Clarion Weekly, 31 October 2025 (ghost town edition)

This week’s top stories

Ten years after traffic filter plans were first aired, Oxford’s Congestion Charge finally came into effect on Wednesday. At six locations around the city, daytime car traffic is charged at £5 unless the driver has a permit – available free (up to a certain number of days per year) for city and county residents, and unlimited for blue badge holders and other groups.

It’s half-term so the immediate impact on city traffic isn’t yet clear, but a traffic counter on St Clements suggested a drop in passing cars, from 6,656 on Tuesday to 4,124 on Wednesday and 4,607 on Thursday. With Park & Ride bus travel free with a parking ticket, Redbridge P&R was full by lunchtime, but spaces remained at the other four. Bus service improvements are due to come in November (Oxford Bus Co/Stagecoach).

The official consultation into Thames Water’s plans to build a mega-reservoir near Abingdon has opened. A survey is online and events will be held during November in Didcot, Abingdon, Wantage and nearby villages.

Thames Water’s Leonie Dubois said “The need for this reservoir has never been more urgent. It will safeguard water supply for millions of people across the South East. Public feedback will shape our application for planning consent, which we will submit to Government next year.”

Next week Oxfordshire County Council will debate a motion, brought by Green councillor Gavin McLauchlan, which raises concerns about the reservoir’s emergency discharge arrangements: “3x greater than its normal flow… such a discharge could cause havoc along the Thames.” It calls for OCC to ask the Secretary of State for resources to manage any such discharge. (Other motions at next week’s County Council meeting will include weed clearance on pavements, the Oxford congestion charge, adult and children’s mental health, and community cohesion.)

We looked at the issues around Abingdon Reservoir in a long read earlier this year, followed by a three-part guest series by local councillor Andy Cooke.

This week’s long reads

Continuing our occasional series of profiles of innovative businesses in Oxfordshire, an Oxfordshire startup thinks it might have solved the emissions problem from fertiliser – and its technology could even power buses and aircraft. We took a look.

Nium: a new chemical romance?

Featured in Dickens and even Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, our familiarity with ammonia may be through the pungency of smelling salts wafted under a nose. But now we have roused you to alertness, we’ll tell you why it is one of the most important chemicals in the world, and

Oxford ClarionOxford Clarion

Around the city

• Waterstones’ new Oxford bookshop is lining up a 24 November opening date. The store on Queen Street, in the former Topshop premises, will replace their former premises at the junction of Cornmarket and Broad Street. The parent company (which also owns Oxford booksellers Blackwells) has applied to Oxford City Council for an alcohol licence, writing: “The sale of alcohol will take place within the cafe and consumption will be permitted throughout the bookshop to facilitate events such as book signings and book readings etc.”
• An Oxford teenager has applied for a street trading licence to sell jewellery from a tricycle-hauled handcart to raise money for Ukrainian refugees. Annabel Hanington will be helped by her mum and sister with the sale of jewellery, pins, badges and bags in the run-up to Christmas. In her application, Annabel writes “The money will be used for education and a nursery place for one of the Ukrainian refugees who lived with us so he can learn English before he starts school.” She has bought a candy cart on eBay, painted it pink and white, and fitted “proper wheels”. Thames Valley Police say they have no objections. The application to trade in Summertown and the city centre will be considered by the City Council’s licensing committee next week.
• A hackathon is to take place in Oxford in November to tackle the future of rivers. Across the Thames basin, only 6% of watercourses are in good ecological condition. Hack the River invites coders, data scientists & designers to unleash their creativity and technical skills on real-world river data. Over two weeks, teams will dive into the open-source Oxford Rivers Portal and develop data-powered insights and “solutions that can drive real change”. There's a cash prize, and booking is essential.
• The proposed Kebab King at 185 Cowley Road is now set to become a King of Peri Peri, with revised plans lodged with Oxford City Council. The shop is currently Fred’s Discount Store. Numerous objections were submitted to the Kebab King application.
• Renovations at the New Theatre have turned up a trove of old artefacts including newspaper clippings, photos and glass bottles from the 1930s. Among the finds was a photograph of a soldier tucked carefully behind one of the bars, believed to have been hidden there decades ago. The refurbished theatre will offer enhanced backstage tours with a glimpse into its history. Annalysa Godin, interim theatre director, said “Finding items that are as old as the theatre itself is very exciting, especially as we enter this new era with beautifully reimagined spaces.” The renovations include a revamped foyer space, additional bars, and a new merchandise area.
• Oxford's dog warden Ady Higgs met homeless dog owners last week to advise on caring for their dogs and to donate supplies from the local RSPCA. The ODS dog warden service won an RSPCA PawPrints Gold award last year. All Oxford residents can order a free dog tag from the City Council.
• 15 new affordable homes in Westlands Drive, Northway, have been given the go-ahead. The City Council’s housing arm Ox Place is building them as a “low car development”, with just three car spaces (2 wheelchair users, 1 visiting carers) but bike spaces for each house plus a 28-bike storage area.
• Meanwhile 31 new homes at Bertie Place in south Oxford have been put out to tender in a £10m construction contract. Completion is expected by May 2029 at the latest. Oxford City Council says new play areas and a footbridge will also be built as part of the contract.
• Innovation news: Oxford’s NavLive is one of 13 global winners of the Construction Startup Competition 2025. NavLive produces a scanner using LIDAR (Light Direction and Ranging) which measures building dimensions as a surveyor walks around it, inside and/or out. The AI software automatically generates floor plans from the data as well as capturing images of the building.

Around the county

• An application to build 249 new homes at Southmoor, near Kingston Bagpuize southwest of Oxford on the A420, has been turned down. Planners were unconvinced the development would be accessible by walking and cycling, and said it conflicted with the Vale of White Horse Local Plan.
• Three Irish Dexter cows, Dorisse, Lucinda and KitKat, have been moved to Tuckmill Meadows nature reserve near Shrivenham to aid nature recovery. The meadows are a Site of Special Scientific Interest hosting ~150 plant species, but grass must be kept in check to allow rare species to flourish. The Earth Trust recently introduced the cows to graze the site, which is difficult to mow with machinery; Dexter cows are an unusually small and light breed with large feet that are less likely to sink into mud. GPS tags on the cows' collars let staff track their movements, and emit musical tones to discourage the animals from straying into areas where delicate plants are growing. The Earth Trust is currently looking for volunteers at Tuckmill Meadows (volunteering@earthtrust.org.uk).
• Oxford’s prosperity is not being fully shared by neighbouring Banbury and Bicester, suggests research by CoStar Analytics. They have found that while industrial property in Oxford is more than 99% occupied, in Cherwell it is only 90%. They write: “While Cherwell is grappling with rising vacancies amid a wave of new development, Oxford remains one of the tightest and most expensive industrial locations in the UK, constrained by land scarcity and competing uses.”
• An EV charging company is planning a public charging station right next to the Banbury warehouse where electric Amazon trucks are charged. Lysara, who bought the warehouse in 2023, have lodged plans for a ‘charge hub’ next to Starbucks on Ruscote Avenue for coffee as you charge.
• Hook Norton Brewery is raising money for Warwickshire Air Ambulance with a limited edition beer. One For The Road was brewed in memory of biker Jo Clarke by her four sons at the brewery, using hops they collected by motorbike.
• An Oxfordshire man has been named Gravedigger Of The Year for the second time. Jonny Yaxley, from Drayton, has been digging graves around the county for more than 20 years. He told the Diocese of Oxford that “I view what I do as an honour, as if you are putting people to bed for the last time.” He added: “It is the greatest honour to be able to help someone when they have suffered a loss. To be able to offer them some comfort and some help is an incredible thing to do.”
• The Oxford Canal through Banbury and north Oxfordshire has reopened after a summer blighted by water shortages. The Canal & River Trust says it hopes to keep the canal open at least this week for boats to pass through, but warns “we could need to close again”.

Oxfordshire politics

A quick round-up of county-wide campaigns before moving on to constituency business…

In the ongoing row about International Baccalaureate funding and Culham’s Europa School, Wantage & Grove MP Olly Glover asked the Government to intervene:

“I am asking you to reinstate this funding, at a cost of £2.5 million a year (from the DfE’s more than £100 billion annual budget) so that we do not close the door to a high-quality programme for a whole generation of state school pupils and their families. At the very least, those already studying towards their International Baccalaureate should be supported in finishing their diplomas.”

Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran added: “Having taught the IB myself for 11 years, I know full well the difference that its incredible curriculum can make to children’s lives. The Government is sending a negative signal about its support for a comprehensive, rigorous and enriching education.” After the debate, Glover commented he found the government's response “disappointing”.

Oxfordshire’s LibDem MPs have called for an “emergency package” to save the family doctor, and for the Government to deliver a new right to a GP appointment within seven days, or 24 hours if urgent. They published new research claiming that since January, 128,863 appointments in Oxfordshire have had waits of over 28 days, more than twice as many as five years ago.

Onto the individual updates:

• Banbury MP Sean Woodcock has joined the Housing, Communities & Local Government Select Committee; we’re looking forward to posts on that one. He took aim at the Conservatives' policy to make electricity cheap, saying "They had 14 years and didn't but apparently can now do so overnight." He was out on the doors on Steeple Aston. He welcomed Driving Ukraine, who deliver donated military aid convoys, to Parliament. He reckons you should visit Banbury to find out about the English Civil War, by dressing up as a roundhead. And he's looking for local children to design his constituency Christmas card. However, in the most important news to Clarion readers, Cat Watch is over, as we bring you the momentous news that Sean Woodcock has not one, but three cats. Here are some gorgeous pictures of them. And thank you, Sean, for being a good sport.
• Bicester & Woodstock MP Calum Miller voted against Reform's bill to pull Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Bill did not pass). He urged “cool heads and strong words” to influence Netanyahu to retain the fragile ceasefire in Gaza. At a meeting with parish councils he advocated for a county-wide unitary (but more on that anon).
• Witney MP Charlie Maynard attended the Waterways Fair at Witney’s Corn Exchange (warning: link contains photos of man blowing up an inflatable turd), and joined in the Witney park run.
• Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds thanked everybody who campaigned to re-open the Cowley Branch line. (Twice!) She attended the annual UK/German parliamentary dialogue (she started her elected career as an MEP). In Parliament she drew attention to the Sudanese humanitarian crisis, the largest in the world. Last week she met with Taste Tibet at one of her surgeries, who gave a detailed account of the meeting on their Substack; worth a read to understand the struggle small businesses are facing at the moment. (Do visit Taste Tibet; you'll see cucumber salad in a whole new life-affirming way.)
• Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran met with Oxon4Buses, saying local LibDems were committed to continued investment in buses, particularly around Oxford station. In Parliament she asked for a humanitarian corridor to be established from Gaza to the West Bank for those injured to access treatment. She wrote to the MHRA asking them to crack down on the illegal weight-loss jab trade.
• Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover challenged the Prime Minister on SEND delays (video) and opened the refurbished Thames Travel bus depot in Didcot. He is recruiting for a comms and constituency organiser; if that's your bag then go here.
• Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo met with campaigners for a smartphone-free childhood. In the latest instalment of his campaign to stop homes being built on Chalgrove Airfield, he met with the Defence Minister to stress the national security importance of the Martin Baker Aircraft Co – which uses the airfield and supplies ejector seats to 93 airforces worldwide – and visited the public exhibition in Chalgrove (video). He wrote to the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board to request an urgent update on the state of ADHD services in Oxfordshire, following continued concerns raised by constituents.
• Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber has launched a vehicle and tool theft crime prevention campaign. He was at the Wantage Literary Festival discussing Iain Dale's new book on Margaret Thatcher, as well as the festival celebrating an even earlier national leader, Alfredfest. (Plus the WI craft fair in Steventon.) If you fancy being a detective, TVP are recruiting… it may not be like Morse. Sunrise Labrador pic for your weekend smiles.

Battle of Ridgeway 2025

There’s a by-election in the Vale of White Horse coming up. With a comfortable LibDem majority on the Vale district council this would hardly be front-page news, unless you actually live in the Ridgeway ward. Nonetheless the parties are throwing everything they’ve got at it, in what’s shaping up to be rural Oxfordshire politics in microcosm – the LibDems in power, the Conservatives looking for a way back, Greens on the way up, and Reform UK as a wildcard.

Ridgeway was a LibDem gain from the Conservatives in 2019 after Yvonne Constance stepped down. It was last contested in 2023 where it was a two way LibDem/Conservative fight, with the Lib Dems winning 58% of the vote. Councillor Paul Barrow has now resigned for health reasons.

The Conservatives will be hoping to win it back. Matthew Barber made his pitch for candidate Charlotte Dickson in this video, saying she had a track record as a hard working and effective councillor, lives in the ward and knows the issues that concern residents. Reform may yet split the Conservative vote; their sole County Councillor Hao Du was out campaigning with candidate Henry de Kretser, writing “there are many small but vital battles we must win if we are to change course from the disastrous path Labour is leading us down”.

The Greens won the County Council seat that overlaps most of the villages in the Ridgeway Ward. If elected, their candidate Kiera Barnett would be the youngest person on Vale of White Horse District Council. The LibDems were campaigning for their candidate Hannah Griffin, who also lives in the ward and will be hoping she carries on where Cllr Barrow left off. Labour’s candidate is Rob Blundell though this is not traditional Labour territory. Voting is on 13 November.

University and research

• The most famous portrait of Marie Antoinette as a child is actually her sister, the University of Oxford’s Professor Catriona Seth has discovered. The discovery centres around a brooch bearing a specific order of chivalry which was not conferred on the future Queen of France until 4 years after the portrait was taken.
• The Ellison Institute of Technology, American billionaire Larry Ellison’s initiative to build a science campus in Oxford, has announced that its “growing ambitions” now encompass a 180,000 sq m area of Littlemore and Oxford Science Park – six times the original footprint – and 7,000 employees. EIT now forecasts it will "spend more than £10 billion in the next 10 years on talent and science programmes." (Those of you who like us think £1 million is a lot of money might reflect that this is roughly £3 million a day for 10 years.) Researchers will focus on four “humane endeavours”: health and medical science; food security; climate change; and AI and robotics. 46 students with EIT scholarships, the first cohort, have now arrived. EIT is also renovating the historic Eagle & Child pub on St Giles; we looked at its plans last year.
• Meanwhile, Oxford startup Wild Bioscience has received high-profile backing from EIT which is leading a £45m Series A investment round. “Wild Bio is using AI to understand lessons learned over millions of years of evolution encoded in plant genomes,” said Larry Ellison. Founded in 2021 by Dr Ross Hendron and Professor Steve Kelly of the University of Oxford, Wild Bio analyses genetic information from wild plant species to discover traits that can cope with extreme climates and degraded soil conditions.
• Nominations for honorary degrees are being sought by the University of Oxford. Recipients should be “of high academic distinction; distinguished in the arts, sports, or business and industry; [or] who have played a distinguished role in public life”. Last year’s recipients included Melvyn Bragg, Mo Farah and Colm Tóibín. Members of the university can make nominations online.
• And finally, please enjoy the Oxford Lifelong Learning team “doing what academics do best… ghosting you”. Excellent work.

Walking and cycling

• New on-road bike parking spaces are proposed for East Oxford, on Bath Street, Boulter Street, and York Place. Oxfordshire County Council is also proposing to adjust parking restrictions in the area. A consultation is open for the next month.
• Two men from Banbury have been arrested after a collision last week with a cyclist, who remains in hospital in a serious condition. Thames Valley Police are appealing for witnesses and dashcam footage.

• Cycling UK’s newest multi-day bikepacking route through Oxfordshire, the Royal Chilterns Way, hosted a ride by Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo and Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member Cllr Ben Higgins on Monday. The route has had thousands of downloads since its launch in August. They discussed with Robin Tucker and Tomos Owen of Cycling UK the benefits of such routes: the charity says “This route could bring a few million pounds into local economies, including Oxfordshire’s.”

Trains and buses

• Witney’s non-profit bus operator, West Oxfordshire Community Transport, has brought two new Lottery-funded buses into service. WOCT’s Ian Davies said “Our services help prevent disadvantaged people from being housebound. Passenger numbers have grown to include students and commuters.”
• Thames Travel has completed a refurbishment of its Didcot depot, which was officially opened by Olly Glover MP. The depot has seen a raft of improvements including increasing the size of the yard plus improved office & rest facilities for colleagues and better technology for the depot control room. Works have also seen Pearces Coaches move into the depot. Thames Travel, which is the southern Oxfordshire arm of Oxford Bus Co, has recently increased the frequency of its River Rapids service between Oxford and Reading, and its X32 service between Didcot and the John Radcliffe Hospital.

• Architects Foster+Partners have released a mockup image of how they think Littlemore Station on the reopened Cowley Branch Line could look. The illustration, part of a commission for the Ellison Institute of Technology, shows a long covered platform next to a curving track. Mind the gap…

Halloween events

(aka “This town is coming like a ghost town”)

• Dystopia Immersive Halloween Rave, Fri 31 Oct, Tap Social Taproom. Industrial warehouse rave in Botley. Dress code: All black. Berlin techno/goth/cyber/opium.
• Dance FestEvil, Fri 31 Oct, The Northcourt, Abingdon. Hallowe'en tributes to Kraftwerk & OMD.
• Halloween Cosplay Party, Fri 31 Oct, Cosmo, Magdalen Street. Free soft drink (bottomless) for anyone in costume (not bottomless).
• Halloween Play Day, Fri 31 Oct, South Oxford Adventure Playground. Pumpkin carving and spooky cake stall.
• Spooktacular Skating, Fri 31 Oct, Oxford Ice Rink. Trick or Treat family session followed by Fright Night Disco on ice.
• Big Halloween Drag Brunch, Sat 1 Nov, Cape of Good Hope. Serving spooky.
• Halloween Tattoo Flash Day, Sat 1 Nov, Inkora, Walton Street. Turn up for a themed tattoo.
• Spooky Supermarket Scrooge, Sat 1 Nov, Kidlington Library/Cowley Library. Storytime, singing, and puppetmaking for 2-7 year olds with Wild Boor Ideas.
• Edward Gorey at New College Library, Mon-Fri, 9-5 (by appointment). Showcasing the American illustrator known for his macabre sense of humour and love of cats.

This weekend

• Errollyn Wallen in conversation. Sat 1 Nov, 2 p.m., Christ Church Upper Library. The Master of the King's Music in conversation with Dr Leah Broad for the Christ Church 500 Music Festival.
• Oxford Welsh Male Voice Choir, Sat 1 Nov, Oxford Town Hall.
• Newmania: Doctor of the Church, Sat 1 Nov, Oxford University Catholic Chaplaincy. Cocktails and jazz to celebrate John Henry Newman, new patron saint of education. Anglicans and alumni especially welcome.
• Quarry Christmas Craft Market, Sun 2 Nov, Headington Quarry Village Hall, Quarry Road, OX3 8NX.

This week

• Lubomyr Melnyk, the world's fastest pianist, with his unique spiritual-philosophical "continuous music". Mon 3/Tue 4 Nov, in Magdalen and the Holywell Room. Here's a sneak peek. Booking advised.
• He Must Make More of His Facts: John le Carré at Oxford & Beyond, Tue 4 Nov, Lincoln College or online. Free lecture from the curator of the Bodleian's Tradecraft exhibition.
• Sean Henry: Who Am I?, Wed 5 Nov, Saïd Business School. Wondering about the giant sculpture on Frideswide Square? Meet the artist at this free launch event.
• Oxford's Black & Muslim Migration Stories, Fri 7 Nov, 2.30-4 p.m. Free showcase for new research on African-Caribbean and Muslim migrants in Oxford.
• Re-evaluating Margaret Thatcher, Fri 7 Nov, St Barnabas Church. Tour of Thatcher's haunts in Jericho followed by a talk by radio commentator Iain Dale.

Oxfordshire’s independent media

• The Witney Gitzette (still a parody) writes a terrifying tale of Dads beginning dangerous ascents to lofts in first 2025 mission to retrieve Halloween tat.
• Oxfordshire Mummies suggests Halloween activities galore for the Mini Clarions.
• The Covered Market has “13 spooky picks” to help with your Halloween preparations.
• Oxford Brookes looks at the psychology of horror, and why people chose to be scared.
• And marvel at this collection of carved pumpkins by Oxford resident Jonathan Barrett.

Notes from Clarion HQ

It’s half-term, so some of our editing team have been working on this issue in snatched moments in far-flung climes (well, various parts of Europe). But we couldn’t resist setting up these Halloween photos in advance – we hope you enjoyed them. Have a great weekend.