Clarion Weekly, 3 October 2025

This week’s top stories

The districts of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse have been told their proposed Local Plan – the document that sets out development sites in the area – needs to be withdrawn. Planning inspectors said the councils had failed in their “duty to co-operate” with Oxford City Council.

The issue of accommodating Oxford’s housing need in neighbouring districts has been a long-running disagreement. Oxford City Council’s own Local Plan had been turned down in October with the same “duty to co-operate” cited. Inspectors Caroline Mulloy and Rachael Bust wrote “An active process of engagement might or might not have led to a positive outcome. However, what is certain is that, if parties choose not to engage with each other, there will be little prospect of important cross boundary issues being resolved.”

Bethia Thomas, leader of Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “We take our responsibilities towards the duty to co-operate very seriously, and our Joint Local Plan sets out how both districts would together provide around 7,000 homes for Oxford for this very reason. It would be difficult to conclude the rural districts weren’t doing enough to support Oxford’s housing need. We are doing so now and have been for decades.” South Oxon leader David Rouane added ”We are not surprised given recent rulings from Planning Inspectors nationally.”

Oxfordshire Conservatives blamed a “failure to provide clarity and credible evidence”, with Didcot councillor Ian Snowdon saying “Instead of giving communities certainty, residents are now left with a local plan under challenge and in need of significant work to satisfy inspectors.”

Oxford University’s major new centre for the humanities officially opened on Tuesday. The Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre on Woodstock Road brings together several departments and libraries, along with a 500-seat concert hall and café open to the public. On the upper floors, the Humanities Library contains 100,000 books. A combined library had been planned for the Radcliffe Observatory site since 2005 but paused after the 2008 financial crash.

Unveiling the centre, Professor Dan Grimley said: “The Schwarzman Centre represents an extraordinary vote of confidence in the humanities disciplines at a time when the world needs them more than ever. It will empower us to work together across disciplines in a spirit of radical curiosity.”

Events at what is set to become Oxford’s major new concert venue begin in April, including an installation from Sigur Rós, Kae Tempest, Mozart from Memory, and comedian Sarah Jones asking “America, who hurt you?”. Membership begins at £60pa.

Oxford city centre's vacancy rate is 3% vs a national average of 13.6%, say Oxford City Council. The survey covered retail and commercial premises in the High Street, Westgate, Gloucester Green and the Covered Market.

The survey also showed a trend towards food, drink, leisure and office space rather than traditional retail; the council say this trend mirrors national patterns. They point to a recent report from Centre for Cities which found that the most successful high streets had diversified their offer.

Around the city

• Over 30 local residents gathered last Friday to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the post box on Beech Croft Road, North Oxford, installed in 1925. Famous hands believed to have dropped letters through its slot include Enid Blyton’s daughter, Phil Selway of Radiohead and John le Carré. To mark the centenary, North Oxford knitters created a colourful woolly topper, while local children posted special letters to King Charles, telling him all about this historic birthday.
• Flo’s Refill Shop in Florence Park has expanded its range with over 300 more items, including gifts and essentials. The site houses a community centre, an affordable café, and a refill shop; they've released a video to get more Oxford residents shopping ethically. Flo’s Executive Director, Laura Sewell: “One of the challenges we face is a lot of people don't know we're here. I love seeing people come in and their faces light up. It's not what they expect to see in a community centre in the park.”
• Beauty retailer Sephora has announced its opening date in Oxford's Westgate will be 7 November. Sephora is known for its high end beauty offering.
• An above-ground ceremony has been held at a brownfield housing development in Littlemore. Oxford City Council’s OX Place arm is building 27 council homes and 24 shared-ownership homes on the former children’s home site. Cllr Linda Smith, cabinet member for housing, said “We’re tight on land, and high on need, so it’s exciting to see homes emerging in brownfield sites like Northfield, delivered in a way that’s sustainable and community focused.”
• Oxford North, the new “global innovation district”, was formally opened on Tuesday by Lord Hague of Richmond, Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Oxford North positions itself as “an ecosystem for collaboration across the whole science and tech lifecycle, from startups and spin-outs through to industry behemoths”.
• Beers from Oxford’s Tap Social brewery are now more easily available nationwide after being signed up by Waitrose. Home & Dry and Time Better Spent will be stocked nationwide, plus two extra beers in Waitrose’s Oxfordshire outlets. (Not in Waitrose’s online shop yet. We checked. We are selfless in our pursuit of good beer for you.)
• Oxford City Council is calling for creative organisations around the city to apply to be part of Oxford's Christmas Light Festival in November. Details here.
• The Oxfordshire Garden Tree Giveaway opens today, organised by the Cowley Road-based International Tree Foundation and CAG Oxfordshire, with free native trees to plant in your garden.

Around the county

• Heyford Park in north Oxfordshire has been earmarked as one of the Government’s 12 preferred locations for new towns. The former airfield, between Bicester and Banbury, is cited for “connecting to Oxford and building on the existing progress and commitment to high-quality placemaking”. Also on the list and linked by rail to Oxford would be Tempsford in Bedfordshire and a “renewed town” in Milton Keynes, both on the East-West Rail line; and Worcestershire Parkway, one hour from Oxford on the Cotswold Line.
• Ox seeks stable home. A sculpture (pictured above) by artist Michael Black needs a community organisation to give it a home, after plans to site ‘an Ox for Oxford’ at the foot of Headington Hill were shelved due to lack of funds. It was made using a metal armature, scrim and cloth, covered in plaster of Paris. Expressions of interest are requested by 13 October.
• Table-top tombs in a rural West Oxfordshire church are being studied as part of a Lottery-funded conservation project. St James the Great, Fulbrook, is joining eight Gloucestershire churches in research into the conservation needs of this distinctive 17th-19th century style. Adam Klups at the Diocese of Gloucester said this design was particularly prevalent here due to “access to good quality [Cotswold] limestone”, but that churches “often struggle to conserve these tombs although they form a key part of our social history and are works of art in themselves”.
• A rare species of bumblebee has been sighted at an Oxfordshire solar farm. There are 24 species of bumblebee in the UK, but only eight are common. The brown-banded carder bee was spotted during volunteers’ monthly “bee walks” at Southill Solar, outside Charlbury. The Bumblebee Conservation Trust reported 2024 was “the worst year for bumblebees since records began”.
• A new solar farm is proposed at Lower Arncott, on the south-eastern side of Bicester. The development, which would effectively extend the two existing adjacent solar farms at Brook Farm, is claimed to “create enough renewable energy to meet the annual electricity needs of approximately 1,500 homes”.
• A new community cafe, The Burrow, has opened in Berinsfield. Laura Harte, director of the Berin Centre said: “We’re so proud to have created a space that’s not only gorgeously designed, but most importantly feels like it belongs to the community.”
• Bretch Hill residents in Banbury will soon have a new destination for grassroots sport. The Football Foundation PlayZone mini pitch can be used for many sports, but according to Cllr Rob Pattenden, “it will have a specific focus on encouraging women and girls to take part in sport".
• The appeal to save a recently discovered Iron Age hoard for the Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock has beaten its fundraising target. £11,725 has been raised to secure the metalwork discovered near Sonning Common in 2020.
• Midcounties Co-op, the main co-operative store chain in Oxfordshire which traces its ancestry to the 19th century Oxford and Chipping Norton societies, says it is in the “advanced stages” of merger discussions with Central Co-op, based in the Midlands. It would become Britain’s second largest co-op after the Manchester-based Co-operative Group.
• Villagers in the Bartons, north Oxfordshire, have launched a campaign to buy their last surviving local pub. The Fox has been closed since June 2023. Organiser Richard Brown said: “We know that pubs need to totally reinvent themselves, both in the way they are run and the way they are used. Community pubs have more than a 99% success rate. I believe that our community can ‘Save Our Fox’.” The crowdfunder seeks to raise £210,000 to purchase the building.
• Plans for an EV charging station on the A40 at Eynsham have been turned down for the second time by West Oxfordshire District Council planners. They said the development by the main road would “give rise to harm to the character and appearance of the area and setting of Eynsham… even if the shortage of ultra-rapid EV infrastructure in the district were acute, the benefits of low carbon development and renewable energy generation would be offset by the harm resulting from poor design and not demonstrating a 10% biodiversity net gain.” WODC declared a climate emergency in 2019 and here’s what the site looks like now.

Oxfordshire politics

It was Labour conference this week, and while we no longer have a frontbench Labour MP in Oxfordshire, it looks like they were hard at work at fringe events. Thanks to our correspondents for excellent tip-offs.

Two more Oxfordshire MPs have joined the Liberal Democrat front bench in Parliament. Witney’s Charlie Maynard becomes Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury while Didcot & Wantage’s Olly Glover becomes Transport spokesperson. Bicester & Woodstock’s Calum Miller remains at Foreign Affairs. Olly Glover wrote for the Clarion in March on the challenges for Oxfordshire transport.

• Banbury MP Sean Woodcock visited local business GoLean to try new accident-preventing forklift technology, as well as the North Oxfordshire Academy. In this post, he praised the re-opening of toilets in Banbury Sainsbury's (we can respect an MP who understands the value of spending a penny); at conference he played football at Goodison Park vs a team of journalists; and spoke on a farming panel. Here are his thoughts on the conference. Still no cat though.
• Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds claimed to the BBC that the LibDems and the Conservatives were establishing a new coalition while saying “I don’t mind jeggings. Or even Maroon 5.” Hm. Less controversially she was at the Kassam for the Sheffield match (excellent photo-op) and asked residents what they'd spend a government grant in Greater Leys on. Housing minister Steve Reed came to Littlemore to see witness building of shared ownership homes. At the Labour conference she spoke at an event organised by Oxford's Ruskin College on how to combat inequality and many many fringe events; clearly a top booking.
• Bicester & Woodstock MP Calum Miller paid tribute to fellow Scot and former LibDem leader Menzies Campbell who died last week. Locally, he visited the site of Ardley station with local councillor Gareth Epps, who is campaigning for developers to reopen the station to “avoid gridlock should Heyford Park New Town, Puy du Fou [theme park] and the Strategic Rail Freight Interchange go ahead”.
• Witney MP Charlie Maynard attended a business breakfast event in Witney, and spent time at HMP Bullingdon, understanding the myriad challenges of the people who work there. His activity roundup is here.
• Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran pledged to continue to work on bathing water quality at Wolvercote Mill Stream.
• Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover shared this video of him on the BBC at conference, where he said the LibDems are working hard to provide communities with a positive, hopeful voice.
• Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo's step count must be off the charts this week. He attended a meeting on the River Thame; toured transport infrastructure in Goring by bike; rambled around Henley (insert your own joke about politicians rambling); and walked for Parkinsons in Henley where he posted an excellent picture of him and his dog (Sean Woodcock take note).
• Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber released a video pre-emptively opposing Oxfordshire County Council options for turning off streetlights at night. (The plans go forward to Cabinet for approval next month.) He was also quite colourful in his disapproval of the Oxford congestion charge. Locally he was out on the doors in Stanford and at the Michaelmas Fayre in Hanney. Let's finish with an excellent Labrador.

University and research

• Oxford’s History of Science Museum, the world’s oldest purpose-built museum building, is to be revived with a project for new exhibitions, a “welcome space”, and accessibility improvements. Museum director Dr Silke Ackermann said “This is a dream come true for me personally, and potentially a blueprint for other Grade I listed heritage sites.” The 17th century building is currently only navigable by steps and stairs, and its facade is not easily recognisable as a public attraction. Alterations will include a new covered welcome space in the existing front basement light well, with level access from Broad Street, removing external steps added to the building in 1957.
• Balliol College has unveiled a new sculpture of foundress Dervorguilla outside its student accommodation on St Cross Road. She gazes into the distance with a copy of the 1282 Statutes she gave to the College in her hand. The statue, by Oxford sculptor Alex Wenham, is carved from a single block of limestone. Although now in place, the piece is still a work in progress. In the coming months, Alex will complete the final details in situ including carving a ‘bookshelf’.
• The Oxford Trust marked its 40th anniversary with an evening at Rhodes House, Oxford. Founded in 1985 by Oxford entrepreneurs and philanthropists the late Sir Martin and Lady Audrey Wood, we wrote about this incredible legacy in one of our favourite long reads earlier this year.
• The University of Oxford has awarded pioneering Māori scholar, Mākereti Papakura with a degree nearly 100 years after she began her studies. Her groundbreaking research explored the customs of Te Arawa from a female perspective. She died three weeks before she was due to present her thesis.
• A promising antiviral drug for coronavirus has been discovered by a crowdsourced, open science approach led by the Nuffield Department of Medicine of the University of Oxford. The drug is pre-clinical, but could reduce sickness and death in future outbreaks. It was discovered by a collaboration of volunteer scientists; any drugs passing testing could immediately become 'generic' and be manufactured at low cost across the world.
• Oxford University spinout OXCCU has raised £20.75m investment for its waste carbon to sustainable aviation fuel business, in an oversubscribed Series B round. The company uses a patented iron-based catalyst to convert biomass or biogas directly to jet fuel. OXCCU currently operates a demonstration plant at ‘London’ Oxford Airport; the funding will help it establish a larger scale fuel production facility in 2026 producing 10–30 litres per day.

Walking and cycling

• Plans have been unveiled to improve the main cycle route through Abingdon for cyclists and pedestrians alike. A £1.5m rebuild will see East St Helen Street and the Bridge Street junction get new zebra crossings, widened footways, and a contraflow cycle lane. The scheme is designed to help both local journeys and National Cycle Network route 5, which passes through the town. Oxfordshire County Council says it hopes to also provide new areas of greenery, install bollards to prevent illegal parking, and “benefit the feel of the space and complement the town’s medieval market heritage”. Consultation is open until 28 October.
• Work removing one (1) parking space in East Oxford to facilitate pedestrian and cycle access to a nearby school has started this week. Two (2) resident consultations took place ahead of the works to accommodate resident feedback. We wrote about this in July. The new design for Flower Lane will include two bike stands plus a raised table to improve pedestrian crossings and keep traffic speeds low.
• New cycleways to Botley and Hanborough are part of Eynsham’s Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan, published in draft form by Oxfordshire County Council. Improving cycling on Mill Street, a main route through the village, is listed as top priority. Traffic-free routes following existing bridleways from Eynsham to Freeland and Stanton Harcourt are also suggested, using “environmentally conscious unbound paving”. Consultation is open until 27 October.
• The Thames Path opposite the boathouses in Oxford has reopened following repair work that has been ongoing since July. The work aimed to restore damaged stretches of the towpath along the river and safeguard the riverbank, and included 120m of new piling.

Trains, buses and flying taxis

• Oxford station’s new platform could finally be in place by 2028. Network Rail has issued a tender for the £48m project to build the new platform 5, plus “Western Entrance Building Works” and works to the rail bridge over the Sheepwash Channel, a backwater of the Thames. The new platform is part of the rationale for the Botley Road bridge replacement, which began in 2023 and is finally expected to be complete next summer. Network Rail says the platform 5 work will run from October 2026 to December 2028, but warns “these works are also subject to funding approval”.
• Flying electric taxis will be travelling between Oxford and Cambridge next year. A six-month pilot project (geddit) aims to prepare the infrastructure and develop a business case as a first step towards “commercially viable regional operations”. Partners include Skyports Infrastructure, who operate a ‘vertiport’ at the Bicester Motion tech park, NATS air-traffic control, and Oxfordshire County Council. Separately, the Clarion understands East-West Rail trains are unlikely to start running until 2026, raising the possibility that electric taxis will be flying between Oxford and Cambridge before the first passenger train has reached Milton Keynes. (Fair to say our Bluesky followers were entertainingly unimpressed with this project…)
• Next stop, Barking. Four young pups got their first taste of riding the bus with Oxford Bus Company to support them on their way to becoming qualified guide dogs. Luke Marion, Oxford Bus Company, said: "By becoming familiar with bus journeys, the puppies will be able to assist those who are registered blind or partially sighted to confidently travel to work, shops, and visit family and friends" Guide Dogs is in need of more puppy raiser volunteers in Oxfordshire.
• Network Rail has apologised to west Oxford residents for the hammering to install new 15m-tall piling at the Botley Road railway bridge. The rail company says it prefers to work during the daytime, but “the piles closest to the railway track can only be installed when trains aren’t running”. This week, a tunnel boring machine will be in use 24 hours a day, drilling and installing the metal pins to tie the sheet piles together.
• Two pilot “mobility hubs” are proposed in Carterton and Benson by Oxfordshire County Council. The projects include improved bus stops, covered bike lockers, widened pavements, and better pavement crossings over side-roads. Consultations are now open (Carterton/Benson). Construction would start in spring 2026 for a summer opening.
• Oxford residents can enjoy an overnight journey to Scotland following a timetable change for the Caledonian Sleeper. From the New Year, the overnight train will call at Birmingham International on its way to the Highlands, meaning you can leave Oxford at 21.38, change in Birmingham, and arrive at Fort William at 10.00 the next morning.

Dates for your diary

• Oxford Food & Drink Festival, Fri 10–Sun 19 Oct, Broad Street.
• Vox Medicalis. Sat 11 Oct, University Church. A Bucharest-based choir of doctors!
• Romanes lecture. Tue 14 Oct. Mishal Husain on ‘Empire, Identity and the Search for Reason’ in the University’s annual public lecture.
• IF Oxford Science & Ideas Festival. 17 Oct–2 Nov. Over 100 exciting, intriguing and unexpected events for adults, children and teenagers: “from moths, myths, medicine and monsters to the planets and how to save the world”.
• Poo Trivia Quiz. Friday 17 Oct, 5pm; Saturday 18 Oct, 2pm. Free, family-friendly online quiz created by the 'real poo scientists' at the Oxford Centre for Microbiome Studies.
• Harcourt Arboretum Autumn Fair, Sat 25 Oct. Buy tickets now (they sell out!) and take the shuttle bus from Redbridge Park and Ride.

This weekend

• Dolly Mavies, Friday, Old Fire Station. She refused to play for JD Vance, but she will play for you.
• A Jericho Scrapbook on Saturday is an author talk by Mark Davies who knows more than anyone about Oxford’s red light district-turned-Bohemia.
• Magdalen College’s new organ is put through its paces on Saturday at 8pm in a CD launch concert.
• Prophetic Dreaming, opens Saturday, Modern Art Oxford. Free retrospective of digital artist Suzanne Treister.
• Banbury Canal Festival, Saturday/Sunday. Live music, food, stalls and games.
• It’s Apple Day in Wolvercote (Sunday) and Waterperry Gardens (Saturday/Sunday). Plus Saturday is Oxford City Farm’s Autumn Festival where you can meet the goats and press the apples.

Oxfordshire’s independent media

• Edible Reading has left Reading to review the Chester Arms. Do not read this review if you are hungry or do not have easy access to the Chester Arms.
• The Oxford Sausage takes a fascinating look at Oxford's newest sculpture.
• Daily Info recommends Oxford eateries. “Botley is practically a republic these days.”
• Isis, the 133-year old student magazine, has a new issue on its frankly baffling website.
• The Witney Gitzette announces velociraptors are to be sent to primary schools to teach phonics to students. A significant proportion of its commenters still haven't realised it's a parody.
• Hannah Ling from the Diocese of Oxford says “Let’s reclaim what our flags stand for”.

Books

Let’s try a new, occasional section where we highlight exceptional books from local authors or about the county. Submissions welcome. No affiliate links here, please buy from your local bookshop: we like Caper, Jaffe & Neale, Daunt Books or (less independent these days but still the OG) Blackwells.

• Flower Block by Lanisha Butterfield. A stunningly illustrated children's book drawing on her growing up in a council estate in Wood Farm; a celebration of the power of nature to bring communities together.

Notes from Clarion HQ

We’re always delighted when our readers share the Clarion with friends, but one Clarionette in North Oxfordshire suggested this wonderfully analogue way of gaining more followers – a poster! Something you can print out and put on your office/local pub noticeboard:

Your newsletter sub-editor (who dots the ‘i’s, crosses the ‘t’s and wields the red pen) enjoyed a glorious performance of Haydn’s Creation at Christ Church on Wednesday. But if there was ever a libretto that needed subbing: “The day that is coming speaks it the day; the night that is gone to following night.” Sorry, what?

We promised you more on council reorganisation this week but time and word counts got in the way. Next time! Do keep the tip-offs, events and comments coming at news@oxfordclarion.uk, on Bluesky or Twitter. See you next week.