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Clarion Weekly, 8 November 2024

Clarion Weekly, 8 November 2024
'Odin' from Thames Valley Police assists in a pickpocket patrol on Broad Street. Photo: TVP Mounted Section.

This week in the Oxford Clarion

Woodstock Road was going to get the best cycle track in Oxford for 50 years. Instead it got paint on a pavement and 10 crossings for pedestrians only. What went wrong? In a special report, we look at how a visionary £12.5m scheme has been watered down to a £3.2m compromise that keeps nobody happy. Read the full story.

Fed up of supermarket shopping and want to shop local? Oxfordshire has 40 markets with (at least) one every day of the week – and we’ve celebrated them in two articles this week. The first is a history of Oxfordshire's markets, covering etymology, history back to the Middle Ages, and their renaissance with the Farmers’ Market movement. The second is a directory of markets in Oxfordshire. We see this as a living document. So if your local market is in here and you can update our listing, shout!

Oxfordshire County Council’s full council meeting was on Tuesday – a chance for councillors of all stripes to bring their motions for debate. We live-tweeted the morning session and afternoon session. (Summaries below if you don’t want the full blow-by-blow account!)

Woodstock Road crossing works.

This week’s top stories

After the first round of voting for the Chancellorship of the University of Oxford, five candidates are going through to the second round: Elish Angiolini, Dominic Grieve, William Hague, Peter Mandelson and Jan Royall. The second round takes place in the week of 18 November. Read more about the candidates in our long read from October. (Our crystal ball is available for hire.)

Oxford’s traffic filters are moving a step closer as a £1.1m online permit system goes live. The system will initially be used for parking permits in Controlled Parking Zones, replacing the current paper system, but will be extended to the traffic filters when introduced.

Residents received a letter this week about “a new, more efficient way to apply for parking permits from the end of this year”. Permits will be issued online and linked to the car registration, with no need to display a paper permit. Parking officers will use handheld scanners. OCC says residents need to provide supporting documents when first applying, but that renewals will be easier. The online system will offer SMS and email reminders.

The combined contract for “Permit Management Solution for Parking & Traffic Filters Scheme” was issued this summer. “Extensive testing of the integration between the software system and ANPR cameras has been conducted,” says OCC. Highway works for the filters are complete at five locations, with Marston Ferry Road still to be done, but the Botley Road closure is still blocking the switch-on.

Oxfordshire County Council’s full council meeting on Tuesday saw the new dynamic continue to play out. Council meetings, whether city, district or county, are preoccupied with writing to the Government to ask for Something To Be Done. That means OCC’s Conservative group has had to shift from defence to attack, and Labour vice versa. This often results in warring amendments, as parties seek to water down or strengthen criticism – much to the annoyance of the motion’s original proposer.

It’s all good clean fun. We’re not convinced it actually achieves anything, but that’s a debate for another time. But the afternoon’s first debate was, for once, about a genuine Oxfordshire issue: the closure of seven short-stay beds for vulnerable people in Henley. Councillor Damian Haywood (Ind, St Mary’s) welcomed the debate: “This is not political point-scoring or developing copy for leaflets. Too often we have no agency in this chamber. If we could have more motions like this it would be fantastic.”

Public addresses in the morning session included calls for a playground in Oxford city centre and a plea to retain parking on Hollow Way. Councillors’ questions covered road safety, agency staff, the sale of County Hall, special educational needs, and spending on active travel – with Cllr Charlie Hicks (Lab, Cowley) pointing out “For every £14 we have for transport, we’re only holding £1 for active travel. That is not enough.” You can read the full thread here.

The afternoon session, devoted to councillors’ motions, covered the Henley care beds (councillors voted unanimously to deplore their removal and to re-run consultation); pensioners’ winter fuel payments (a LibDem/Green/Con majority voted to write to the Government and for OCC to support affected pensioners through its existing hardship schemes); signing a Councils for Fair Tax declaration to discourage contracts with companies that avoid tax (carried unanimously); and writing to the Government to seek urgent clarity on special educational needs funding (again carried on LibDem/Green/Con votes). Full thread here.

Around the city

  • A 17-year old cyclist remains in critical condition with life-threatening injuries after a hit-and-run collision between a motorcycle and bicycle on Banbury Road. A 51-year old man and 14-year old boy were arrested in connection with the incident. Thames Valley Police’s Tony Jenkins said: “Sadly, a boy has sustained serious injuries as a result of the collision. I am appealing to anybody who witnessed the incident or who may have dashcam or CCTV footage that captured the collision or the moments leading up to it, to please get in touch.”
  • A programme of conservation works has been proposed as the first stage of restoring the Eagle & Child, the pub on St Giles famous for its Tolkien and CS Lewis connections. New owners the Ellison Institute of Technology are planning reroofing, window repair/replacement, and wall repairs. Among the repairs will be “an increase in size of rainwater goods to improve capacity to deal with increased intensity of rainfall due to climate change”. The owners say they are seeking “a balance between necessary repairs and the preservation of the historic fabric”. The state of the roof is such that 50% of the original slates may need to be replaced with reclaimed Welsh slates of the same appearance; the timber roof structure also needs extensive repair “due to poor detailing, defective roof coverings and missing rainwater goods”. The restoration plans are now awaiting consideration by Oxford City Council's planning department (application 24/02495/FUL). The Institute’s ultimate intention is “a place for scholars from the new EIT Oxford campus and the wider University to come together to help inspire conversations”.
  • The developers of Oxford North have opened enquiries for their first two buildings. The Red Hall is a four-storey office building, while 1–2 Fallaize Street offers lab space “for science and technology teams of all sizes”. Both will be opening in 2025. 192 long-stay cycle parking spaces will be provided with a “dedicated landmark cycle pavilion”, including a bike repair station and 16 showers. The developers, Thomas White Oxford (development company of St John’s College), say they are taking a “cycle-first approach”. Bookings are now being taken for tours around the Red Hall and Fallaize Street buildings.
Not often we get to adorn the newsletter with an amazing piece of Renaissance art. Picture: Ashmolean Museum / Christie’s Images.
  • The Ashmolean has acquired Fra Angelico’s ‘Crucifixion’ for £4.5m, preventing it from leaving the country. There are very few works by the painter in the UK. The museum plans a “total rehang” of its Italian Renaissance galleries to mark the acquisition. After the painting was sold to an overseas buyer, the Government imposed a temporary export deferral in January 2024, giving the Ashmolean time to raise funds. The £4.5m price is said to be a “substantial reduction”. It has never before been on public display in the UK. Prof Jennifer Sliwka at the Ashmolean said “John Ruskin described Angelico’s work ‘as near heaven as human hand or mind will ever or can ever go.’ The idea that this innovative and beautiful work will inspire & move visitors to the Museum for centuries to come fills me with joy.”
  • The hygge is “worth travelling for” say the residents of Oxford's Magdalen Road as they continue their campaign celebrating local businesses. This week they introduce Elisabeth Humphries of Lofgrens, a lifestyle store exuding hygge or Nordic cosiness. Lofgrens, which sells winter accessories, homeware, rugs and candles also supports local artisan producers. Rapidly changing stock encourages regular browsing and treasure hunting for a gift or a treat. Humphries comments: “The street has such a great vibe, an East Oxford community where people come and socialise, shop and relax, and it's getting better each year. There's a strong sense of camaraderie between traders and the local residents are lovely and supportive.” Local residents recommend the Swedish cinnamon buns from Skogen Kitchen which arrive warm each Saturday morning and are snapped up by loyal fans – pre-order to be sure of snagging one!
  • The Oxford Preservation Trust has announced the winners of this year's annual awards. As well as recognising the conservation of historic buildings, the awards also celebrate new designs and redesigns. Of the 22 winning projects, half are associated with the University of Oxford and its colleges, counting the re-thatching work in Wytham village where the properties are owned by the University. Other schemes recognised for improving Oxford's public realm include this summer's temporary OxTrail of fibreglass oxen, the refurbished timber bridges on the Marston cycle path, and the outdoor mural in East Oxford which has been given the name Flower Lane.

Around the county

  • Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley Police, Matthew Barber has hit out at the National Insurance changes laid out by the Government in the Budget last week, saying they will cost £3.2m locally. In a letter to the Minister for Police, Fire & Crime Prevention, he said “TVP will see increased NI costs, but we are expecting additional funding. However, even if the Government do fully reimburse policing as a whole, we expect to see a shortfall of approximately £1.3m.” He also pointed out that the (welcome) pay rise previously announced for police officers was not fully government funded, and cost TVP £1.9m. Citing TVP’s record of increasing frontline police officers, he said he would rather that any council tax increase came from improving capacity and capability in frontline policing.
  • £64,500 has been spent by Oxfordshire County Council in one year on repairing traffic infrastructure like bridges and traffic lights as a result of vehicle damage by collision. Some of this has been recovered from the drivers' insurance companies. The information came to light as an answer to a written question to Cabinet Member for Transport Management Andrew Gant as part of this week's OCC full council meeting.
  • 249 new houses are proposed for the village of Southmoor, on the A420 between Oxford and Faringdon. The site is on the western edge of the village, whose neighbour settlement Kingston Bagpuize is already earmarked for expansion. Plans lodged with White Horse District Council envisage 88 affordable and 161 market-rate homes in what the developers Nicholas King call “one of the most sustainable public transport corridors in Oxfordshire”: the Oxford-Swindon (S6) and Witney-Abingdon (15) buses both pass the site. The design is anchored around a ‘village green’ and a central spine road. A pedestrian/cycle path will run around the northern edge of the site. Most buildings will be 2 or 2.5 storeys high.
  • A new wetland is being built near Benson as part of the Benson relief road scheme. Designed to improve flood resilience by holding excess water, the wetland habitat will include mammal culverts and an otter tunnel. Ecological surveys on site found badgers, otters and water voles in the vicinity, alongside red kites and bats. Cllr Judy Roberts, Oxfordshire County Council's Cabinet Member for Infrastructure, called out the scheme's plan to increase biodiversity: “The wetland will attract a whole range of wildlife, provide food for foraging birds and small mammals as well as flowers for insects in the spring. It will also offer cover for nesting birds and shelter for hibernation.”
  • Two parishes are currently consulting on local parish plans. The first, Cumnor, is holding a series of engagement events in November. The second, Littlemore, is open for comments until 9 December. Littlemore is forecast to undergo significant change in the next decade and this consultation addresses that change.

University and research

  • Oxford Nanopore, a University of Oxford spin-off, has entered a strategic partnership with the UK Government to create a pathogen surveillance system in the NHS. The initiative, aimed at bolstering biosecurity across the NHS, brings together UK Biobank, Genomics England, NHS England, and Oxford Nanopore. The “early warning system” is designed to provide real-time insights on emerging threats and safeguard the UK against future pandemics.
  • Human tissue samples from Oxford's Space Innovation Lab are on their way to the International Space Station, where they will be used to study the effects of space microgravity on the ageing process. Dr Ghada Alsaleh, of the Space Innovation Lab, said: “This is an exciting moment— not just because we’re embarking on a journey to space, but because we’re bringing along a ground-breaking project that could help people live healthier lives, both on Earth and in Space" The laboratory is at Botnar Institute of Musculoskeletal Sciences at Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, and it opened in July 2023. It is the first of its kind in the UK.
  • A historic Kenyah Badeng bamboo sunhat, known as the Sa’ung, has been returned to Sarawak from the Pitt Rivers Museum. This marks a significant cultural homecoming and a first for the museum, which had historically only repatriated ancestral remains. The Sa’ung, intricately crafted from Bamboo and adorned with human figure designs, served both practical and spiritual roles – offering protection to a mother and her child. The sunhat was seized as British colonial forces launched punitive raids against indigenous communities. Prof Dr Laura van Broekhoven, Pitt Rivers director, said: “Given the history of parts of our collections and their entanglements in oppression, this work of redress is a crucial part of our work. It helps to restore trust and builds hope for a future of peace through partnership.”
  • Year 12 students across Oxfordshire are being encouraged to engage critically with the colonial past, as Oriel College launches the 2025 Rex Nettleford Essay Prize on Colonialism and its Legacies. Two prizes of £250 are available. Essays can address any relevant aspect, historical phase, cultural manifestation or geographical centre of colonialism. Rex Nettleford was a Jamaican scholar and social critic who was vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, and studied at Oriel in 1957.

Trains and buses

  • A six-month pilot scheme will provide free bus travel for asylum seekers accommodated within the city of Oxford. This is a partnership between Oxfordshire County Council and Asylum Welcome. Around 275 people would be eligible at a cost of around £31,000. Cllr Andrew Gant, Cabinet Member for Transport Management, said: “This is one small thing we can do support asylum seekers who are awaiting the outcome of their asylum claim. It will enable them to prepare for work by accessing services and learning to adapt to life here.” Mark Goldring, director of Asylum Welcome, added: “This is a really positive commitment by OCC that enables asylum seekers to study, volunteer, worship and prepare for when they are allowed to work. It reduces isolation, improves well-being and a sense of inclusion.”
  • Rail accident investigators have released a report into an incident where a pram carrying a child [top of picture] rolled into the side of a moving train at Banbury station in June. They say the parent, who momentarily let go, was most likely unaware of the platform’s slope. The pram hit the train while it was pulling into the platform at 35mph, resulting in the pram falling over and the child suffering a head injury – had the train been 3 seconds later, the pram would have rolled into its path. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch says warning signage was not conspicuous, while research in 2018 found that “pushchair users had low awareness of the presence of, and risks associated with, crossfall gradients on station platforms”. Chiltern Railways has now put up safety posters in the lift at Banbury station to warn of the dangers.

Walking and cycling

The B4044. Photo: Google Street View.
  • Plans are being drawn up for a long-sought cycleway along the busy B4044 from Eynsham to Botley. Oxfordshire County Council has engaged a firm of consultants to carry out “feasibility and preliminary design work”. The 4-mile road is the most direct link to Oxford but has heavy, fast traffic. Construction consultants Pick Everard have been chosen for the £85,000 project, funded by the Department for Transport. The design work is expected to be complete by May 2025. There is as yet no secured funding to build the cycleway itself.
  • Oxford’s Gasworks Pipe Bridge over the Thames is set to reopen to pedestrians and cyclists in mid-December. Bearing replacement started this week following technical approval for lifting the bridge to replace the bearings. Oxford City Council says the bearing replacement will be complete early next month: “Even though these factors are beyond our control, we would like to apologise to residents for the ongoing inconvenience and are doing everything we can to reopen the bridge as soon as possible.”
  • Oxford United FC says it is continuing to “explore the potential of a footbridge” linking its new stadium to Oxford Parkway station. It has asked Cherwell District Council for advice before it submits transport plans in December. A final decision on the stadium is currently expected in March 2025. The club is now proposing a footpath and cycleway on Frieze Way, the underused dual carriageway from the A44 to Kidlington; this would ease walking and cycling from the west and Peartree Park & Ride. It has also pledged to triple bike parking spaces to 446.

Oxfordshire politics

On Saturday came the announcement that Kemi Badenoch had been elected leader of the Conservative Party. Her supporters – and others! – in Oxfordshire were quick to congratulate her. Former Oxford West & Abingdon parliamentary candidate Vinay Raniga commented: “The hard work starts now to renew our party by rebuilding trust with the electorate. But let’s take a moment to recognise the fact another glass ceiling has been shattered with a black woman leading us.” Eddie Reeves, Conservative group leader on Oxfordshire County Council, said: “Delighted to have been her Constituency Champion in Banbury & to have played a small part in her campaign.”

LibDem Witney MP Charlie Maynard said “Many congratulations to Kemi Badenoch on being the first black leader of a major political party.” Labour MP for Banbury Sean Woodcock was less complimentary, commenting on a BBC interview with Laura Kuennsberg: “Kemi Badenoch's open criticism of Sunak but refusal to do the same for Liz Truss is very telling. She would do it all over again.”

Badenoch has been open about the fact that one of the first priorities for the party is winning back council seats. With Reeves and Raniga as her constituency champions, will the party focus their firepower on north and west Oxfordshire first, where until recently they had MPs and a more significant council presence?

The first testing ground will be the West Oxfordshire District Council by-election in Chipping Norton next week. Chippy has historically been a Conservative/Labour fight, but all four main parties think they have a chance: we have seen local MPs Calum Miller, Sean Woodcock and Layla Moran on the doorsteps.

Over to the MPs. As usual we round up what we've spotted, with the disclaimer that it's a fraction of what the MPs do each week. (Casework rarely hits the headlines!)

  • Banbury's Sean Woodcock held a surgery in Chipping Norton, and then next day, went campaigning there for the upcoming by-election. He celebrated the cut in duty on draught beer with a pint at the Reindeer in Banbury (a favourite of Team Clarion) and was happy to proclaim he'd voted for the Budget.
  • Oxford East's Anneliese Dodds was out on the doorsteps in Deal, near Dover, and again, closer to home, in Rose Hill. She planted a flag of remembrance on behalf of Oxford East in the House of Commons Garden of Remembrance.
  • We seem to see Oxfordshire’s LibDem MPs act collectively more and more. If you watch them speaking in Parliament, you will often see them supporting another, just in shot. (Here, for example, is Olly Glover in the background while Charlie Maynard speaks on the Budget.) They are increasingly campaigning as a block together too: this week they called for health and care services to be exempted from the employer’s National Insurance rise in last week's Budget. “Oxfordshire GPs and care providers tell us about the immense pressure they're under after years of Conservative mismanagement. The government must change course and exempt them from the tax hike so people can access decent services.”
  • Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran, in her capacity as head of the Health & Social Care Select Committee, talked about reforming the social care system and launched an inquiry for people to contribute their views and experiences. She's also been campaigning hard for her cat, Murphy, to be elected Purr Minister: “It's clear that the country needs a feline with experience, principles and determination to deliver on key issues. My 21-year old cat Murphy is purr-fect for the job.” Voting is here.
  • Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo has been out on the doorsteps in Thame. He put out this video talking about the importance of casework and solving residents’ issues (whilst casting gentle shade on his predecessors, perhaps?). He has toured Benson Sewage Treatment Works and had discussions with Thames Water about improvements to the site. He tabled a motion asking the government to redouble its efforts to secure the release of Emily Damari, a British citizen being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza; and called for Britain to consider its position in Europe in light of the US election results and the war in Ukraine.
  • Didcot & Wantage's Olly Glover met with the chair of the British Dental Association to talk about the need for contractual reform. He warned that over 60 farms in Didcot and Wantage could be hit by a “tractor tax”, as he called for the government's decision to cut inheritance tax relief for farms to be reversed: “The government must scrap this disastrous tax immediately or risk family farms in Didcot & Wantage going out of business. For years, our local farmers, who farm almost 32,000 hectares of land in my constituency, have been forced to endure botched trade deals and cuts to their incomes due to the Conservative Party’s shameful neglect of rural communities.” After the Budget, in a speech in Parliament, Glover celebrated increased funding for the NHS, but warned of the National Insurance increase’s impact on small business owners.
  • Bicester & Woodstock MP Calum Miller held one of his regular surgeries in Bicester and put out this video letting constituents know to get in touch with casework. He went on the BBC's Politics South to discuss the budget and Kemi Badenoch's election. Miller, who holds the LibDems’ foreign affairs portfolio, called the Trump victory a “strategic challenge” and urged that the UK strengthen its relationship with its allies. Closer to home he encouraged constituents to fill out this consultation about polling stations.
  • Witney's Charlie Maynard met with the CEO of local hospice charity Helen & Douglas House and encouraged constituents to support them. It's rumoured the famous Santa run may return next year, and additionally rumoured that both Maynard and Witney's mayor Owen Collins may be running. Maynard has been open about his sister being diagnosed with glioblastoma, a brain cancer that typically kills people in 18 months; this week he shared news of a new treatment and called for more rapid use of the funding already in place to find a cure. Locally he took part in a competitive parliamentary bike ride for the Poppy Appeal; visited AirTanker at RAF Brize Norton; and met with officers from the Defence Academy at Shrivenham.

This weekend

  • It’s Remembrance Sunday and many Oxfordshire towns will have their parade and church services to commemorate the fallen.
  • The last few fireworks evenings are taking place, such as Risinghurst & Sandhills’ annual family fireworks and bonfire on Saturday: Risinghurst Playing Field, gates open 6pm.

Dates for your diary

  • Sticking with the market theme from our top stories, Gloucester Green market is now staying open late on selected Friday evenings for mulled wine, street food, local traders, unique gifts and a cosy festive atmosphere. Late opening will be on 22 November, 29 November, 6 December, and 13 December until 8pm.
  • It's pantomime season. (Oh yes it is!) The juggernaut is of course the Oxford Playhouse's Sleeping Beauty, but here are some smaller ones to consider:
  • Caper Bookshop on Magdalen Road will be hosting an evening with David Whyte, poet and philosopher, on 12 November at 7.30pm.

Across Oxford's independent media

Notes from Clarion HQ

We describe ourselves as not party political but broadly “progressive”, and so the election news from across the Atlantic came as a shock – as, we imagine, it may have done to many of our readers. We cannot control what a foreign country does, but we can act locally. We can all make a difference in our streets, villages, parishes, wards; by shopping locally, or reporting a pothole, or campaigning for a cause, or even standing for election. We’re here to shine a light on the locally important and share it with our audience: in uncertain times beyond Oxfordshire, we hope that our locally elected politicians will work together for the county, rather than just fodder for a leaflet.

For our own work, we are not greatly enamoured of Twitter’s current owner and acolyte of the newly elected President. We recognise that many Clarion readers aren’t either. We do continue to look into options for crossposting to other platforms, but haven’t yet found a solution that can work for our volunteer team. For now, our full coverage remains on Twitter, but we’re also flagging up our newsletter and long reads on Bluesky.