Clarion Weekly, 23 August 2024

Donnington Bridge. Photo: Oxfordshire County Council.

This week’s top stories

An emergency weight limit of 7.5 tonnes has been imposed on Donnington Bridge, following ongoing monitoring work which showed weaknesses in the structure. Oxfordshire County Council engineers recommended that the weight limit was imposed “as a precautionary measure” while checks are carried out on hidden and currently inaccessible elements of the bridge.

The weight limit, which took effect on Tuesday, means 46 and ST1 buses have had to find an alternative route. The bridge is not the first in this part of town to encounter structural issues: the southern bypass railway bridge is commencing a multimillion pound rebuild.

Cllr Andrew Gant, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways, said: “We will progress this issue as quickly as we can as we are conscious that it’ll create disruption. We’ll be guided by the experts in terms of what happens next and we will keep the public informed.”

The Government has confirmed it intends to reopen the immigration detention centre at Campsfield House near Kidlington. 290 beds will be made available there and at a Hampshire site. Local MP Calum Miller (LibDem) said he was “disappointed and angry… it is opposed by the local community, village, district and county councils… I will continue to work with those who oppose the reopening of Campsfield House”. He posted this video outside Campsfield House.

Green Councillor Dr Alex Powell commented: "It is particularly concerning to see Labour reiterate their commitment to re-opening Campsfield House. Oxford and Oxfordshire are places of sanctuary migrants and refugees are welcome here. We want no part in the despicable fearmongering and cruelty of this government.”

In 2022, Labour councillors and the city council posted a statement opposing the then Conservative Government's plans to re-open Campsfield House, calling the decision “wrong and inhumane”. Labour MP for Banbury Sean Woodcock obliquely defended the government's decision, saying Labour was taking difficult decisions after inheriting 'the mess' of the Conservative government's doomed Rwanda scheme.

Around the city

Parking becomes playground as a city centre school turns over its staff parking to kids, reports Cyclox. Christ Church Cathedral School explained that “Turning our car park into a playground has caused a huge shift in the way adults come to our site. Colleagues have worked together to take responsibility for reducing the number of cars at school for the benefit of the children and the environment. Not one member of staff has left because of this, and everyone is delighted with the results: parents, staff, prospective parents — and most of all our pupils. But for more of our parents to shift to sustainable travel, we need safer cycling routes for children.”

Around the county

Visualisation of Bicester vertiporm (Skyports)

Bicester is set to become a centre for flying taxis following planning approval for “the UK’s first vertiport testbed”. Bicester Motion business park, built on the former RAF Bicester, will host demonstration flights for electric vertical take-off-and-landing 4-passenger craft. The development by Skyports Infrastructure will include a 160sq m passenger terminal. Construction is due to start in the autumn. Skyports’ Duncan Walker said: “The tests and trials we conduct at this facility will be instrumental to the future of quiet electric vertical flight.”
In the same location, planning permission has been requested for a new indoor e-karting centre, following a £6m planned investment into grassroots motorsport by Bicester Motion and TeamSport, indoor karting operators. The track would be inside a converted grade 2 listed hangar and deliver a £2m, state of the art, 500 metre electric go karting track and centre aimed to boost grassroots and women in motorsport talent. Hugh Chambers, CEO of Motorsport UK, said: “TeamSport delivers the the largest motorsport championship in the world, and the F1 Academy Discover Your Drive. These provide an affordable route into the sport and play a groundbreaking role in growing female participation in karting. "
South Oxfordshire District Council has defended its decision to refuse planning permission to a battery storage facility on the Culham site. A spokesman for South Oxfordshire District Council told the Oxford Clarion: “As a council we are committed to tackling the climate emergency and are working hard to become a carbon neutral district. However, as with any planning application, we need to consider a range of factors when deciding to approve or reject. In this case, there were significant concerns about the planning harm the development would have on the proposed site. This includes harming the character of the landscape, damaging views from public rights of way and the impact on Nuneham Courtenay Registered Park and Garden. In addition, the applicants failed to provide sufficient information that the development would address the impact on biodiversity and trees, as well as how it would protect against harm to archaeological assets. The council had previously provided pre-application advice to the applicant back in 2022 which raised planning concerns about battery storage in this location.”
Another planning application, this time for 230 houses, is being advanced for Heyford Park, the fast-developing village on the Upper Heyford airbase site between Banbury and Bicester. The scheme was upheld at a planning appeal in March this year. We looked at the 6,000-home proposal for Heyford Park last week.
Community groups with ideas on reducing crime are invited to apply for Thames Valley Police's Community Fund grants. The fund is created from the proceeds from the sale of items seized from criminals that cannot be returned to their rightful owners.
Could you hold the police to account on inclusion? Thames Valley Police are looking for an Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board Volunteer with 'a passion for championing and advocating on issues of inclusion and race' Details

We have a strict 'no Jeremy Clarkson' rule. But as people keep accusing us of being 'the mouthpiece of Oxfordshire County Council' (yawn) we may be contractually obliged to report this, about Jezza's new pub. Cheers!

Pupdate: We recently reported on Thames Valley Police's newest recruits in training. We can report that they are settling in well. If you wish to see more police puppy action on a blustery Friday, click here for TVP's video.

University and research

Applications to become the next Chancellor of the University of Oxford closed on Sunday. Elish Angiolini, Imran Khan, William Hague and Peter Mandelson have all confirmed they are candidates. Lady Angiolini is principal of St Hugh’s and led the inquiry into Sarah Everard’s murder. Imran Khan is the former PM of Pakistan, currently jailed on highly disputed corruption charges. Hague is a former Conservative leader, while Mandelson was a key figure in the New Labour governments. Voting will take place at the end of October – online for the first time, rather than requiring in-person attendance. The University is not expected to confirm the candidates until early October. Chris Patten has been Chancellor since 2003.
Researchers at Oxford University have made groundbreaking recommendations on pandemic preparedness. They have advocated for including both social science experts and a wider range of economic perspectives in future pandemic preparedness in a paper in Frontiers in Public Health. They say vaccine refusal is often a result of worries about efficacy and safety, through a lack of understanding of social and historical perspectives. The paper recommends interdisciplinary thinking, saying creative tools from design and literature are essential in improving health literacy. They ask “What if those who could provide expertise on visual and textual communication, artists, graphic designers, writers, and content creators were invited into the conversation on pandemic preparedness from the beginning?”
Oxford University Press is seeking to raise £318,500 so it can publish 30 titles as open access - i.e. free to readers. Titles include “Heaviness in Metal Music” and “Theology for World Christianity in Post-postcolonial Times”. They hope funding will come from libraries and institutions. The closing date for funding is March 2025.
And finally… In a riff on the popular “nobody will remember your salary or how many hours you worked” meme, the University of Oxford has been throwing shade at America by reminding (checks notes) an entire country that the university's ‘New’ College was founded 397 years before the USA. They shared more on the University's old buildings here.

Trains and buses

Oxford Bus Co have announced a major reworking of their services in South and West Oxfordshire. A new hourly X15 bus will link Witney, Abingdon and Oxford, alternating with the X1 from Wantage to Abingdon and Oxford (which goes from half-hourly to hourly). The 19 from Witney to Bampton and Carterton goes from two-hourly to hourly, while the X9 from Witney to Charlbury and Chipping Norton gets a Sunday service for the first time – both run by OBC’s Pulhams operation. A new X24 will run limited-stop journeys at rush hour between Didcot Parkway and Harwell Campus. Several services will be altered to serve secondary schools in the area, including a new X2S to Abingdon’s schools. All changes take effect from September 1, and you can see the full list on the OBC website.
Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds has written to CrossCountry Trains to complain about service cuts, which will see Oxford–Banbury reduced to an hourly service. We broke this story here.

Oxfordshire County Council are looking for residents’ input on mobility hubs – locations where several transport modes and community facilities are located together for seamless interchange. More here. The council is asking residents to suggest future locations for these hubs where they would make the biggest impact for residents: suggested locations include near libraries, schools, car parks, and business parks. More information and a chance to input is here.
These are just over the Oxfordshire border, but we couldn’t resist. Fancy staying in a railway tunnel? Or buying a former railway station? Now you can.

This weekend

Foodies Festival: Cooking demonstrations and live music all weekend at South Park. Tickets and line-up.
Big Feastival: “Glastonbury but with lots more delicious food” at the farm of Alex James from Blur, near Kingham Station. For those who long to see Judge Jules in “Alex James’ Cheese Hub” sponsored by M&S. Tickets and line-up.
Charlbury Festival one stop down the train line: a weekend of craft workshops and art exhibitions. Event listings.
Green Spaces volunteer work party with the Oxford Preservation Trust. Jarn Heath, Saturday 24 August 9.30. Details.
Oxford Storytelling Festival at Waterperry Gardens – a fascinating event “weaving magic with stories, spoken word, poetry and song”. Tickets and line-up.

Dates for your diary

Oktoberfest at The Chester Arms, Oxford. October 4–5. Full German beer tap take over and German menu+live music. 12-23:30 both days.
Great Barn Festival. Great Coxwell Barn, Faringdon. September 13–15. Family friendly event celebrating the best of music, theatre, art, and nature in an ancient rural setting.
Oxford Ideas & Science Festival (IF Oxford). Science and ideas festival with live, digital and hybrid events October 6–November 3.
Oxfordshire County Girlguiding Heritage Open Day. September 7–8, Jubilee House. Relive your Brownie & Guide days. A walk down memory lane with open archives, plus fun activities for all ages.
Campaign for Rural England 'Countryside Day', 7 September. Walks, talks and activities from CPRE Oxon and Berks, from Goring Village Hall.

Notes from Clarion HQ

This week the Clarion had a momentary jaw drop as news from Oxford crossed its “trending” feed: apparently the start of the new school year is being delayed due to devastating flooding. It turns out to be Oxford, Connecticut, USA. We send all those in our namesake town the very best wishes at this extremely difficult time.

Other people had a brat summer. We had a “drink cider and research long reads summer”. We have a lot of Oxfordshire deep dives cued up to go once the county returns from its holidays. Now is the time to sign up to our weekly email if you haven’t yet.

And we were surprised to go mildly viral this week with our tweet listing the frontrunners for the role of Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Turns out Imran Khan has some very enthusiastic supporters!