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The Clarion county election rundown

Who's standing and who's bowing out? With elections for every seat on Oxfordshire County Council coming up on 1 May, we take a look at the battlegrounds. Cast your mind back to 2021. It was the height of Boris Johnson’s pomp, with the Conservatives enjoying

Clarion Weekly, 18 April 2025

This week’s top stories The £75m Blavatnik School of Government on Walton Street, designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, has been closed after an unexpected air strike by a hostile seagull. Events including a Heat Pump Summit were rescheduled so that repairs can take place. A spokesperson

Clarion Weekly, 11 April 2025

This week’s top stories It’s election season! This week, we published our run-down of ten questions to ask canvassers seeking your vote for the County Council. All the big issues, from special educational needs and adult social care to (this is the Clarion, after all) cycling infrastructure. Dive

10 questions to decide the future of your county

There are county council elections on 1 May. If you're in a fiercely contested area, you will have people knocking on your door from now until 9.30 pm on polling day. Perhaps you already have. Judging by the stream of press releases and leaflets sent to us

Clarion Weekly, 4 April 2025

💡This is your sign to register to vote, and how to do it. Elections for Oxfordshire County Council are on Thursday 1 May – so you can vote immediately after the city’s May Day celebrations. The last date to register to vote is midnight on Friday 11 April. The last

Bikes and boats - the future of Oxford city centre?

Oxford's Worcester Street Car Park is proposed to be converted back to a canal basin – featuring a marina with residential moorings, an upscale retail and leisure area, and a children's playground and splash park. Worcester Street Car Park was installed as a “temporary car park” in

Clarion Weekly, 28 March 2025

“I read the news today, oh boy. Four thousand holes in Eynsham, Oxfordshire…” We have one editorial rule at the Clarion: no Jeremy Clarkson. Like any rule, it’s made to be broken, but we figure you can get your Diddly Squat Farm Shop updates elsewhere. For the next month,

Oxfordshire’s solar boom continues

It’s a mark of the investment going into solar power right now that, just a fortnight after we ran a long read on one Oxfordshire solar farm, we’re back with a round-up of the latest projects in the county. For once, the word ‘boom’ isn’t hyperbolic. Below

You can see them from space: Oxford Space Systems

Later this year, a rocket will blast off from Florida carrying a satellite made by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL). It’s a demonstration radar satellite, and on board, making an ambitious mission possible with a satellite the size of washing-machine, is the radar dish – or more accurately, the antenna

Clarion Weekly, 21 March 2025

If you care about transport, building homes, or sewage, it's been a huge week in Oxfordshire. Here's all the news you need to know, and the best of the county's events and media. If this is your first newsletter, welcome! We are all the

Citizens’ Assembly votes for “a car-free city centre”

An assembly of Oxfordshire citizens has overwhelmingly supported making the city centre car-free and turning some existing roads over to buses, cyclists and Blue Badge holders. Together with housing being built close to key facilities, rural greenways, and using funds from a Workplace Parking Levy to improve city transport, these

“Oxford is uninvestable”: developers say sewage is blocking 18,000 homes

25 developers in Oxford – including several colleges, the company behind the flagship Oxpens project, and stadium owner Firoka – have written to the Government saying sewage issues are causing “a complete hiatus of development”. Upgrade works to Oxford Sewage Treatment Works were due to be completed this month. Instead, as the

Clarion Weekly, 14 March 2025

Welcome to all our new subscribers! Each week we round up the best of the city's news, politics and events, gift wrap it with the occasional snark and email it to you for your Friday lunchtime reading pleasure. This week, however, was a bit special… This week’s

Transport: Full steam ahead… or on your bike?

Few people know the challenges of transporting people around Oxfordshire quickly, efficiently and affordably better than Olly Glover. Since 2024 the MP for Didcot & Wantage, he formerly worked in the rail industry, and has a background as a cycle campaigner. We invited his reflections on what the county should

Water: Why Abingdon’s mega reservoir is making waves

Thames Water are not just the people who flood our rivers with sewage. They’re also planning to submerge a prime chunk of rural Oxfordshire under England’s second largest reservoir. Could they be any more the pantomime villain? But don’t rush to judgement quite yet. The Thames Valley

Energy: Will the sun shine on Botley West Solar Farm?

With a government determined to “sprint towards clean, homegrown energy”, it’s a good time to be an investor in solar farms. Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy, has made no secret of his support for onshore solar – a stark contrast to his Conservative predecessors. He approved three

Sewage: The unsavoury blockage in Oxford’s planning pipeline

Health warning: we advise against reading this article while eating. Oxfordshire has a sewage problem – one that is getting worse by the month. Regular Clarion readers will know this, as will casual readers of almost any media outlet in the county; anyone who has received any political communication from any

Infrastructure week: What’s stopping Oxfordshire’s new houses?

“Sir Keir Starmer has made overhauling planning the foundation of his push for growth, attacking the current rules as ‘ruinous’ and promising to take on ‘nimbys’ who have held Britain ‘to ransom’ and ‘choked’ the economy.” So ran a splash in the Times this weekend. Local councillors have been fingered

Clarion Weekly, 7 March 2025

Could Oxford’s streets change beyond recognition? Plus reaction to Anneliese Dodds’ resignation as a minister; an Oxford University AI/venture capitalist tie-up; and a beautiful song about a racing pigeon. This week's top stories “Imagining the Oxford that puts people first” is the aim of new street

Clarion Weekly, 28 February 2025

This way for SEND, Mini, ANPR, Uber, bridges, lab rats and bats. Plus two Prime Ministers and 1600 new homes. Big week for Oxfordshire news! This week’s top stories Below-expected take up of electric vehicles has caused BMW to pause a £600m investment to build electric Minis at Plant

Electric Avenue

BMW’s Oxford plant looked to have an assured future, building electric Minis for the Net Zero age. Then, this week, all this was thrown into doubt as the German firm paused a planned £600m investment. What went wrong? Years of blowing hot and cold on the future of Plant

Clarion Weekly, 21 February 2025

Step this way for stadium, inauguration, housing and coffee news. And is Oxford getting an Apple Store? This week’s top stories Landlords are warning of rent rises of up to 23% as a result of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc. The “investment corridor” is designed to attract employers to the area

Clarion Weekly, 14 February 2025

Happy Valentine’s Day to all our readers. We love that you’re here. Let us bring a romantic flavour to your Friday lunchtime with some… in-depth budget coverage? This week’s top stories There was a point on Thursday evening, with Oxford City Council deep in debate about garden

Budgets in the city 2025

Once a year Oxford City Council sets its budget. It doesn't often make for good headlines (Giant pothole on A34! Emma Watson! Jeremy Clarkson’s dog!) but it should. For the 165,000 people living in Oxford City, this is how the council will spend around £100m and

There’s a pothole in the budget

Pothole enthusiasts of Oxfordshire, rejoice. At last the council is listening to you. Oxfordshire County Council’s budget this year is (almost) all about roads. On Tuesday, councillors will be debating the draft budget put forward by the Liberal Democrat and Green administration – and proposing their own amendments. Just like

Clarion Weekly, 7 February 2025

This week’s top stories Oxfordshire County Council elections will take place as planned in May. This week Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner announced a number of counties where unitary authorities would be set up, requiring postponement of elections, and also named the first overarching ‘strategic authorities’ grouping several counties.

Clarion Weekly, 31 January 2025

This week’s top stories The Oxford–Cambridge Arc is back – but this time it’s a ‘growth corridor’. Oxford is to get a Government-led Growth Commission to “review how best to tackle the barriers that are constraining development of new housing and infrastructure”. Bringing together councils, universities and local

Clarion Weekly, 24 January 2025

Botley Road to reopen in August 2026 The Botley Road rail bridge will remain closed for another 18 months. Network Rail announced an August 2026 completion date this morning (Friday) at a meeting with rail minister Lord Peter Hendy and Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran. But there’s

Oxford’s elections 2025: the battlegrounds

With 100 days to go, voter analysis by the Oxford Clarion suggests that Labour face severe challenges in Oxford in the county council elections on 1 May.  If the voting for last year’s city council elections was replayed at the county elections, Labour would win just five divisions of

Clarion Weekly, 17 January 2025

Welcome! Now we’ve cleared the Christmas backlog, this is shaping up to be a big year for Oxfordshire news: OUFC’s new stadium, county council elections, thousands of new houses, two theme parks planned for the Bicester area… the list goes on. But one thing we’re not betting

Botley Road could remain closed until June 2026

Rail industry documents passed to the Oxford Clarion show that the Government will need to overrule Network Rail if the Botley Road work is to finish before June 2026. The road was originally closed in April 2023, and was set to reopen in October 2024. But the discovery of a

Clarion Weekly, 10 January 2025

This week’s top stories Happy New Year! We’re refreshed and recovered after the Christmas break, where (after respective Clarion kids had gone to bed) we started work on researching and writing a clutch of features for the coming months. In the first long read of 2025, we took

A spirited revival? Fighting to breathe life back into Cheney Farm

Urban Oxford has a surprising number of farms. Wood Farm is a 1950s/60s development south of Headington. Court Place Farm is the home of Oxford City FC. Oxford City Farm is the kid-friendly food and animals space by Florence Park. And Cheney Farm, at the top of South Park,

Clarion Weekly, 20 December 2024

This week’s top stories In a brace of Clarion long reads this week, we first looked at the Tiny Forest in Headington that is causing big trouble. Will a new housing development mean it’s bulldozed just a few years after it was planted? Oxfordshire’s councils could be

Rearranging the pieces on the Oxfordshire cheeseboard

Charles de Gaulle famously asked “How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?” Keir Starmer is asking how you can govern a country with 246 varieties of local council. France has 18 régions, which in turn are divided into départements, 101 in all. Add a few

Tiny forest, big trouble

It is tree planting season. Oxford City Council has made much of planting 150 trees across the city. Oxfordshire County Council is adding another 109 street trees within the city limits. One enterprising city councillor, in conjunction with an East Oxford school, has planted nearly 1000. (You are reading that

Clarion Weekly, 13 December 2024

This week's top stories Will the Government’s announcement of more special needs funding fix Oxfordshire’s SEND crisis? We took a detailed look this week. Spoiler: it’s rather more complex than the headlines might imply – pointing up the difference between revenue (ongoing) funding for support staff

Special Educational Needs: are the funding taps finally being turned on?

Oxfordshire’s on-going Special Educational Needs (SEND) crisis continues. The Government has pledged additional funding – but will it be enough? Following the recent Budget, the Labour Government announced on December 4 a “£740m capital investment to create more specialist places in mainstream schools”. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson promised “tangible change

Clarion Weekly, 6 December 2024

This week’s top stories What do you get when the world’s third richest man buys Tolkien’s local? Oxford is about to find out. In a long read, we look into the no-expense-spared plans for the Eagle & Child. Jericho Wharf has sat derelict for 18 years. Now,

“Enough is enough”: Jericho community loses patience with wharf saga

In a city where every scrap of land is sought for much-needed housing, it scarcely seems believable that a 2,000m² site just outside the centre has been sitting derelict for 18 years. Even more so when that site has a history stretching back 180 years and is located in

The “Bird and Baby” grows up: inside the new Eagle & Child

What do you get when the world’s third richest man buys Tolkien’s local? Oxford is about to find out. The Eagle & Child is Oxford’s most storied inn. It was here that the Inklings met every Tuesday lunchtime – a writing group including J.R.R. Tolkien, C.

Clarion Weekly, 29 November 2024

This week’s top stories Raindrops have been falling on our heads. Storm Bert visited Oxfordshire this week. Towpaths were closed, buses were diverted, schools shut. Environment Agency staff worked to pump out water and clear drains in a Canute-like battle against the rain. In Oxford, predictably, the Abingdon Road

Many Messiahs: Christmas choral highlights in Oxford

Will Dawes, Director of Chapel Music at Somerville College, curates a selection of choral delights for the festive season – from the Messiah to Midnight Mass. Whilst the big day is still about a month away, the season of shopping, festivity, and celebration in these darker evenings is very much already

Is there a doctor in the housing estate?

Labour and the Liberal Democrats have traded blows over the lack of a GP surgery at Didcot's Great Western Park – in a case that demonstrates the challenges that come with new housing. This 3,300-home development includes four new schools, community facilities, parks, playgrounds and football pitches – but

The A40 from Witney to Oxford: what’s being built (and what’s not)

Ten years after the first funding was secured, the final* plans for the A40 from Witney to Eynsham have been released. One of Oxfordshire’s most congested roads is set to get even busier. The Salt Cross ‘garden village’, new houses in west Eynsham, and developments in east and north

Is Oxford a walkable city?

In a world containing the freeways of Los Angeles, the parking sprawl of London’s Westfield Centre, and the 1970s ring road of Coventry, it might seem strange to question Oxford’s walkability. The historic centre is a grid of wide avenues and small connecting streets, several of which have

Clarion Weekly, 22 November 2024

This week's top stories On Tuesday much of the county woke up in a winter wonderland. We invited Clarion readers to send us their best pictures, and here they are. Beautiful though it was, it caused disruption. The Severe Weather Emergency Protocol for Oxford’s homeless was activated.

A history of council homes in Oxford

This Saturday, 23 November, marks the anniversary of the first completed council houses in Oxford. They were opened in 1920 by mayoress Florence Lewis, wife of mayor Edmund Lewis. The two houses still stand on the corner of Iffley Road and Addison Crescent. To mark the date, we take a

Clarion Weekly, 15 November 2024

This week's top stories On Remembrance Sunday, Oxfordshire remembered its fallen. From the Fire Service, to the women of Somerville College, TVP’s Mounted Police, MPs and councillors, Oxfordshire marked this sombre day. Do we all have to get used to flooding in Oxfordshire, or is it something

Flooding in Oxfordshire: what can we do?

Oxfordshire has a flooding problem – and it’s getting worse. We are not talking Florida-style flooding. Oxfordshire is about as far as it’s possible to get from the sea in England – and although that didn’t help in North Carolina, the North Atlantic is nowhere near as hot as

More heat than light? The surprising controversy over switching off streetlights

A war of words has erupted over a seemingly innocuous item in Thursday's county council meeting. “Dark Skies: Street Lighting Illumination Proposals” is a title that at first glance suggests nothing more than a sensitive approach to light pollution across the county. But what’s proposed is radical:

Clarion Weekly, 8 November 2024

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

Woodstock Road: how a visionary scheme became paint on a pavement

Woodstock Road has a traffic problem. Your Clarion writer experienced this first-hand recently. It was 3.15pm, school run time, and traffic was moving desperately slowly – we would estimate an average of 5mph. It was stop-start all the way from First Turn to Squitchey Lane, where Team Clarion decided to

Oxfordshire Market Directory

Looking for fresh food, affordable clothes, or simply fed up with trudging round supermarkets? Oxfordshire’s markets might have the answer. We’ve taken a look at the history of the county’s markets in a separate article. But they’re far more than just history: they continue today in

Markets in Oxfordshire

This is a county of market towns. There’s a market somewhere in Oxfordshire every single day of the week. Britain’s market culture has been enduring a long, slow decline (unlike in France). The advent of farmers’ markets in the late 1990s perhaps led to a minor renaissance, but

Clarion Weekly, 1 November 2024

This week’s top stories The headlines this week were dominated by Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first budget, and Oxfordshire is no exception. In a special report, we looked at the implications for our city and county – taking in flooding, Airbnbs, Botley West Solar Farm, independent schools, and much more. All

What the Budget means for Oxfordshire

Rachel Reeves (PPE, New College) has delivered a budget which, at first sight, has much more for Cambridge than Oxford. The Other Place™ gets new housing, support for the “wider Cambridge life sciences cluster”, £10m for the Cambridge Growth Company, a consultation on a new railway, and a shout-out as

Clarion Weekly, 25 October 2024

This week’s top stories The ‘white elephant’ park and ride in Eynsham is to be connected to the A40 by early 2027. After a year’s delay, the Government finally approved the funding for the A40 improvements between Eynsham and Oxford – including the connecting road to the pre-existing car

Together at last: Eynsham Park & Ride to be connected to the A40

The 850-space Park & Ride at Eynsham, five miles west of Oxford, is finally to be connected to the A40. Although the car park had been built and was under security surveillance, the link road remained unbuilt – leading to national press headlines such as “You can't park there!

Clarion Weekly, 18 October 2024

This week’s top stories The Odeon cinema on George Street is to be demolished and replaced with a StayCity aparthotel and community space. Oxford City Council gave planning permission for the new development on Tuesday, with hopes voiced that the aparthotel could help tackle Oxford’s short-term let problem.

Oxford University’s Chancellor election: the runners and riders

Just when you thought 2024’s election season was over… Much like Popes, the Chancellor of the University of Oxford has traditionally had a job until he (and until now, it has always been a he) dies or chooses to retire. Harold Macmillan did it for 27 years, Roy Jenkins

The first 100 days in Oxfordshire

October 12 marked the first 100 days of a Labour government. 10o days ago, nationally, we were waiting to find out the size of the Labour majority, and to what extent the incoming Labour Party would be able to deliver their message of #Change. Remember that? Locally, in Oxfordshire we

Clarion Weekly, 11 October 2024

This week's top stories Campaigners for Grandpont Nature Park have secured a judicial review into the proposed new Oxpens River Bridge for pedestrians and cyclists. The Friends of Grandpont group has so far raised £11,647 from a £35,000 target. They argue the bridge is “unnecessary and

Oxford City Council, 7 October 2024

We are sure you were all glued to the live-stream of the Oxford City Council meeting last night. (…just us then?) We regularly live-tweet from County Council meetings, both Cabinet and Full Council. We’ve given City Council meetings less attention, and that’s perhaps an omission. So this month,

Clarion Weekly, 4 October 2024

This week’s top stories Oxford City Council's Local Plan was rejected by the national Planning Inspectorate – a spanner in the works for plans to tackle Oxford’s housing crisis. Council leader Susan Brown said “We are alarmed and extremely disappointed.” The council’s draft Local Plan envisaged

Oxford City's housing plan has been rejected. Why?

[Editor's note: since publishing the piece originally, we received a statement from the Liberal Democrats. We have duly edited the piece to include the statement. This is a developing story.] In a month when the headlines are all full of the Labour Government’s intentions to build 1.

Clarion Weekly, 27 September 2024

This week’s top stories More than a month's rain fell across the county in 24 hours at the beginning of the week, causing school closures, road and public transport disruption. This continued intermittently through the week. A selection of local councillors on the case: Oxford Lord Mayor

We are all the Clarion

Occasionally we are asked “Who is behind the Oxford Clarion?” At our core is a small writing team who work for free – we have no funding from anyone. Among them are people with backgrounds in journalism, communications, and community media. Our volunteers contribute time and effort sourcing stories, writing up

Clarion Weekly, 19 September 2024

This week’s top stories This week was Housing Week, where we explored how Oxford and the county can accommodate 100,000 new homes. * On Monday we looked at why Oxford has a housing crisis, and how it impacts everyone in the county. * On Tuesday we looked at view cones

Housing Week: Building Out – can Oxfordshire solve Oxford's housing crisis?

This week we’ve examined the challenges in building within the Oxford Ring Road, building upwards, and building in the Green Belt. Where can you build? One answer remains: rural Oxfordshire. The scale of building planned for Oxfordshire is breathtaking. The big towns, like Banbury, Didcot and Witney, are getting

Housing Week: The Green Belt

It’s remarkable how Oxford has barely grown in 50 years. Here’s the city limits in 1968: And today: You can while away a happy half-hour playing ‘Spot the Difference’. Here’s a few starters: Greater Leys (mid-1980s). Barton Park (2019 onwards). A little infill around Sandhills and Wood

Housing Week: Finding space in a medieval city

The best article we ever wrote, but no one read, was about turning city garages into homes. We link to it often in the hope people might eventually read it. Repurposing garages as housing may not sound thrilling, but it’s one of the ingenious ways of finding space for

Housing Week: Building Up, or view cones vs the dreaming spires

Opening the Clarion’s Housing Week yesterday, we noted that Oxford is the second most expensive place to live in Britain, after Kensington & Chelsea. London, famously, has built upwards. The Shard. The Gherkin. The Walkie-Talkie. The Cheesegrater. The Scalpel. We promise we have not made any of these up.

Housing Week: Oxford needs homes. Why? And where?

Oxford is the second least affordable place to live in the UK – after Kensington & Chelsea. In this, the first of a five part series of Clarion long reads, we examine why Oxford has such a housing shortage, and why it matters far beyond the simple cost of your rent

Clarion Weekly, 13 September 2024

Next week is Housing Week here at the Oxford Clarion. In a series of five long reads, we'll be looking at the issues around building new houses in Oxford and Oxfordshire - and asking what can be done to help more people get homes in Britain's

Must new houses mean new roads? Campaigners and councils clash

Can you have new houses without new roads? Until now, received wisdom in Oxfordshire has always been that one requires the other – but campaigners are now calling this into question. The south of the county, including South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse, has been earmarked for up to

Oxford’s traffic problem: the big picture

No issue in Oxfordshire is more fiercely contested than Oxford’s traffic. Most people agree it’s a problem – but not how to fix it. Oxfordshire County Council, which is responsible for roads across city and county, is trying to reshape Oxford’s traffic through a series of interventions – Low

Fully charged: how Oxford became an electric superpower

Quietly, Oxford has become a global powerhouse in electric vehicle charging and energy storage. You might have noticed more electric taxis, and electric buses. If you're really attentive you might have noticed more EV charge points on the roads, or even the very large one up at Redbridge.

Clarion Weekly, 6 September 2024

Is the future of transport being hatched on a converted Bicester airfield? In this week's Clarion long read we take a look at how a site in “Motorsport Valley” has become home to flying taxis, advanced electric drive, and even electric go-karts. Read the full story. This week’

The airfield where flying taxis rub shoulders with pre-war Rolls Royces

A vegan festival, flying taxis, and vintage Rolls Royces converted to electric may seem like strange bedfellows, but these and more are taking shape on a converted airfield on the edge of Bicester. The site of RAF Bicester has been home to heritage vehicle preservation since 2013, but now it

Clarion Weekly, 30 August 2024

This week's top stories The old tennis pavilion at Bury Knowle Park, Headington, has been reworked into a café and community hub. The £600,000 project also included works to create a multi-use games area, mini-golf and shuffleboard. The works are a collaboration between Oxford City Council and

That's the spirit! Oxford distillery owners in comeback bid

What was once the Oxford Artisan Distillery is now aiming at a spirited revival within the grounds of South Park. If you're looking for a Friday tonic, read on… In 2016, an entrepreneur named Tom Nicolson founded a distillery in South Park, Headington. He named it TOAD: The

The street in the National Cycle Network where cycling is banned

You might have thought a fundamental tenet of a National Cycle Network would be that you could ride a bike along it. In Bicester, that isn’t the case. The Varsity Way is the official signposted cycle route from Oxford to Cambridge. Blue signs with the number ‘51’ on them

Clarion Weekly, 23 August 2024

This week’s top stories An emergency weight limit of 7.5 tonnes has been imposed on Donnington Bridge, following ongoing monitoring work which showed weaknesses in the structure. Oxfordshire County Council engineers recommended that the weight limit was imposed “as a precautionary measure” while checks are carried out on

Clarion Weekly, 16 August 2024

This week's top stories A plan for a 6,000-home new town – including a new railway station – has been submitted in what would be Oxfordshire’s largest ever single housing development, creating a town larger than Wallingford, Henley or Thame. Heyford Park is built on the site of

Oxfordshire’s biggest ever new town

A plan for 6,000 new homes on a former airfield has been submitted in what would be Oxfordshire’s biggest ever single development. Upper Heyford air base – used by both the RAF and the US Air Force – closed in 1993. It was speculatively acquired by housebuilder Dorchester in 2009.

Clarion Weekly, 9 August 2024

This week’s top stories Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in East Oxford on Wednesday to protest against racist intimidation and to support refugee organisations such as Asylum Welcome. A crowd estimated at over 500 chanted “Say it loud and clear, refugees are welcome here” after Asylum Welcome’s Magdalen Road

Apple Ermine Moth: the pest that’s decimating Oxford's apple trees

Do you have an apple tree in your garden or on your street? Perhaps you've noticed strange cobweb like sacs ('tents') on the leaves this year. Or perhaps the branches are looking less leafy than usual? Chances are apple ermine moth is the culprit. Have a

Clarion Weekly, 2 August 2024

This week’s top stories Oxford city centre continues to beat national footfall figures while attracting more local visitors – despite national figures being propped up by Taylor Swift's Eras tour. In a Clarion exclusive, our full story is here. Oxford–Banbury–Birmingham train services are being cut again.

Oxford continues to beat national footfall while attracting local visitors

Oxford may not have been blessed with a visit from Taylor Swift, whose tour boosted footfall averages across the UK in June – yet the city has beaten UK retail footfall for the 13th consecutive month. In June 2024, Oxford's footfall declined by 0.6% compared to June 2023.

“Don't delay”: Oxford doctor's message as he diagnoses own son with rare sarcoma

Professor Dominic Furniss, a leading reconstructive surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals, found himself living every doctor's worst fear when he diagnosed his teenage son with a rare and aggressive cancer. He, and Sarcoma UK, are urging people not to delay if they see symptoms, but to seek medical

Clarion Weekly, 26 July 2024

This week’s top stories Overnight visitors to Oxford’s hotels could be charged a small “visitor levy” to help fund tourism facilities in Oxford. Such a scheme is already in operation in Manchester, but was rejected by Cambridge hoteliers. The City Council has now commissioned a feasibility study. This

The Marston by election

Who's standing, and what might happen? On 3rd June Oxford City Council announced a by election following the resignation of Green Councillor Alistair Morris. The Clarion thanks him for his service as a councillor and wishes him well.  Marston has two councillors for the city, the other, Cllr

Culham Town: the future of housing in Oxfordshire?

If there's anyone who thinks housing in Oxfordshire has been planned optimally and sensibly in recent years, we have yet to meet them. "Planned" at all might be generous. Houses have been ladled onto Wantage and Grove, Witney and Carterton, each one in a rail desert

Oxfordshire MPs' first week..

It's a new dawn, it's a new day... Have you missed the diaries? Reminiscing about rosettes? Perhaps you might like to see what Oxfordshire MP's- new and returning- have been up to this week; the first week of a new Parliament and a new

VONC: What happened in the meeting?

On Tuesday, Labour launched a vote of no confidence in the Lib Dem/ Green minority administration. We wrote about what might happen, and why here. TL/ DR: it was always going to be a numbers game.... But did the tide turn, or was it simply making waves for nothing? Ahead

Oxford’s footfall bucks national trend for 12th month in a row

Oxford’s visitor numbers continue to outperform the UK average, according to latest footfall figures obtained by the Oxford Clarion. We compared Oxford city footfall data to figures reported by the British Retail Consortium representing the national picture – both for UK footfall in general, and High Street footfall specifically. On

Labour launches no confidence motion in OCC

The Labour group on Oxfordshire County Council has launched a motion of no confidence in the council’s Liberal Democrat leadership. Oxfordshire’s county councillors – all 63 of them – meet seven times a year. The next “full council” meeting is this Tuesday. After the official business, the floor is open

The Golden Rosette Awards

So the voting is over and the dust is just beginning to settle. We are sure there will be sore heads and sleepy eyes today. We wish all candidates and activists a swift recovery, and as ever, we thank any and all candidates who put themselves up for election. Win

Clean sweep: how Oxfordshire went from five to zero Conservative MPs

In the end it wasn't even close. A Conservative majority of 14,000 in Henley became a Liberal Democrat majority of 6,270. Wantage went the same way, from 12,650 to 6,230. Witney and Bicester & Woodstock were similar. Banbury fell to Labour. These are areas

How the election count works

They call me the Count because I really love to count.... ha ha ha ha! We are not (quite) delirious with election fever. But the campaign is entering its closing stages. Soon, it’s all over… bar the counting. If Britain is a beacon for democracy, and the UK parliament

What happens on polling day?

Not all heroes wear capes. Some have rulers. Or spatulas. Have you ever wondered about how you vote? Not the way you vote, of course, but the mechanics of it. In this latest long read, we demystify some of what goes on in election times, where a crowd of unsung

Oxfordshire Election Diary: Week 6

The winner of the General Election might be a foregone conclusion, but in Oxfordshire, it’s going down to the wire. Only two of the county’s seats – Oxford East and Oxford West & Abingdon – are (probably) safe. In the other five, from Henley to Banbury and all points in

Oxfordshire Election Diary: Week 5

The Clarion hasn’t endorsed an election candidate since 1907 and we’re not planning to start now. We know we have Conservative, Labour, LibDem and Green readers, plus independents of all stripes (albeit not always our biggest fans). Many of you will be voting with your heart for your

Hustings near you

In date order, our most up-to-date list of hustings.  Let us know if we've missed one – we'll keep it updated as we hear more. * Monday 17 June, Didcot [Didcot & Wantage constituency] * Friday 21 June, Abingdon [Oxford West & Abingdon constituency] * Friday 21 June, Charlbury [Banbury

The life and death of Oxford’s ‘effective altruism’ dream

The ripples from the conviction of Sam Bankman-Fried, the fraudster whose FTX crypto empire collapsed into bankruptcy from a valuation of $32bn, continue to make waves a long way from the Bahamas HQ of the one-time wunderkind. Wytham Abbey, a 15th century manor house just outside Oxford, has gone up

Oxfordshire Election Diary: Week 4

This was the week of manifestos. In short order: Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Green Party, Reform UK. Best have a coffee handy. Perhaps a flask. And a paper bag to breathe into.   National polls have been coming thick and fast this week. Two have now found Reform UK neck-and-neck with,

Oxfordshire Election Diary: Week 3

The deadline has passed, and we now know who’s standing for election in every seat in Oxfordshire. This is the list you’ll be seeing on ballot papers on 4th July. Oxford East voters have an impressive choice of 12 candidates, only surpassed by Rishi Sunak’s Richmond &

The Equality Act: what do Oxfordshire’s politicians say?

It’s Oxford Pride on Saturday – less than a month before the General Election. And in the national debate, trans rights are front and centre. Front-bench spokespeople including Kemi Badenoch for the Conservatives have been airing their plans in national media. Politico describes the tactic as “culture wars” and an

Oxfordshire Election Diary: Week 2

Last week may have been half-term, but there’s been no let-up in the campaigning – even though a big chunk of voters weren’t at home to answer their doors. Here’s our recap of week 2, with thanks to some new contributors – you know who you are! Keep the

Oxfordshire Election Diary: Week 1

Like Queen Victoria, we are very much not amused. The Clarion had plans for this summer. Articles we wanted to write (the FOIs are in). Bike rides we wanted to go on. Events we wanted to attend. The plan was not to be slaving over a hot laptop while the

Traffic-free cycling in Oxfordshire

Now the sun is finally making an appearance, why not get out on your bike with the kids this half-term? Cycling for leisure has been a Clarion tradition since 1895, so here’s our guide to the best places to cycle without traffic in (and near) Oxfordshire. These are fun

Could you go car-free?

That was the question posed by local group Low Carbon Oxford North. Earlier this year, they appealed for 12 Oxford drivers to voluntarily give up their car for three weeks, and to report back on their experiences. The 12 chosen were all long-term drivers, many reliant on cars since an

Proud to live in Oxfordshire

Wherever you live in the county, somewhere over the rainbow, there's a Pride celebration near you. It might be low key or it might be a bright splashy parade. And it's all year round, not just for one day. Quietly or loudly, groups of LGBTQ+ activists

We’re all going to Wembley… by train

Water Eaton has never known anything like it. Oxford United’s play-off final is this Saturday, and the tiny hamlet will have up to three trains an hour to Wembley Stadium. Water Eaton is of course also Oxford Parkway, the city’s second railway station. Like so much about the

We found £278m down the back of the sofa

Not us, you understand. (Though for those with incessant questions about “how is the Clarion funded?”, maybe that’s your answer.) Oxfordshire County Council has found £278m down the back of the sofa. Remember that number: 278. Here’s another number: 106. Section 106 sounds like an obscure early-80s post-punk

More locals than ever are visiting Oxford City Centre

Oxford remains a destination city, but local visitors are steadily increasing, latest figures released by Oxford City Council show.   The Clarion reported on Oxford's footfall increase bucking the national trends earlier this year. Oxford city centre dramatically outperformed the rest of the UK in terms of footfall over

“The belief of the oppressors” – an Independent Oxford Alliance candidate comments on Islam

Oxford East’s MP Anneliese Dodds, and leader of Oxford City Council Susan Brown, have called on Independent Oxford Alliance candidates to distance themselves from the “appalling behaviour” of others in their party. Following the Oxford Clarion’s report on party chair Anne Gwinnett yesterday, a series of comments by

“Pandemics cannot happen”: the views of the Independent Oxford Alliance’s chair

Anne Gwinnett, the chair of Oxford’s new anti-LTN party, has posted a series of tweets which cast doubt on the Covid pandemic and climate change, among other topics. Dr Gwinnett, who lives in the north Oxfordshire village of Tackley, has been the chair of the Independent Oxford Alliance since

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&

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

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

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