Clarion Weekly, 28 March 2025

“I read the news today, oh boy. Four thousand holes in Eynsham, Oxfordshire…”

We have one editorial rule at the Clarion: no Jeremy Clarkson. Like any rule, it’s made to be broken, but we figure you can get your Diddly Squat Farm Shop updates elsewhere. For the next month, we’re adding another: no potholes.

It’s the run-up to the county council elections on 1 May. Everyone agrees potholes should be fixed and that money should be made available to do this. The County Council budget debate was, in essence, “We’ll spend more on potholes!” “Well, we’ll spend more still!” “We’ll spend even more!” Day by day we get more statements, more press releases, more leaflets about potholes.

Your Clarion writers also want potholes to be fixed (having cycled over a particularly teeth-jarring one yesterday) and no doubt so do many readers. But there is more to Oxfordshire than road maintenance, and maybe, just maybe, the county council has other priorities to juggle. Social care. Special educational needs. Infrastructure. Fighting an election on potholes alone is reductive and also pretty boring. Though the holes are rather small, we’ll leave it to someone else to count them all.

This week’s top stories

Oxfordshire is going into space. In a long read this week, we take a look at Oxford Space Systems and the future of satellites being developed in Harwell.

The county’s solar farm boom is showing no signs of stopping. No fewer than six projects are going through the planning system right now. We examine each one of them – and ask whether a recent successful appeal could set the scene for more solar. Plus the chair of Stop Botley West puts the case against the proposed giant solar farm north-west of Oxford.

The 20mph programme has drawn to a close as reduced speeds have been approved for Bicester, Oxfordshire’s last major town to be considered. Residential roads will be 20mph, with 30mph retained on arterial roads and 40mph on the ring road. The decision was taken at a County Council transport meeting on Thursday.

Oxford’s Zero Carbon partnership is to expand to the whole county. Since 2021, the Zero Carbon Oxford Partnership (ZCOP) has won over £1.2m  grant funding to deliver projects promoting sustainable travel and industrial decarbonisation across the city. Now, it is seeking new partners with the aim of achieving county wide net zero carbon by 2050. Over 20 organisations have already signed up including district and county councils, Abingdon & Witney College and Oxfordshire Greentech.

“Expanding ZCOP to cover Oxfordshire is a crucial step in scaling up climate action. Achieving net zero will require collective action across industries, organisations, and sectors,” said Nick Eyre, chair of the partnership and Emeritus Professor of Energy & Climate Policy at Oriel College.

Oxford City Council’s deputy leader Anna Railton said “This partnership will allow us to share knowledge, ambition, and create more opportunities for our city and county,” while the County Council’s deputy leader Dr Pete Sudbury commented: “ZCOP paved the way for collaboration and provided a forum to tackle a range of issues and their intersection with the climate crisis. As the vital need for global action increases, expanding ZCOP is an urgent and necessary step up.”

We wrote about Zero Carbon Oxford in a long read last September on Oxford's journey to become a global powerhouse in electric vehicle charging and energy storage.

Around the city

• Oxford City Council is to increase the frequency of grass verge cuts from one to three times yearly. It will also continue to continue to mow grass verges near junctions where visibility is required all year round. Nine dedicated biodiversity grass verges will only be mown once a year in September, with a ‘cut and collect’ approach which helps to create the ground conditions favoured by wildflowers, helping to support biodiversity. Grass in parks and green spaces are cut eight times a year. “This new grass verge approach follows significant public feedback from residents across Oxford, while also taking into consideration the need for different habitats for biodiversity. Any concerns can be reported to us on FixMyStreet,” said Cllr Chewe Munkonge, cabinet member for a Healthy Oxford.
• Hinksey Outdoor Pool reopens on Saturday 5 April after a winter refurbishment. The first 100 people to purchase a season pass will receive five free hot drink vouchers to use at the pool. Rob Jennings, More Leisure's Contract Manager in Oxford, said: “There’s nothing like a lovely cup of coffee or comforting hot chocolate after an outdoor swim, so we’re expecting this joining offer to fly off the shelves.” Swimmers can sign up for a Season Pass at Hinksey Outdoor Pool here. (A Clarion contributor asks if the contractors who delivered the refurb on time and on budget could maybe try their hand at the Botley Road bridge next.)
• Cowley Road’s Arbequina has launched a crowdfunder to support its expansion into the Covered Market. Rewards range from a tea towel to a private party. Owners Ben, Ben and Ru ask readers to share this campaign and hope to open in the summer.
• Urgent Community Responders could be allowed through Oxford’s Low Traffic Neighbourhood cameras in a new proposal from Oxfordshire County Council. UCRs provide urgent care to people in their homes without needing to call out an ambulance. OCC say: “It is not anticipated that this proposal would add significant traffic, but including these vehicles would make a big difference to the timely care delivered for those patients in severe need.” Consultation is open until Friday 18 April.
• Just 10 tractors joined a convoy through Oxford on Monday protesting against inheritance changes for agricultural property, compared to the 100 vehicles in January’s convoy. The tractor horns played a series of tunes including Old Macdonald Had A Farm and an off-key version of Darude’s Sandstorm.
• Oxford City Council has secured £450,000 of National Lottery funding to support the Leys Youth Hub for the next four years. Currently under construction, the hub is expected to open at the end of Spring 2025. The new facility will feature a climbing wall, teaching kitchen, music and media studio and social areas. Helen Bushell from the National Lottery Community Fund said: “We’re proud to support amazing projects like the Leys Youth Hub. We know the best way for children and young people to achieve their potential is by helping them connect with others and enjoy enriching activities.” Cllr Chewe Munkonge from Oxford City Council called it “an investment in the future of young people in Blackbird Leys, providing a safe and supportive space where they can develop new skills and build their confidence”.
• City of Oxford College student Josh Zitha has won first prize at the British Association for Shooting and Conservation's national cookery competition, Game On. He won with a partridge 'pithivier' style wellington canapé, featuring a mushroom duxelle with truffle oil and partridge breast. And at the opposite end of the culinary spectrum…
• The new McDonalds has opened at 44-46 Cornmarket (next to ‘Historical Oxford’). As if by magic, it replaces the previous branch at 57-58 (next to ‘Wizard’s Emporium’).

Around the county

• A village pub with a chequered recent history could become a community shop and café. The Dashwood Arms in Kirtlington had cycled through being a locals’ pub, gastropub, restaurant and hotel before closing. Villagers, who lost their last village shop in 2020, have now reached an agreement to rent the ground floor as a shop/café. The building was last used as a café-restaurant between 2023 and late 2024. The group had previously ruled out the Dashwood site, but now say they can “use the existing spaces” for the community project.
• A 78-home development in the West Oxfordshire village of Freeland, near Hanborough, has been turned down by planners who say it was “not of a proportionate and appropriate scale”. West Oxfordshire District Council said Spitfire Homes’ plans would only make “a modest contribution” to housing supply. Freeland Parish Council said the developers “have demonstrably ignored villagers’ views” and pointed out a “particularly troubling” part of the application where Spitfire said they wanted to “review the affordable housing provision if there is limited or no appetite for it”.
• A conference on closer EU–UK co-operation gets underway today at Ditchley, Churchill’s wartime retreat outside Charlbury which now hosts an international relations foundation. It will ask “What kind of relationship do the EU and the UK want with the US under Trump?” Ditchley events regularly attract global politicians and are held under strict rules of secrecy.
• The three district councils advocating a north/south Oxfordshire split have published a new website for their Ridgeway Council proposal. We like the hint of 1980s Network SouthEast in the graphic design.

University and research

• A previously unknown 13th-century manuscript has been saved for the nation by the Bodleian and was on display last weekend. The Old French translation of the New Testament belonged to Duke Humfrey, who gave his books to Oxford University 150 years before the Bodleian was founded. Duke Humfrey's name had been erased from the final page of text, but was revealed using ultraviolet light. The Clarion has previously reported on an Oxford academic using digital image processing to recover Tennyson's handwriting.
• Oxford Professor Tim Coulson predicts that in the event of human extinction, octopuses would be most likely to lead a non human civilisation, citing them as among the most intelligent and resourceful creatures on Earth. In his new book The Universal History of Us, Coulson says their ability to solve complex problems, communicate with one another, manipulate objects, and even camouflage themselves suggests that, given the right environmental conditions, they could evolve into a civilisation-building species following the extinction of humans. While primates are often seen as the logical successors to humans because of their intelligence, opposable thumbs and ability to walk on two legs, Coulson believes they would face extinction along with humans. A separate team at Oxford University has discovered that chimpanzees living in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania employ a degree of engineering when making their tools, deliberately choosing plants that provide materials that are fit for the task.
• Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has joined Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government as a Distinguished Fellow and member of the World Leaders Circle, an international network of former heads of government.
• The men's and women's crews for the 170th Boat Race on Sunday 13 April have been announced. Cambridge have had to make substitutions for three of their rowers who were controversially ruled ineligible on the grounds that their PGCE teaching course was a ‘certificate’ and not a ‘degree’.
• “Spice bag” (an Irish takeaway consisting of chips, chicken, chilli and onions, tossed together in a bag), “nasi lemak” (a Malay rice dish cooked in coconut milk) and “lumpia” (a Filipino spring roll) are among this month’s World English additions to the Oxford English Dictionary. Also added are “alamak!”, a Malaysian/Singaporean exclamation to convey surprise; “the hell-in”, a South African phrase for “someone who is furious or fed-up”; and “sharp-sharp”, also South African, “a way to compliment someone’s style or just to comment on how generally excellent they are”. Clarion readers can try nasi lemak for themselves at Kopitiam in Summertown, but we regret we have not been able to find an Oxford takeaway selling spice bags.
• Over on Facebook, this reel that came across our feed this week is a tour of the Old Library in Magdalen College. It's worth a watch for the sheer joy of old books and the very funny commentary.

Walking and cycling

• £1.5m plans to fix the “missing link” for cycling across Abingdon have advanced following the appointment of Phil Jones Associates to design the scheme. A new through route will be created on National Cycle Route 5 where cyclists currently have to dismount. The scheme has Government funding.

Trains and buses

• Trains from Oxford to Milton Keynes are expected to start running this summer. The official line in press statements has been simply “later this year” but a Government document seen by the Clarion specifies “expected entry into service by […] September 2025”. Paths (slots) for the trains have been reserved in the May–December timetable period, though they are not expected to begin in May. The first service will leave Oxford at 0609, continuing half-hourly throughout the day. Services will be operated by Chiltern Railways using modern 2-car diesel trains borrowed from the West Midlands.
• Businesses along the Cowley Branch Line have launched a campaign backing the efforts to reopen the line to passenger trains. The Oxford Science Park, ARC Oxford, and the Ellison Institute of Technology say the line would attract 1m passengers per year and support up to 10,000 new jobs. Reopening the line with two new stations is expected to cost £135m. Trains are proposed to be extensions of Chiltern’s Marylebone–Oxford service with the future option of East-West Rail services. Fares are expected to be around £4 for a return to Oxford’s central station. Anneliese Dodds, MP for Oxford East, said: "This goes beyond just a transport measure and helps us deliver much needed housing for Oxford residents as well as creating a new expanded hub for innovation and economic growth.” A campaign website is here.

Charity begins at home

An occasional section where we highlight the work of local charities. Please do send contributions.

• ARCh, Assisted Reading for Children, is looking for volunteers to go into primary schools across Oxfordshire to support children with reading, confidence and well-being. Training and all resources are provided, as well as on-going support from the local team. Find out more here, or watch this video to see the difference you can make to a child’s life through reading.

Oxfordshire politics

The Clarion’s inbox has been red hot with press releases from MPs of all parties. Here are the edited highlights, plus constituency business we've spotted our MPs up to this week. But no potholes, ok?

The LibDem MPs of Oxfordshire have taken to issuing joint press releases. This week they backed a new rescue plan for SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) saying that “Families deserve better”. We reported on that here. They also called on the Government to “stand up to Trump”, following an announcement from the US President of a 25% tariff applied on cars imported to the US. Cowley's BMW Mini plant is already facing delays to its electric vehicle production. We reported on this on Bluesky and on Twitter (and if we don't get shadow banned for reporting criticism of Musk it’ll be a miracle. The things we do to keep you all informed!).

• Banbury MP Sean Woodcock has welcomed savings in the cost of sending children to school, saying a cap on the price of branded uniforms means families will save on average £50 per child, and that families who use free breakfast clubs will save up to £500 per year. More here. He also stepped in after Cherwell District Council issued a demand for council tax to a gurdwara in Banbury for a second year running: thread here. In Parliament he spoke out in favour of a new relationship with the EU, citing the Banbury-based e-bike manufacturer Electric Assisted Vehicles.
• Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds is holding a public meeting about Royal Mail in Headington on Saturday 29 April (tomorrow). She joined in a community speed watch in Divinity Road, and spoke in favour of enforcement against dangerous driving. And she was out in Banbury, London and Mayfield in Redbridge. In media news, she gave her first interview since leaving the Cabinet to the BBC.
• Bicester & Woodstock MP Calum Miller looked very chipper leaving the LibDem conference, talking up a plan on SEND, protecting the farming industry and standing up to Trump. As Foreign Affairs spokesmen he had a busy week: see his socials for comments on Turkey, Gaza and Ukraine.
• Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover demonstrated that we don't cover everything an MP gets up to in these highlights by posting this update, only one of which we’d managed to report on (and that was the article he wrote for us). He highlighted the socio-economic barriers to cycling.
• Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo railed against increased employer NI contributions, arguing they penalised working people. He opposed the closure of a path through Lambridge Wood in Henley, and the closure of the last bank in Thame. Like Glover, his summary also shows our eagle eyes don't see everything!
• Witney MP Charlie Maynard spoke with the Education Minster on SEND provision in Oxfordshire and also seems to have been looking at frigates on the Clyde.
• Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran appeared on ITV talking about a new customs union with the EU. She attended a maternity services and women's health event and met the Chair of the Ukrainian Health Select Committe. Finally, having visited the Lodge Hill junction works with councillors, she shared the image that became our header this week. We admire a classic photo op.

This weekend

• Oxford Literary Festival starts on Saturday at the Sheldonian.
• The Dine & Devour Festival occupies Broad Street this weekend with food from around the world.
• Seven Last Words is Vox Chamber Choir’s astonishingly varied concert of Passiontide motets, from Tudor composer Robert Fayrfax through to the 20th century’s Olivier Messiaen. St Michael at the Northgate, 5pm Saturday.
• Roads to Withered Hill, an “immersive folk horror walk” on Saturday starting from Caper bookshop on Magdalen Road, with a glass of wine for those who return safely.
• We are entering the Hungry Gap, the hardest time of year for UK farmers – a few weeks, usually in April, May and early June, after the winter crops have ended but before the new season's plantings are ready to harvest. Now is the time to support your local market. You may find stored winter root crops, or perhaps spring greens or winter salad mixes grown under cover. You can find your local market in our directory. If you go, send us a picture and a few words so we can update our listing!

Dates for your diary

• 50 Years of Environmental Concern in Oxford and the UK. Oxford Civic Society, Wednesday 2 April at Worcester College.
• Hinksey Splash Park and Mini Wheels Track Grand Opening. Friday 4 April, 11am. Abingdon Road, Oxford.
• Easter Market, Long Hanborough Recreation Hall on Saturday 12 April from 9.30am. Easter produce will include simnel cakes, cookies, hot cross buns, hand made cards, decorations and gifts. (Hanborough is just one stop on the train from Oxford. Eat cookies then walk back!)
• Oxford Medieval Mystery Plays: short religious pieces from the Middle Ages performed outdoors at St Edmund Hall in Middle English, Dutch, French, German, and Latin. Free, no booking required. Saturday 26 April.
• Musician Brian Eno and science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson will discuss Art, Nature and Science: Imagining Other Worlds at the Sheldonian Theatre. The free event is part of the Oxford Ministry for the Future, inspired by Robinson’s novel of climate resistance in the near future. Monday 28 April.
• Maypole dancing and medieval music in celebration of Alyce Chaucer, patron of the village of Ewelme (and granddaughter of the poet). Friday 16–Sunday 18 May.
• Giant wild animals will come to Oxford in May, fleeing the climate crisis. ‘The Herds’ is a nationwide public artwork organised locally by the Museum of Oxford. In 2021, the Story Museum brought together two giant puppets representing Alice in Wonderland and a Syrian refugee named Little Amal.
• Auntie Shanty. Folk & shanties for the 21st century. 1st Monday of each month at the Jolly Farmers, near the Westgate.

All of our events have been sent in by readers. We love their diversity – keep them coming. (For a fuller listing of events, of course, visit the OG Daily Info.)

Oxfordshire’s independent media

• In a town named after an ox, Morris Oxford finds animals in the unlikeliest of places.
• The Oxford Sausage reposts a glorious article from the archives in tribute to Peter Forbes, the brass man of Gloucester Green Market, who died recently.
• Ox in a Box talks about the ‘match made in heaven’ of Arbequina and the Covered Market.
• Muddy Stilettos has family friendly walks for little legs in Oxfordshire.
• 23 colleges offer organ scholarships. Cherwell asks if they should be abolished (and concludes they shouldn’t).

Notes from Clarion HQ

The Public Interest News Foundation launched their report into the future of local news this week. Hold the Front Page has a good summary. It points out the hidden subsidies to the three massive local newspaper companies: the advertisements (public notices) that councils and planning applicants are required to take out in print newspapers with tiny circulations, and the BBC’s Local Democracy Reporting Scheme which, by providing free copy, has enabled papers to make their own politics reporters redundant. They write:

“The upshot of this is that £40-70m flows annually into the revenues of companies which retain print editions of their legacy local newspaper titles. Although this revenue is sometimes celebrated as a means of keeping local news alive, there is no guarantee that it is actually invested in local journalism. Reform of the public notice regime could redirect tens of millions of pounds annually to independent local news providers.”

It is a source of endless fascination to your Clarion scribes what our readers find interesting on social media. Last week we reported on Sir Patrick Vallance coming to discuss the future of the county: it barely registered. Octopuses replacing humans though? Now you’re talking. Next week we’ll be publishing our county council election primer… unless it gets upstaged by a mollusc.

And finally – we want your leaflets! Many of you will have received leaflets from candidates of all political stripes imploring you to vote for them in May. A few of you might even have delivered them. We’d like to see what candidates across the city and county are promising. Snap a photo with your phone and send it to us, either on social media (oxfordclarion on Bluesky/Twitter) or by email at news@oxfordclarion.uk.