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Vote like your city depends on it – because it does

Regular Oxford Clarion readers must surely have expected us to write an Oxford City Council Election Special. And in truth we have been delaying it. Endless editorial debates. How do you write about something that seems so trivial (Bins! Cemeteries!), yet is actually so critical to the future of the

Shenanigans guaranteed: previewing Cherwell and West Oxfordshire’s 2024 elections

It’s May and that means election time. There are no county council elections this time (that’s next year), nor in the two southern districts of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse. But the streets of Oxford, Cropredy, Stanton Harcourt and dozens of villages in between are echoing

May Morning – an Oxford tradition

On 1 May thousands of people will congregate on Magdalen Bridge, listen to some children sing madrigals up a tower, then go watch some trees dancing to melodeons before going to find a bacon sandwich. All before 8am. Only in Oxford! Here's everything you need to know. It's a VERY

A bridge too far?

Fifteen councillors have called in a planning application for the multi-million pound bridge at Oxpens. The Special Review is on Thursday evening. We look at the arguments.

“We are making significant progress” – the latest on the new stadium

Oxfordshire county councillors heard an update this morning on progress in the negotiations between Oxford United FC and the County Council for the new stadium site at the Triangle, near Kidlington. Responding to questions from councillors including the leaders of the Conservative and Labour groups, Cllr Dan Levy (Liberal Democrat,

Are repurposed garages the future of Oxford city housing?

Oxford is the least affordable place to live in the country. The average house price is more than 12 times average earnings, and more than 3,300 households are on the waiting list for council housing. The waiting list for lower priority bands is up to 20 years. No, that’

OUFC’s new stadium: what do the consultation responses say?

“If you don’t want to know the scores, look away now.” The planning application for Oxford United’s new stadium at the Triangle, near Kidlington, is open for consultation. Responses are still being received, but at the time of going to press – not yet full time, but well into

Unexpected items in the roofing area: how DIY repairs scuppered the Covered Market

A series of unauthorised, unexplained and unusual fixes to the roof of Oxford’s Covered Market have led to a 4.5 year repair project stretching far beyond its projected completion date. The Covered Market is owned and run by Oxford City Council. The council has drawn up two separate

Environment Agency announces sweeping cuts to its River Thames operations

The Environment Agency, the Government body that runs the River Thames, has announced that it will be drastically scaling back its river operations this summer as a result of budget cuts. Assistant lock and weir keepers will not be recruited for the summer months, and the Agency’s riverside campsites

Happy Easter from the Clarion

All the links you need! The Clarion wishes you a very Happy Easter.  There's lots going on across the county. We've rounded up some of the best options for family fun over the Easter holidays. From easter egg hunts to science and history, there's something here for all interests, ages

Oxford’s hidden A road to get junction safety improvements

The A420 road in Oxfordshire is to get £2.25m of safety improvements – but it’s not what you might think. Most people know the A420 as the road that runs from the outskirts of Oxford to Swindon. It’s a busy commuter route and predictably susceptible to jams. The

The politics of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (spring 2024 edition)

A long-heralded report on Low Traffic Neighbourhoods was published by the Department for Transport yesterday (17 March). Trailed by warring briefings in the Guardian and the Times, it was long on rhetoric but short on substance. Of the parts that look at Oxford specifically, the report rehashes air quality and

“Everyone should pay their fair share”: anger over council’s “capitulation” to BMW

Opposition parties have blasted Oxford City Council's decision to waive a £830,000 community contribution for their upgrade at the East Oxford plant. Theo Jupp, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Oxford East calls the decision “laughable”, while independent councillor Damian Haywood attacked it as “catastrophic” and “capitulation”. Green councillor Lucy

Oxford retail bucks the national trend over Christmas

Oxford city centre dramatically outperformed the rest of the UK in terms of footfall over the last four months, which contain the crucial Christmas and January shopping periods. In early December, Oxford City Council reported that the previous quarter’s footfall had beaten the national average. Looking towards Christmas, it

The day the walls came down

Today, 9 March, marks the anniversary of the destruction of the Cutteslowe Walls. Built in 1934, they separated a private housing estate, built by the Urban Housing Company owned by Clive Saxton, from the council housing estate built by Oxford City Council. While we may think of Oxford as the

Which Oxfordshire councils have an equal gender balance?

Is local government dominated by men? Research suggests it is. A 2023 study found that just 36% of local councillors are women. Of the 382 county, district and unitary councils in Britain, only 18 have as many women as men. But the picture varies from area to area – and some

City centre mobile reception: EE says a fix is on the way

Mobile network EE says it is working to restore full coverage to Oxford city centre, following several weeks of degraded service. The Oxford Clarion has been contacted by several readers who noticed a sharp drop-off in EE reception in the city centre, saying that they are no longer able to

Oxfordshire’s road safety crisis

It is a mark of the road safety crisis in Oxfordshire that, while we were writing this piece, news came in of another cycling death on a county road. David Brain, 54, died on Saturday while cycling on Frieze Way, near Kidlington. It was one month, to the day, after

The rural picture: looking through South Oxfordshire’s budget

Like us, you may be a bit budget-blind by now. No fewer than four of Oxfordshire’s councils set their budgets this week: Oxfordshire County Council on Tuesday, Oxford City Council and Vale of White Horse on Wednesday, South Oxfordshire tonight. West Oxfordshire and Cherwell will follow next week. Can

Eynsham’s garden village can be net zero after all

West Oxfordshire District Council and local Liberal Democrat councillors are celebrating victory over the Government in the High Court this week. The dispute concerns Salt Cross, the new ‘garden village’ development near Eynsham, which WODC had specified needed to be built to net zero standards. WODC had planned a fossil

Budgets in the city

This is quite a week in Oxford! A two budget week. Let joy, and spreadsheets, be unconfined. One at Oxfordshire County Council and now, today, it is Oxford City Council’s turn. The County Council looks after roads, education, social care (and much more) while the City Council is housing,

Oxfordshire County Council’s budget: what the parties are proposing

…in which we read all 53 documents so you don’t have to. Tomorrow is budget-setting day at Oxfordshire County Council, and it promises to be a more fraught day than usual. When a council has a stable majority administration, agreeing the budget is a formality. The Cabinet draws up

Now we are two

It’s the Oxford Clarion’s second birthday. Our first tweet was 4 February 2022, reporting that Blackwells was up for sale with Waterstones the front-runner to acquire it. We started the Clarion because Oxford deserves better news. You shouldn’t have to engage with clickbait or endless angry comments

“I would never do something that compromised standing up for my neighbours” – WODC deputy leader

Controversy has broken out around accusations levelled by Witney Conservatives over a role held by Councillor Duncan Enright, Labour deputy leader of West Oxfordshire District Council. Witney Conservatives have accused Cllr Enright of a conflict of interest due to his role with the Community Communications Partnership, a company that connects

Here we go a-bollarding

Active travel enthusiasts gathered in East Oxford on Saturday to ‘wassail’ the low traffic neighbourhood bollards across St. Mary’s and wish them good fortune in the coming year. Clad in a mix of hi-vis and traditional feathers, the group sang and danced around the wooden bollards as well as

The Oxford Clarion general election preview

You may think this is a bit early for a general election preview. No date has yet been announced. It will (almost certainly) be in 2024. Possibly November. Possibly earlier. Yes – you may well think this is a bit early. But the political parties don’t. For over a year,

Oxford’s allotmenteers face a fees hike

Allotment holders in Oxford could be facing higher fees for growing their own vegetables, as negotiations between the City Council and Oxford’s allotment association have failed to reach a resolution. If negotiations fail, allotment holders fear that the council could take on direct management of the sites. Oxford City

Oxford’s secret pavement parking ban

Pavement parking is the scourge of people in wheelchairs or pushing buggies – and it’s getting worse. Crossovers and SUVs now account for 54.8% of new car sales in the UK. Cars are getting wider, but Oxford’s roads aren’t. The result is an epidemic of pavement parking.

Oxford: a cycling city?

Britain’s cycling profession has descended on Oxford. The “Cycle County, Active County” conference, an annual gathering for transport planners, academics, cycling advocates and consultants, is taking place at the Examination Schools yesterday (5 July) and today. Oxfordshire is there en masse. County cabinet lead Andrew Gant and the city

What’s happening in Cherwell?

Let’s start with the official statements from the parties. Labour: Liberal Democrat: Green: Conservative: After the local elections on 4 May, the state of the parties on Cherwell District Council was: * Conservative Party: 20 seats * Labour Party: 12 seats * Liberal Democrat Party: 10 seats * Green Party: 3 seats * Independents:

Local elections preview 2023

No, you haven’t mislaid your polling card. If you’re reading this in Oxford City, you don’t have elections this year. The city elects half its councillors at a time, so there’s two years between each set of elections. Nor are there elections for Oxfordshire County Council,

“Impeccably balanced”: the Oxford Mail’s low-traffic neighbourhood reporting

Analysis of the Oxford Mail’s low-traffic neighbourhood coverage shows that the city’s legacy print newspaper takes a consistently hostile view of the project. Using text analysis software, the Oxford Clarion has examined the Mail’s LTN coverage, and compared it to other reporting by the same paper. The

Fear and loathing in Diddly Squat Farm Shop

“We were somewhere around Chadlington, on the edge of the Cotswolds, when the drugs began to take hold.” Jeremy Clarkson was put on God’s good earth as a service to the journalists of Oxfordshire. “Jeremy Clarkson admits he is still struggling to win over Chipping Norton locals.” “Jeremy Clarkson

Oxford’s by-elections – and what they mean for the city’s traffic plans

Oxfordshire’s ruling coalition will have breathed a sigh of relief this morning as Labour held onto its council seats in Rose Hill and Littlemore. Not because the coalition’s survival was at stake. The LibDem/Labour/Green alliance has a comfortable majority at County Hall. But if Labour had