowley; crossings at Crowmarsh Gifford, Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, and near Harwell; canal towpath improvements and station links in Banbury; and road calming near Stonesfield.
• The proposed cycle path across Donnington Recreation Ground, linking Meadow Lane to Cavell Road, is finally to go ahead. Landscaping changes meant it had to be reconsidered by Oxford City Council’s planning committee, who approved the plans on Tuesday. 49 residents had written in support, saying it would improve biodiversity elsewhere and that the trees to be felled were already dangerous. Donnington Football Club backed the plan, arguing that it would replace a diagonal ‘desire line’ which restricts their number of pitches.

Oxfordshire politics

Oxfordshire's new MPs have now been in post for 100 days. Admittedly much of that was summer and conference recesses, but government and representation continue even when Parliament doesn’t sit. Some of them reflected on what they'd been up to with jazzy videos sharing what they'd done for their constituents; others let their central party do the talking. We gathered it up – have a look for your local MP in our (not very) long read.

We tend not to cover events that sit in ministerial remits or overseas generally. But this is a rare Oxford exchange where Layla Moran asks Anneliese Dodds to impress on the Israeli government that the sick and infirm in Gaza are not targets of war. It is a heartfelt debate on both sides, and we've embedded it here so you can watch it in full.

• Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran was scathing about the Conservative leadership contest on BBC Politics’ Any Questions, saying in this clip “If this Conservative leadership race was a recruitment process, you'd re-open the applications.” She said Liberal Democrats are ready to step in as the “effective opposition”. She went on the Quiet Riot podcast to talk about Gaza; visited the JR hospital in Oxford and called for urgent capital investment to increase capacity; supported calls for a playground in Oxford city centre, and visited Oxford's Freshers Fair. In her first speech in the House of Commons as Chair of the Health & Social Care Select Committee, she raised concerns around around access to GPs and investment in the primary care system, which we covered in a Twitter thread.
• Witney’s Charlie Maynard launched a blistering attack on Thames Water after he discovered a pump in Carterton designed to prevent flooding, installed a year ago, had not in fact been connected – while nearby houses had continued to flood with sewage. If you want to see a local politician getting angry on camera, watch the video. He also attended an ‘MP Watch’ event around Net Zero, and met students from Faringdon in Parliament where they held a mock election.
• Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover had made his way around the constituency by foot, bike and public transport during the General Election campaign, making him well qualified to raise the issue of train ticket pricing in Parliament this week. He also raised issues about AEAT pensions, local focus in NHS regional care boards, and community energy projects; he spoke twice in support of the NHS and carers (close watchers will spot Freddie van Mierlo behind him in this video; Team Oxfordshire are clearly supporting each other). When not speaking in Parliament he spoke to radio stations on the Renters’ Rights Bill and assisted dying. Outside of this, he supported local epilepsy charity SUDEP and a campaign for a new drug to treat Motor Neurone Disease; and met with a group from the Europa School in his constituency who were campaigning on increased paternity leave.
• Bicester & Woodstock MP Calum Miller slept out in a park with Oxfordshire business leaders and college heads at the CEO Sleepout to raise awareness of rough sleeping. It was frosty that night: we take our hat off to him and all the others. (Keep the hat on though. It's cold.) In Parliament he, like Glover, spoke in a debate on community energy projects: he argued that the controversial proposed Botley West Solar Farm did not deliver on key community benefits, and pledged to work with developers and local groups to “ensure any renewable energy projects properly involve the community and benefit them in a meaningful way”.

• Banbury’s Sean Woodcock has continued with his surgeries, and was out on the doorsteps in Chipping Norton. He gave his maiden speech in Parliament, saying that as a Banbury lad, this was “the job he'd always wanted” and talking of the change that was happening in Banbury, both economic and political. In Parliament he voted to get rid of hereditary peers.
• Oxford East’s Anneliese Dodds also joined in the Oxfordshire Homelessness Movement's CEO Sleepout. She ran the Oxford Half Marathon and in a classic photo-op, pulled some pints at the Oxford Beer & Cider Festival in the Town Hall. She was also out on the doorsteps in Aylesbury.

The Conservatives do not have any MPs in Oxfordshire currently, which is part of the reason why they’re currently undergoing a leadership contest. Front-runner Kemi Badenoch visited Didcot to rally support. She has local support in the form of former Oxford West & Abingdon candidate Vinay Raniga and Cllr Eddie Reeves, Conservative Group leader on Oxfordshire County Council, with Raniga saying she will “unite the right”. (Are there any Jenrickites among our Conservative Clarion correspondents? Get in touch.) Local Conservatives also made a big deal of local election wins elsewhere in the country, saying that “the fightback has started”.

This weekend

• Have you made it down to IF Oxford yet? The city’s science festival continues this weekend with family events and Super Science Sunday.
• Did you know Oxford has a Welsh male voice choir – and rather a good one too? Their annual gala concert is on Saturday, jointly staged with Treorchy male voice choir. For those who haven’t heard them in full flight, we strongly recommend it.

Dates for your diary

• Celebrity childrens’ author David Walliams will visit Caper bookshop on Magdalen Road on Friday 8 November at 4.30pm to sign copies of his latest children's novel, Super Sleuth. The event is part of Magdalen Road's ‘Worth travelling for’ campaign that we highlighted last week.
• Is it Christmas already? Christmas markets are being announced left, right and centre. We like this Independent Oxford offering at Tap Social on 23 November, and the Magdalen Road Frost Festival on 7 December (as you can tell, the Magdalen Road folks are assiduous at sending us press releases). Look out for more on markets in a future Clarion long read.

Notes from Clarion HQ

We had a Clarion editorial meeting in the Bear this week. We shared the pub with a mixture of gowned cigar smoking students, local businessmen and tourists, with musical accompaniment by Dr Stowford & Friends. It seemed an apt place to discuss our upcoming content.

There are more stories than there are hours in our days (though we did manage two long reads this week). This week has seen County cabinet, City cabinet, and City planning meetings, which has left us with a backlog of stories to cover. As we prioritise, we’re guided by what you comment on, like and share. What would you like to see? Let us know, either on social media or at news@oxfordclarion.uk. County Council elections are coming up…