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Clarion Weekly, 24 October 2025

Clarion Weekly, 24 October 2025
Somewhere, over the rainbow, a new branch line is coming. (Photo by Roger Close.)

This week’s long reads

The Cowley Branch Line is reopening! The Government this week pledged £120m to bring passenger trains back to Cowley and Littlemore. Our long read has everything you need to know.

Full steam ahead for Cowley Branch Line
Direct trains will run from Cowley and Littlemore to Oxford and London Marylebone, as the Government today announces £120m of funding to reopen the Cowley Branch Line to passengers. The funds will pay for the line – currently used only by freight trains to BMW’s Cowley plant – to be upgraded
Oxford ClarionOxford Clarion

Is your garden soggy? Does your drive have puddles? Winter’s on its way. We asked horticulturist Amandine Lepers-Thornton for her tips on how planting can reduce the local risk of flooding.

How plants can help reduce flood risk
When I lived in Scotland, people often used to say to me “Don’t worry if you’re not happy with the weather, it’ll change in 15 minutes.” And they weren’t lying. It wasn’t uncommon to have all four seasons in one day! Moving to Oxford, I
Oxford ClarionClarion guest contributor

This week’s top stories

Oxfordshire’s street design should be influenced by best practice in Amsterdam and Oslo, according to a new commission by the County Council. A revised Oxfordshire Street Design Code is being drawn up with the support of consultants Create Streets.

OCC’s brief says that “The code should reflect the best street design code examples from around the world, such as Amsterdam’s Handbook Rood and Oslo’s Street Design Manual.” The finished code will be used by planners and developers to inform street design in new developments. Create Streets published a report on new towns in 2024 which recommended “healthy places in which it is easy and safe to move about by foot or cycle”, plus a tramway for Oxford and new housing at Culham, Begbroke and Hinksey.

A bus service every 7-8 minutes for Barton, every 7-8 minutes for Kidlington and Oxford Parkway, and every 5 minutes for Blackbird Leys will kick in from 30 November with a raft of timetable changes by Stagecoach. The bus company says the improvements are made possible by the congestion charge.

More Park & Ride buses will be extended across the city centre. The 600 will now connect three P&R sites (Thornhill, Redbridge, Oxford Parkway) to the city centre and JR Hospital. The 800 from Horspath Road and Redbridge P&R will also carry on through the city centre to Oxford Parkway.

Services 1 (Blackbird Leys), 2/2A (Kidlington/Oxford Parkway), and 8 (Barton) are all getting new timetables with faster journeys, plus night buses until 3.30am on Friday/Saturday. Timetables will also be revised on services 10 (Cowley/JR) and 14 (JR/Risinghurst).

Oxfordshire villages and small towns will be able to request that streetlights are turned off after 11.30pm, in a policy signed off on Tuesday by the County Council’s cabinet. We covered the debate in our live-posting of the meeting. (There’s lots more in that thread – do read!)

Susan Brown and Matthew Pennycook visiting new homes; it's beginning to look a bit like Christmas (photo by Roger Close).

Around the city

  • The Vaults & Garden Cafe has conceded defeat in its fight to stay at the University Church. Although 373 supporters donated to a crowdfunder, the owners say “It is apparent to us now that we are not going to raise the £100,000 target to help with the legal costs that we have already incurred. We have taken the decision to reach an agreed settlement with the church which will allow for the orderly closure of the cafe before the end of the year and to plan to open in a new location. We are very sorry to bring you this news.”
  • 77% of Oxford residents say they are satisfied “with my local area as a place to live”, up from 66% in 2023. The annual survey covers residents’ perception of all public services in Oxford. Respondents named public transport as their top priority (up from no 2 last year), followed by crime, and then walking and cycling infrastructure. Only 14% said they were satisfied with the number of new houses being built.
  • Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook visited Oxford to see recent developments last week. City Council leader Susan Brown showed him around the 273-home Newman Place in Littlemore, which is part social rent, part shared-ownership; Oxford Science Park; and new developments in Blackbird Leys. Cllr Brown said: “Each new home for social rent makes a life-changing difference in Oxford, one of the UK’s most unaffordable places to live. Shared ownership helps first-time buyers, key workers and under-40s onto the housing ladder. Oxford needs new, affordable homes.”
  • Jeremy Mogford, Oxford hotelier and chairman of Oxford Business Action Group, has been charged with murder in connection with the death of his 100-year old mother. The 77-year old was charged together with 71-year old Sarah Pickering from Guildford. Thames Valley Police said “The charges relate to the death of 100-year-old woman, Patricia Mogford, on 15 February 2022 in Bledlow Ridge, Buckinghamshire. The force will not be in a position to provide any further details as proceedings are now active.”
  • The protracted saga of late night McDonald’s on Cornmarket rumbles on, as a new licence application has been filed for late-night opening. Although the chain won a planning appeal in September, the licence in force still only permitted opening until midnight. The new application would extend opening hours until 3am.
  • London “neighbourhood restaurant” chain Megan’s is coming to Oxford. The company has applied for a licence to open in 24-26 George Street, the former site of Jamie’s Italian. It offers Mediterranean food in 22 dog-friendly venues around the capital.

Crowds in Bonn Square.

  • Crowds gathered in Bonn Square on Saturday to demonstrate both for and against trans rights. The Let Women Speak movement organised a demonstration, fronted by activist ‘Posie Parker’ with around 30 protesters. Around 100 counterprotesters from Stand Up to Racism, Oxford for Trans Rights, and the Oxford Green Party chanting “We don’t want your culture war” were also in Bonn Square. Police used bicycles to separate the protesters and ensure buses could pass through the demonstration safely.
  • An Oxford branch of the Ukrainian Education Hub, part of a worldwide network aiming to preserve Ukraine's human capital during wartime, was launched in the Westgate Library on Tuesday. The UA EduHub network aims to provide educational and integration programmes for displaced Ukrainian children and adults, helping them to gain new skills, rebuild their lives, and stay connected to their cultural identity while adapting to a new environment.
  • Christmas in Oxford will be bigger and better, claim Oxford City Council. Keston Events plan to add a ferris wheel and an entrance archway to last year’s carousel and Alpine Lodge Bar on Broad Street. A bespoke lighting scheme will include replica lanterns from the Covered Market.
  • Oxford’s southern bypass could have its speed limit cut from 70mph to 50mph. The County Council is reintroducing proposals agreed in 2023 but never implemented. Consultation is open until 14 November and for some reason is illustrated with a Finnish sign.
  • Keep Our NHS Public Oxfordshire is asking residents to write to MPs about funding for Oxford Eye Hospital, saying paying for private hospitals to perform routine cataract operations reduces NHS income.
  • The children’s chaplain at the University Church on the High has made an appearance on EastEnders. Revd Sorrel Shamel-Wood portrayed the vicar in a funeral on the soap. She said: “There were paparazzi there behind a tree – that’s not a world I was aware of!”
  • Oxford’s Story Museum has won the 2025 J.M. Barrie Award for Outstanding Achievement from arts charity Action for Children’s Arts. The museum called it “an incredible honour”. The award, named after the author of Peter Pan, will be presented at a ceremony on November 6.

A curlew (Bob Brewer at Unsplash); Ron Burkle’s refused McMansion.

Around the county

  • Soho House owner and American foodstore billionaire Ron Burkle has seen his plans for an Oxfordshire mansion refused for the second time. West Oxfordshire District Council said the Little Tew plan, near Soho Farmhouse, did not “represent a development which would raise standards of design in rural areas”. The design by ‘New Classical’ architect Francis Terry included stables and a landscape garden.
  • A crowdfunder to save the last curlews in Oxfordshire has breezed through its £25,000 target since we featured it in our social media feeds – with local charity Wild Oxfordshire now upping the target to £50,000. The birds breed in Upper Thames wetlands, which are suffering from climate change. Wet weather in 2024 caused nests to be flooded, while hot and dry conditions in 2025 delayed grass growth, making chicks more obvious to predators. The Upper Thames is home to 10% of the UK’s lowland breeding population; volunteer work over the last five years has helped 61 young curlews fledge successfully.
  • The Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire’s hub for the science and technology industries, could grow in size by almost a third after the Crown Estate acquired a 221-acre site on the eastern edge, which it calls Harwell East. The landowner says a lack of lab space is constraining growth in the UK.
  • Plans to reorganise Oxfordshire’s Fire & Rescue Service would see new “day shift” fire engines stationed in Wallingford, Faringdon, Witney, Bicester and Chipping Norton. The service says that modern work patterns mean that they can rely on fewer on-call firefighters than previously. Firefighters from one of the engines stationed at Rewley Road, Oxford, would be reallocated, while Rewley Road’s on-call fire engine would be removed; at present, under 5% of its daytime staffing hours are covered. A new fire station location could be considered in the north of the city. Other options include closing fire stations in Woodstock, Eynsham and Henley, which have “persistent low fire engine availability”. The Fire & Rescue Service says this would have a minimal impact on response times. Consultation will open next week.
  • Vale of White Horse councillors have called for the Abingdon Reservoir decision to be reconsidered after costs soared to £7.5bn, three times the original forecast. The motion was unanimously passed by the council this week with over 50 residents in attendance. Cllr Sarah James, leader of the Green group, said: “This is a white elephant that will inflate bills for all Thames Water customers for decades. We’ve worked cross-party with the LibDems to bring this motion because we all recognise how damaging this project is.” (A reservoir dog introduced our explainer on the reservoir, while guest contributor Cllr Andy Cooke set out his concerns.)
  • Oxfordshire’s most combustible pub has caught light again. Firefighters were called out to the Bull in Charlbury on Sunday, the second time this month, after a chimney fire. Bitten Oxford wrote in 2023 that “Charlbury is becoming seriously hot, hot, hot for foodies.”
  • And finally… Oxfordshire’s new gritters are to be named by public vote. With 30 new gritters added to the fleet, the County Council is looking for “creative” names, though “submissions will be reviewed to ensure they’re appropriate”. Entries close on 5 November. A similar exercise in Scotland resulted in gritters called Sir Salter Scott, I Want To Break Freeze, Gritney Spears, Skid Vicious, Sled Zeppelin, and inevitably, Gritty McGritface.

Oxfordshire politics

Literally everyone is taking credit for the Cowley Branch Line. Here are the receipts, in strictly neutral alphabetical order: Anneliese Dodds, Calum Miller, Layla Moran, Oxford City Council, Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford Labour, Oxfordshire LibDems, Sean Woodcock on behalf of the Labour Government, and the Actual Government. Oxford University didn’t try to take the credit but was very happy. For a counter view, we were going to quote from the thread on perennially aggrieved Facebook group Littlemore Live, but we got as far as “if they want us to stay in our ‘15 minute cities’ then why white out our sky and block the sun” before hastily closing that particular window.

Europa School in Culham has spoken out after the government announced it will withdraw state school funding for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme. The Department for Education plans to redirect funds to students taking four or more A levels including maths or STEM subjects. MP for Oxford West & Abingdon, Layla Moran, asked the Minister to reconsider his decision; his response indicated he won't. The school is strongly linked with the UK's science and technology hub in Culham, with a disproportionate number of parents at the school working on STEM projects. Oxfordshire MPs Olly Glover, Layla Moran, Charlie Maynard, Freddie van Mierlo, and Anneliese Dodds, who all represent families with students at Europa School, have written a cross party letter to the Secretary of State.

This week's prize for photo op of the week goes to Olly Glover. Awwwww.

  • Banbury MP Sean Woodcock was out on the doors in Hardwick, and at the Michaelmas Fair. He visited Banbury College; attended the opening of a Playzone at Princess Diana Park in Banbury; spoke to the BBC about changing licensing laws to support local pubs; and went litter picking in Grimsbury, which yielded the excellent dog picture above. It’s still not the cat though. Nor is this.
  • Bicester & Woodstock MP Calum Miller called for the Government to fix problems caused by Brexit. He spoke up for victims of domestic abuse in parliament. He'll be at Kidlington Library on Saturday for a drop-in session.
  • Witney MP Charlie Maynard has secured a review of the banking services in Carterton. He opened a new Witney office for Inspired Health Outcomes, which aims to give patients a voice in drug development.
  • Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds celebrated a government initiative ensuring menopause advice was part of free NHS health checks. In the constituency, she attended IF Oxford, held a surgery at Oxford Brookes, and was out on the doors in the rain with an all-star support crew in Lye Valley. Being an MP must be the only profession where, to keep your job, not only do you have to do it well, but also communicate it by knocking on doors in all weathers. Politicians of all parties, we salute you.
  • Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran appears in several other places in this newsletter. She raised the issue in Parliament of funding cuts to the Hospital at Home team at the JR, and mused on local action to prevent flooding. (Can someone show her this week’s long read on gardens?)
  • Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover is claiming tentative victory on a long running Didcot issue as he secured a commitment from the Health Secretary to unblock progress on a GP surgery in Great Western Park. He pressed transport minister Lilian Greenwood, visiting Wantage, on support for Bikeability (kids’ cycling training): “Long-term funding is crucial to giving more people the option to cycle to school – I hope it will feature in the budget next month.” He visited Fitzwaryn School and called for more special schools and SEND funding.
  • Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo attended a screening in Chinnor of A River Sings, about the River Evenlode’s recovery through low-cost, nature-based restoration. While there (presumably), he hit the doors. He met with the mayor of Thame. He also authored a cross-party letter, signed by 27 MPs, asking the Prime Minister to formally remove Prince Andrew’s titles.
  • Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber has written an op-ed on consultations (which may mention the congestion charge…). He opened the Retail Crime Forum event in Didcot: here's his video summary. In an all-round good news story, he extolled £200,000 of grants from the sale of items seized from criminals: “I’m delighted that we are able to take money away from criminals and use it in a positive way.” Plus an excellent Labrador picture.

University and research

  • Oxford Union members have passed a vote of no confidence in president-elect George Abaraonye by 1,228 votes to 501, after his comments on the death by shooting of gun advocate Charlie Kirk. The Union calls itself the “last bastion of free speech”. It is not an official part of Oxford University. (Sometimes, after we spend the afternoon live-tweeting a council meeting, we think “we should get out more”. But then we noticed this Spectator journalist who got up at 4am awaiting the Union vote result. Maybe we’re fine.)
  • Shifting industry to electric power across Europe will save money, increase political stability, and reduce emissions, according to an Oxford expert. Professor Jan Rosenow addressed EU energy ministers on Monday. He called for investment in infrastructure and reforms to fossil fuel taxation.
  • French ambassador Hélène Tréheux-Duchêne and her staff took an “away day” in Oxford last week, including a visit to Christ Church library to see works connecting France and Britain – such as a C16th book of psalms made for Queen Elizabeth I by the French Huguenot calligrapher Esther Inglis. (Do click the link!) Other notable works included the Hours of St Denis, a late C15th French Book of Hours written by Jean Dubreuil and illuminated by the artist known as Maître François, and the Sarum Hours, a richly decorated Book of Hours printed on vellum in Paris in 1501.
  • “An astonishing space” is the verdict of the FT’s architecture critic on the Schwarzman Centre’s new concert hall. Worth reading.
Hi-vis we can get behind... (photo via Cowley Road Condors)

Walking and cycling

  • A path connecting Oxford Brookes and Marston Road will be closed or restricted for five months. Cuckoo Lane runs past the Headington Hill campus and halls of residence. Its western section is closed until 30 March for “repairs to improve accessibility”.
  • Wednesday night saw a ‘Glow Ride’ with over 70 people cycling Oxford’s streets to call for safer streets and better cycle routes, especially for women riding after dark. The 7-mile ride was women-led with everyone welcome; riders adorned their bikes (and themselves) with lights of many types. Glow Rides are co-ordinated by national charity Cycling UK. Among the riders was a contingent from Thame, where locals are calling for a safe traffic-free greenway to nearby Haddenham railway station. A petition in support of the idea recently topped 3,000 signatures.

Trains and buses

  • Chiltern Railways has conceded that East West Rail services from Oxford to Milton Keynes are unlikely to start this year, after troubles were first reported by the Clarion. A statement that “we are confident that trains will be running this year” has been quietly removed from their website. The site now says “A date for passenger service introduction will be communicated once all the necessary authorisations and agreements are in place.” Although the track is complete and the trains ready, rail unions have objected to running the trains without a guard.
  • Campaigners say that Oxford station needs a bus interchange, not a multi-storey car park. Oxon4Buses has launched a petition calling for Network Rail to ensure any redevelopment includes “a bus hub, physically and visually linked to the rail station”. Brenda Boardman said: “This bus hub is ‘owed’ to us by Network Rail in return for all the ongoing disruption over the Botley Road bridge – they have more than one bridge to repair!”
  • Bus franchising is off the agenda for now. Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet this week agreed closer working with the private bus companies instead, with Cllr Andrew Gant saying “None of what we decide now binds the hands of any future mayoral authority. It’s not appropriate for this council to undertake a hugely expensive exercise in its last two years of existence.”
Lyra's Oxford

Books

  • Readers queued outside Blackwell’s on Thursday to buy Philip Pullman’s final book about Lyra Belacqua, The Rose Field. The shop opened an hour early for the last part in the Book of Dust trilogy, partly set in Oxford. In a BBC interview filmed partly in his alma mater Exeter College (aka Jordan), Sir Philip regrets the decline in reading by humans and the increase in reading by large language models.
  • Charlbury’s vicar Fergus Butler-Gallie is promoting his new book Twelve Churches: An Unlikely History of the Buildings That Made Christianity (Hodder & Stoughton), which includes Christ Church... in Tanzania. He’ll be speaking at Keble College Chapel on Tuesday 28 October.
  • Pompette, Summertown's fancy French restaurant, is launching a cookbook in time for Christmas. Pre-order for £45, the cost of a half roast chicken to share. (But what a chicken.)
  • Bartlemas, Oxford's Hidden Sanctuary by Martin Stott is a fascinating and beautiful study into the hamlet of Bartlemas, just off the Cowley Road, founded by Henry I for the care of lepers.

Dates for your diary

Our fast-filling newsletter doesn’t give us much space for future events these days, but here are three stand-outs. Andrew Dilnot, always a fascinating speaker, will be speaking on The Crisis in Care on Tuesday 11 November at St Barnabas Church in Jericho: his definitive 2011 report still remains largely unimplemented. A few days earlier, journalist Iain Dale will be at St Barnabas re-evaluating Margaret Thatcher 100 years after her birth, which promises to be lively.

Plus – government cheese! Yes, it’s council reorganisation. Oxford Civic Society will be slicing the cheese in public from 10am on Saturday 1 November at the Mathematical Institute. OCS write: “We’ll be establishing what a good cheese really is and will assess the three reorganisation proposals for their cheesiness – their pungency, creaminess and if they’ll improve with age.” Book on Eventbrite.

This weekend

  • Autumn Fair. Saturday, Harcourt Arboretum. Archery, arborists, and apple pressing. Shuttle service for the day from Redbridge Park & Ride. Try the new play area!
  • Apple Day at Makespace, Saturday, Aristotle Lane. Bring your own apples for identification or pressing.
  • Photo Oxford. Opens Saturday. The fifth biennial photographic festival, with exhibitions including nightclimbing in Oxford and cottaging in London.
  • Oxford Coffee Festival. Saturday, Osney Mead. We could have done with this on Thursday, to be frank.
  • Come and Sing ‘Trial by Jury’. Saturday, St Mary’s, Charlbury. One for the G&S fans.
  • Resusci-Anne. Saturday, The Nest, Little Clarendon Street. The story of the drowned girl who became the first CPR dummy, told in sea shanties, banjo music, and spoken word.
  • Alfred Fest. Sunday, Wantage. Unique community-run festival in honour of King Alfred the Great. This looks epic. See you there?

This week

Oxfordshire’s independent media

Notes from Clarion HQ

Until about 8.30 on Wednesday this was a fairly normal week. Then the embargoed press release about the Cowley Branch Line dropped into our inbox, and since then it’s been frenetic. We need that Coffee Festival.

Many of you responded to our ‘consultation’ on one vs two weekly newsletters – thank you! We were humbled to read the responses. We’re still mulling them over but fitting everything into one newsletter this time really has been a squeeze. Have a great half-term week.