Clarion Weekly, 8 August 2025

We admit we have spent too much time this week trying to work out a football version of Barry Manilow’s “classic” Bermuda Triangle for the proposed Kidlington Triangle stadium. For more on that story, read on. The stadium would of course be opposite Oxford Parkway station, which brings us to…

Should more houses be built near Oxfordshire’s railway stations? In a long read this week, we looked at Oxford’s commuter future – and how the city could learn from Copenhagen and Cambridge to double the number of people travelling by train. From the Cowley Branch Line to the county’s new towns, it’s all here. Read the full story.

This week’s top stories

Oxford United’s new stadium has been recommended for approval by Cherwell District Council’s planning officers.

The plan to build a stadium at the Triangle, near Kidlington, will be considered by councillors next Thursday (14 August). Bodies including Oxfordshire County Council, National Highways, Natural England, the Environment Agency, Thames Valley Police, Thames Water, Network Rail and Chiltern Railways made no objection. Local parish councils and several individual councillors lodged objections.

The officers say that building the stadium “would effectively merge Kidlington and […] North Oxford” when the planned redevelopment of North Oxford Golf Club takes place: “[it] will increase the extent to which they in effect form one sprawling urban area”. They agree that staying at the Kassam is unviable: “The Stadium Company has made it clear both to OUFC and via a recent statement that their long-term plans are to redevelop the stadium and wider stadium site… officers acknowledge the inability to remain at the Kassam Stadium in the long term.” They also agree that “there are no other feasible, practical and realistic alternatives to accommodate a proposed stadium development within the area” and that “retaining the club in the local area will secure the sense of identity for the community alongside economic benefits that align with this”.

Overall, they say the new stadium would be “very positive for health and wellbeing for the communities of Kidlington, Oxford and Oxfordshire as a whole and outweigh the harm to the Green Belt”. They believe the “very special circumstances” required to build in the Green Belt have been demonstrated.

If the councillors on the Planning Committee agree with the officers’ recommendation, approval will need to be ratified by the Secretary of State, given that it proposes building in the Green Belt but is not identified in Cherwell’s Local Plan. The committee meeting is at 4pm on Thursday; we’ll be live-tweeting it on our Bluesky and Twitter feeds.

A block of six one-bedroom flats in Headington Quarry must be demolished for breaching planning permission. The High Court has refused a planning appeal, ruling the building, in Quarry Mews, was built higher than permitted and “clashed with the grain of development in Quarry High Street”.

Planning permission was first granted in 2006, and an enforcement notice served by Oxford City Council in 2022. The judgement is here. We reported the failure of an earlier appeal to the Planning Inspectorate in January.

Almost 2,000 more houses could be built on the edge of Bicester as two mammoth new planning applications are lodged. 1,295 homes are proposed for Graven Hill on former MOD Bicester land, with another 600 at the adjacent Alchester Parklands site, close to Ambrosden.

The Graven Hill development would be Stage 2, following on from the existing 809-home Stage 1 scheme. The site has a mix of modern building styles. A “circular railway” road and path route would follow the line of the former military railway. A mix of segregated and shared cycle routes is planned, linking in with existing paths and the proposed new London Road cycleway to Bicester Village station. The development would include a 60-bed extra care facility, pub/restaurant, open space and allotments.

The 600 homes in the Alchester Parklands development, on a 62ha former poultry farm between Graven Hill and Ambrosden, would have a more traditional design. The developers promise “green streets, accessible public spaces and beautifully detailed homes”. Applications are with Cherwell District Council.

The Salt Cross garden village near Eynsham can be built to Net Zero standards after all. Planning inspectors have concluded the requirement is legally sound and consistent with national policy, after it was struck down by an earlier inspector and ruled out by the previous Conservative government.

Activist group Rights Community Action launched a successful appeal in favour of Net Zero, as we reported in 2024, but the Government decision had left the development in limbo. West Oxfordshire District Council is now drawing up amendments to make implementation “more practical”.

WODC leader Andy Graham said: “This is a landmark decision that puts West Oxfordshire at the forefront of climate-conscious development. Salt Cross can now move forward as an exemplar development that puts people, planet and future generations at its heart.”

Around the city

• Oxford will be the first UK city to get its mobile phone capacity boosted by a city-wide small cell network. The new network will use more and much smaller base stations (shoebox-sized) often mounted on lampposts or other street furniture, and covering 100 metres each instead of kilometres. This approach provides more capacity because radio frequencies can be reused. The network is being rolled out in 2025 by Cornerstone, a joint venture of O2/Virgin Media and Vodafone.
• A fatberg the size of a blue whale has been removed from Oxford’s sewers. It took two weeks to remove the 120-tonne lump of congealed fat, oil, grease and wipes, while maintaining Oxford’s wastewater flow and guarding against high gas levels elevated by the fatberg. Jamie Whitmore from Thames Water said: “The scale of the blockage and the conditions underground made this activity challenging and I’m incredibly proud we were able to maintain the safety of our teams whilst continuing to provide wastewater services for Oxford.” 60% of sewer flooding incidents are caused by “sewer abuse”.
• Oxford’s newest Chinese restaurant opened in Gloucester Green at the weekend. Mr Wang Hot Pot is offering an opening discount of 25% until 8th August. Don't watch the reels if you're hungry.
• Beeline Bicycles on Oxford’s Cowley Road has announced it has closed after more than 3 decades trading. Citing economic and cycle trade challenges, they thanked customers for their support. The shop first opened in Gloucester Green before moving to the Cowley Road where it operated from three locations over its tenure. East Oxford is now served by the remaining bike stores of Oxford Bike Company on Iffley Road, the Electric Bike Company on Magdalen Road, plus Cowley Road’s Cycle King.
• Oxford's Story Museum has been named the Best Family Experience in the national Muddy Stilettos Awards. The museum has recently added the Story Arcade, which celebrates storytelling through video games; custom-built arcade-style machines include games to play, dressing up and side-quests. Muddy Stilettos described this as “A clever and unexpectedly moving way to get kids (and nostalgic grown-ups) thinking differently about the stories they play – and maybe even create.”
• A long-standing modal filter (aka Low Traffic Neighbourhood) brought a police chase to an end on Monday night when “the driver realised he couldn’t squeeze the car through a pedestrian gate” between Kingfisher Green and Campion Close in Greater Leys. Thames Valley Police said: “PC Little and PC Carney-Smith assisted our colleagues from Roads Policing with a stolen vehicle that failed to stop. With the assistance of the drone 🚁 and a dog 🐕, two males were arrested shortly afterwards and will be interviewed for several offences in the morning.”

Around the county

• Campaigners to reopen the closed Cock Inn in Combe, near Woodstock, are staging a “pop-up pub” on the village green from Sunday to Tuesday. The former Greene King pub was sold to property tycoon Anthony Gallagher who never reopened it; he subsequently sold it on to private equity MD Rafic Said. The ‘Cock Inn Action’ campaign (we’re saying nothing) reports that Rafic Said has approached the owners of the Bull in Charlbury, named Britain’s best pub in a recent awards ceremony, to run it.
• A flood resilient garden has opened in Howbery Park, Wallingford, as part of a joint initiative between the Government and insurers to promote property flood resilience. Building on the award winning Flood Resilient Garden in 2024’s Chelsea Flower Show in 2024, it demonstrates how an ordinary terraced house garden can incorporate resilient design. Kelly Ostler-Coyle from Flood Re said: “Spaces like this are vital in providing defence against flooding. If flood-resistant features and built-in water storage were adopted across communities, the collective benefit would be transformative.”
• Markets in Chipping Norton & Witney were relaunched at the weekend, as operator Cotswold Markets took over their running. West Oxfordshire District Council say it reflects a commitment to keeping town centres vibrant, sustainable and attractive. We wrote about local markets in Oxfordshire, plus a (crowdsourced) market directory.
• The former operations block for RAF Bicester is to be sensitively restored to provide “flexible, exceptional and contemporary HQ space”, say Bicester Motion. Planning permission has been requested of Cherwell District Council. Bicester Motion say it is intended to enlarge its “thriving community of pioneering automotive and aviation brands” (see our long read from last year).
• Three Scouts from Oxfordshire are representing their county at the World Scout Moot in Portugal this week. Mya Sweetman, from Bicester; James Lambert, from Marston; and Jess Titchener, a student of policing from Wallingford are with nearly 500 other UK Scouts. World Scout Moot aims to equip and embed Scouts with the skills to positively impact the world around them. Chief Scout, Dwayne Fields, wished them well prior to their departure: “We know that too many young people today grow up unhappy and worried about their future. Scouts aims to change that. We give young people a chance to belong and a place to be themselves.’’

Oxfordshire politics

Parliament is in recess. Schools are off. All quiet on the politics front? Think again. Here's what we've spotted.

• Sewage woes: It wouldn’t be Oxfordshire without a sewage story. This week the county’s LibDem MPs called on the Government to “get a grip” on the sewage crisis, pointing to polling showing 44% of people were afraid to swim on open water: “Many of us across Oxfordshire love heading to the beach, or spending time on the river closer to home but because of uncontrolled sewage dumping people are missing out.” They called for “tougher fines, levied swiftly”. Meanwhile Banbury’s Sean Woodcock co-signed a letter presented to Thames Water by Labour MPs in its area, calling on the company to claw back recent bonuses and reinvest the money into water infrastructure; drop their complaint to Ofwat requesting leniency over sewage fines; and meet with MPs regarding their constituency casework. He commented: “The average water bill is going up by 31% this year, all while the company pays out millions to executives.” And that’s enough sewage for the week.
• Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber threw shade at the government and its ban on ninja swords, saying it sought to “create the impression of action through announcements”. He highlighted his efforts on early intervention to prevent young people carrying weapons at all: knife crime in the Thames Valley is down by 9%. [Clarion aside: we spend too much time on our elected representatives' social feeds. We see dogs, coffee mornings, people's penchants for reposting party lines. Police & Crime Commissioner is traditionally not a role that sets the world alight, but we are genuinely staggered by the sheer energy of our PCC: he seems to be out on the doors or at a community event most days. (See for yourself: Bluesky/Twitter.) Is he planning a run for Thames Valley mayor, very good at social media, just a hard working guy, or all three? Place your bets.]
• Banbury MP Sean Woodcock has welcomed a Labour “crackdown on unjust parking charges”, with a consultation on standards for private car parks. He said: “Too many of my constituents have been ripped off by rogue parking operators who make it difficult for motorists to comply with the terms and conditions meaning escalating costs.” He held a coffee morning in Charlbury and was out on the doors speaking to residents afterwards.
• Anneliese Dodds, Oxford East MP, issued her ‘Year in Review’. You can see it on Twitter, Bluesky or Facebook.
• Freddie van Mierlo, MP for Henley & Thame, met with cross-party campaign group Make Votes Matter (MVM) to talk about changing the voting system. He said: “It was a pleasure to meet with Make Votes Matter. It’s clear that First Past the Post is well past its sell-by date and is no longer fit for purpose. We now have multi-party politics that is simply incompatible with our current voting system.”
• Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover was at Truck Festival in his constituency. While he did highlight the Feel Good Food Hall, feeding hungry festival-goers for charity, we are also amused that it took him a week to post the update… good festival, then? More seriously, he spoke to the BBC about capping the profits of companies providing SEND services, saying it was unacceptable for private providers to line their pockets exploiting a system in crisis. He wants you to fill out the consultation on walking, cycling and wheeling in Wantage.
• Witney MP Charlie Maynard was touring West Oxfordshire with the Oxford Growth Commission, Oxfordshire County Council and West Oxfordshire District Council. He commented: “I had many useful conversations during the day about how we can best fund and build the homes that the Government has decreed we have to take, and a fast, reliable rail connection so that we’re not all stuck in gridlock for decades.”
• Calum Miller, MP for Bicester and Woodstock, launched a survey on mobile reception in his constituency, saying “We all know the signal around here is rubbish.” Woodstock’s long-awaited new GP surgery, he says, is “one step closer”. He said he was “thrilled” at the news of Chiltern’s new trains.

University and research

• John Henry Newman, the Anglo-Catholic founder of the 19th century Oxford Movement, has been appointed a Doctor of the (Catholic) Church. The title is given to saints who made a significant contribution to theology. Newman held a succession of Anglican posts in Oxford, including vicar of St Mary’s (University Church). A series of Tracts for the Times published by like-minded high church followers ended, at the request of the Bishop of Oxford, when Newman took aim at the Church of England’s founding articles. After establishing an “Anglican monastery” in Littlemore, Newman resigned from St Mary’s in 1843 and joined the Catholic Church in 1845. Oxford University’s Catholic Society is still called the Newman Society today. He was canonised by Pope Francis in 2019.
• Trade union Unite has secured a formal recognition agreement with EMCOR, the company providing facilities management at the University of Oxford. The agreement gives Unite the legal framework to engage in collective bargaining to negotiate improvements in pay, job security & shift patterns.
• Oxford Brookes University says it is ready to support students through clearing, saying “clearing is not a last resort – it’s a fresh start”. Next Thursday, more than 100 trained staff members will be on hand to manage the University’s clearing phone lines, with the opportunity to connect directly with current students. Physiotherapy student Ranvir Sogi, who joined through clearing in 2023, is now a Student Ambassador: “I found the Clearing process really straightforward. My advice is to be prepared – have your documentation ready when you call, and ensure your grades meet the course requirements.”
• Widespread public support for taking action on climate change is underestimated by policymakers, say researchers at the University of Oxford. The study reported that although 69% of the public support climate action, policymakers estimated this figure at just 37%. Dr Stefania Innocenti, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, said: “It is possible that their underestimation of how much the public cares about climate change could limit their policy ambitions.” This backs up findings from studies by the University of Lancaster, researchers from the universities of Frankfurt, Bonn & Copenhagen, and the United Nations Development Programme.

Walking and cycling

• Creating a ‘cycling city’ requires more than just cycle lanes, according to new research into 15-minute cities from Oxford's Transport Studies Unit. Its five recommendations include secure storage, community engagement, and long-term funding. The SPECIFIC project explored the implementation of 15-minute cities across Europe, where basic needs are accessible within a short walk or bike ride. Briefing documents summarise factors enabling and hindering cycling in five medium-sized cities, includng Bristol in the UK.
• The Wantage & Grove Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan has been published for consultation. An LCWIP identifies and prioritises investment to support more people to make more journeys by walking, wheeling or cycling. The Wantage & Grove plan identifies the demand for walking and cycling, safety concerns and the current state of routes; 236 interventions are identified and prioritised including 62 new or upgraded crossings, 47 junction improvements and 35 improved footways or cycleways. The plan is open for feedback until 18 September on Oxfordshire County Council's Let's Talk portal.

Trains and buses

• Chiltern Railways’ new fleet of trains will enter service from early next year on the Banbury and Bicester North to London Marylebone route. The 13 five-coach trains mark a big expansion in capacity for the line, in turn freeing up existing trains for Oxford–Marylebone services. They include a first class carriage, six bike spaces, fold-down tables, power and USB sockets, and air conditioning. Chiltern says that the existing trains used on the route will be reallocated to their other services including Oxford–Marylebone, resulting in “longer trains which are being refurbished over the next 18 months”. They are in discussions with Government about extra services from late 2026.
• Guards on CrossCountry trains are striking on Saturday 23 and Monday 25 August, the Bank Holiday weekend. The RMT union blames a “breakdown in industrial relations” with the operator. The strike will see services cancelled from Oxford to Banbury and the Midlands, and Reading and the South Coast.
• Oxford United fans will have more supporter buses this season courtesy of Oxford Bus Company and its sister companies. Additional routes will serve Wantage and Abingdon (OX1 service) and Burford, Witney and Eynsham (OX4), with an extra bus on the OX2 from Didcot and Abingdon. All single tickets are capped at £3.

Dates for your diary

• Little Riders Bike Jam. Saturday 23 August, 10am–4pm at Ladygrove Playground, Didcot. A free event for little cyclists. Young riders can develop their bike control on purpose built bike ramps, under the guidance of qualified coaches from Mini Bikers. Free bike checks thanks from Slime Cycle Works. Bring your own bike, or balance bikes are available to hire.
• Oxford Preservation Society talk on Wood Farm by historian Liz Woolley (booking required). Wednesday 3 September, 5.30pm, Key Learning Centre at Oxford Castle.
• My Oxford Year author Julia Whelan will be signing the book which inspired this summer’s Netflix film. Monday 15 September, 3pm, at Blackwell’s on Broad Street. (We haven’t watched it; reports from Clarion readers welcome!)
• Salon Privé. 27–31 August, Blenheim Palace. The Venn diagram of supercar lovers and Clarion readers is probably pretty small, but even your cargo-biking editors will admit to a hankering for a DS décapotable. There are some truly beautiful, and impractical, cars on display.
• And finally, it is National Breastfeeding Week, so we’re going to flag up the ever excellent Oxfordshire Breastfeeding Support for expectant mothers. The next in their series of virtual lunchtime sessions is Tuesday 16 September.

This weekend

• The Balkan Wanderers. Saturday 8pm, Harcourt Arms, Jericho. Free gig to launch the new single from Oxford's energetic ‘Balkan/gypsy-inspired punk party band’.
• St. Hilda’s Crime Fiction Weekend, all weekend. It's been running 32 years and still not a Morse in sight.
• Cogges Beer & Cider Festival. Saturday, Cogges Farm, Witney. Local beer and local music at Witney’s historic farm, an easy bus ride from Oxford. Tickets on the door for £17.50, or £15 in advance.
• Fruit Cakes. Saturday 2pm–4pm, Cornerstone Arts, Didcot. Casual meet up for all queer and LGBTQ+ people: a safe space to have coffee, eat cake, meet new people and make new friends.
• Waterperry Opera Festival, all week. Mozart, Handel, Anne Frank and Winnie the Pooh. “More like Glastonbury than Glyndebourne.” Two miles east of Worthy Farm Wheatley.
• Fairport’s Cropredy Convention has already sold out, but we thought we ought to warn you in case you were planning a quiet canal walk on Saturday. (Highlights will be on BBC Oxford.)

Oxfordshire’s independent media

• The Oxford Sausage takes a walk round Slade Camp.
• Muddy Stilettos rounds up the best alfresco theatre for all ages.
• Cherwell reckons My Oxford Year is fun if you have “a relatively high cringe tolerance”.
• Ox in a Box reviews Truck Festival.

Ozymandias update

An occasional section following Magdalen’s photogenic feline fellow.

Notes from Clarion HQ

Britain’s YIMBYs have stayed on Twitter. Or at least that’s our conclusion this week, as 174,000 people saw our much-retweeted story about the Headington demolition order. Most of them were unimpressed. Comments included “UK planning permission never fails to disappoint”; “As Oxford's housing crisis burns, this is what preoccupies the planning department”; “A block of flats is getting demolished because it’s a little taller than it was supposed to be. No one noticed for over a decade but now it must be destroyed.” The only story to ever have scored more views is the Iffley Road tree/car interface. Go figure.

Oxford City Council this week announced a “free seven-day trial” of Oxford’s leisure centres for residents of the villages that would form part of its proposed Greater Oxford Council, such as Berinsfield, Kidlington and Wheatley. The final decision will be made by central Government, of course, not Berinsfield residents (unless Angela Rayner is holidaying there). We are however intrigued that while Oxfordshire County Council’s single-unitary case is being made behind the scenes, Oxford City Council has chosen a full PR blitz – including this advert rather cheekily placed over the road from County Hall…

Maybe we should book some Clarion advertising there as well? We’ll see what Clear Channel can offer us for the editorial budget of £3.50. Or we can just smile sweetly at you, our lovely readers, and ask you to tell your friends about us instead. Have a great week.