The Clarion, 12 May 2026

Town and Gown run on Sunday. Photo by Roger Close.

All the fallout from last week’s elections, plus trains to Bristol, college beehives, a new blue plaque and Europe Day. And two photo specials! Read on…

This week’s photo stories

Can you spot yourself in either of the two mass events in the city on Sunday? Our ace photographer Roger Close captured all the action. Early on Sunday morning, runners filled the streets of Oxford in the Town and Gown 10k race.

And later that day, kids on bikes claimed the streets of the city in Kidical Mass.

Cllr Andrew Gant at the Magdalen Road Food Festival in 2024.

This week’s top stories

Andrew Gant is stepping down as Oxfordshire’s transport chief. As the County Council’s cabinet member for transport management, he introduced Oxford’s congestion charge and 20mph limits in towns and villages, and oversaw the pedestrianisation of Broad Street, and the bedding in of the city’s Low Traffic Neighbourhoods.

OCC leader Liz Leffman said: “Under his guidance, Oxfordshire has become a flagship for safer, cleaner transport and active travel.” Cllr Gant said he was “hugely proud of all we have achieved”. He spoke to the Clarion about Oxford traffic in 2024.

Local Conservative leader Cllr Liam Walker commented that Cllr Gant’s decision to step down was “the right one… he allowed Oxfordshire’s potholes crisis to spiral out of control. I hope his replacement will be someone who recognises the challenges faced by all road users, not just one particular group.” Cllr Walker himself resigned from the same position in 2020 for breaching the council’s code of conduct, after publicly agreeing with a Twitter user who said that cyclists should f— off to the Netherlands.

The transport role will be taken on by Rebekah Fletcher, LibDem councillor for Harwell. Other new faces on the cabinet include Gareth Epps at environment and future transport; Laura Gordon at economy and innovation; and Judith Edwards at community safety. The cabinet is appointed by the leader of the council, currently Cllr Liz Leffman, and ratified at the formal Annual Meeting of the council, which is underway as we go to press. The LibDem numbers have technically slipped below majority level after two councillors went independent, but contra excitable reporting elsewhere, we don’t expect this to affect day-to-day functioning of the council.

On Oxford City Council, meanwhile, discussions between parties continue in preparation for the 20 May meeting in which a new council leader will be elected – and with them, control of the council.

Labour remains the largest single party with 20 councillors. They don’t have a majority and could be outvoted by the Greens (13) and LibDems (9) working together – but the LibDem group leader, Chris Smowton, poured cold water on that prospect:

“It would have been the Liberal Democrat group’s preference to form a joint LibDem/Green administration. Regrettably, however, the Green group does not feel that the numerical advantage over Labour is sufficient. The likely consequence is an ongoing Labour minority administration. I think it’s a great shame, but we look forward to bringing a very strong challenge in 12 months’ time.”

He said that they would nonetheless seek to secure majorities in the council chamber for policies including favouring residential over commercial development; working with the County Council to put public transport and active travel front and centre; and retaining planning powers in the face of the Government’s proposed Development Corporation.

The City Council’s Green Party group, meanwhile, has elected Lois Muddiman, councillor for Osney & St Thomas, as their new leader. She replaces Chris Jarvis, who has chosen to step down to become deputy. Cllr Muddiman said: “I will work hard to make Oxford a greener, fairer and more equal city. Together, leading our amazing new team of councillors, we will continue to fight for social and environmental justice for the residents of Oxford.”

Last week’s district elections saw Labour slip back in both Cherwell and West Oxfordshire, losing seats in their Banbury and Witney heartlands.

On Cherwell, Reform UK picked up its first six councillors (four in Banbury, two in Bicester), while the Liberal Democrats made four gains, mostly at the expense of the Conservatives. The council is now 20 LibDem, 8 Conservative, 8 Labour, 6 Reform UK, 4 Green, 2 Independent. In West Oxfordshire, meanwhile, the Conservatives gained three seats, with Labour losing two and the LibDems one. The state of play there is 20 LibDem, 16 Conservative, 8 Labour, 4 Green, 1 Reform UK.

GWR’s direct Oxford–Bristol service, running every two hours Monday–Saturday, has finally been given the go-ahead – but a demand from track operator Network Rail for £1.75m could see it delayed beyond its projected start date of next week.

The journey will take just under 1hr10 via Swindon and Bath. Although Office of Rail & Road has approved GWR’s bid to run the trains, Network Rail says that at 13 level crossings on the route, an extra train per hour will increase risk by 15.6%. It wants £1.75m for “essential safety improvements and risk reduction measures” such as extra flashing lights. GWR has not yet announced a start date for the service.

(Network Rail is already Government-owned; the ORR is a Government body; GWR is Government-funded and is due to come into full Government ownership in December; and the new services are planned with Government backing. Quite the best comment came from a reader: “Some might say that Network Rail owes Oxford a favour.”)

Europe Day in the Town Hall; Aardman at the Westgate.

Around the city

Oxford City Council marked Europe Day on Saturday by flying the European flag. Lord Mayor Louise Upton, fresh from her visit to twin town Leiden's Liberation Day celebration (and re-election on Thursday), hosted a European Reception in her parlour at Oxford Town Hall. Cllr Upton said: “Oxford is a European city that welcomes people from all over the world. I am delighted to host this reception. The closer the ties between us and our fellow Europeans the better. It is good for the city’s car factory, our universities and tourism, and for our security”. Former Lord Mayor and chair of Oxford for Europe, John Tanner, added: “I’m thrilled at this local support. We need not just to reset our links but also to rejoin the Customs Union, and in due course, the EU.”
Oxford’s beloved indie music bible, Nightshift, is closing. June’s issue will be the last one. Under editor Ronan Munro, Nightshift has interviewed Oxford bands, reviewed new releases, listed gigs and excoriated demos for 35 years. A celebration of its role at the heart of Oxford’s music scene will be held on Sunday 31 May at the Bullingdon on Cowley Road, promising ‘Oxford songs by Oxford people’. Already sold out, its proceeds will go to grassroots music co-operative Causing a Scene.
Oxford Speedway says its future at the Oxford Stadium in Blackbird Leys is “locked in for the long term”, despite the collapse of greyhound racing that co-funded the stadium. Two new investors have been recruited and a race-night parking arrangement agreed with Unipart. Spencer Timmo and Mike Austin, who already sponsor the team, are the new investors. Promoter Jamie Courtney said: “Bringing in two new investors was vital. With Spencer and Mike being local, committed and fully behind the club, the future looks exciting.” The next fixture is vs Poole on Wednesday.
Oxford United are calling on supportive local families to become a part of the Club’s journey by opening their homes to Academy players for the upcoming season. They say host families play a key role in helping young players settle into life off the pitch, as they focus on their footballing development.
Oxford Preservation Trust is inviting the public to join a drop-in event to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Rewley Road Swing Bridge on Wednesday 20 May. Brought into use in 1851, the bridge is thought to be the earliest surviving moving-element railway bridge in the world. Spanning the Sheepwash Channel, which links the Oxford Canal and the River Thames, it was built to carry the Buckinghamshire Railway's trains from Bletchley and Bicester into Oxford's Rewley Road terminus.
After closing to passengers in 1951 and to goods traffic in 1984, the bridge fell into disrepair. Ownership of the bridge transferred to OPT in 2019, who led a £900,000 restoration funded by the Railway Heritage Trust, Historic England and Network Rail which was completed in 2021. OPT continues to care for the bridge today, with volunteer work parties maintaining the bridge and managing the surrounding landscape.
In 2026, OPT carried out finishing works on the bridge and the surrounding area, stabilising the northern bank of the channel, and re-painting the railings. They also worked on repairing the locking slides and control gear either side of the bridge so in the future it will be possible to swing the bridge at events like Open Doors. (Meanwhile, passenger trains on the Buckinghamshire Railway from Bletchley – these days known as East West Rail – are yet to restart…)
Thames Valley Police says it has made “multiple arrests” over the weekend in connection with car thefts in North Oxford. A Section 43 dispersal order is in force in Cutteslowe and Sunnymead until tomorrow evening, which gives officers powers to require individuals to leave the area.
Raise the Colours Oxfordshire have been reinstalling flags in Oxford. In a statement on their Facebook page, the group said: "Green Road roundabout looking spectacular again. The public fund our flags and we have plenty more in reserve, you can take them down but we will put them straight back up!" A month ago, Oxfordshire County Council issued a formal legal notice requiring them to stop installing flags. We looked at Raise the Colours in a special investigation in March.
Woodstock Road acquired a new Blue Plaque at the weekend to honour Lucy Faithfull, a welfare officer for the WWII evacuee programme, one of the first children's officers, and the first social worker to sit in the House of Lords. Government whips exasperated by her well-organised opposition in parliament dubbed her “Lady Faithless”, but she was “mother to hundreds” to the many children she worked with as a children's officer. She lived at 303 Woodstock Road in Oxford from 1958 until her death in 1996.
Consolidation in Oxfordshire’s independent schools market continues as Abingdon School has announced that it is to take over the Manor Prep School, on the edge of Abingdon. It already runs Abingdon Prep School in nearby Frilford.
Half-term activity klaxon: Official Aardman clay-modelling workshops on 26/27 May at the Westgate Centre, which also has an augmented reality Shaun the Sheep trail until 31st May. You can pick up the free trail map and headband from the information desk next to JD Sports.

Kidlington clearance; Harwell lab space.

Around the county

Waste removal at the illegal Kidlington fly-tip is progressing well, reports the Environment Agency. At the northern extent of the site, the material has now been fully removed and taken away. The EA has warned of an “inevitable odour” in the warmer weather, with deodorisers installed on-site.
Oxfordshire Trading Standards have seized a further 6,000 illegal cigarettes from two of the locations they visited earlier this spring. They report: “The two premises in question were revisited after evidence suggested the illegal activity was continuing.” Cllr Jenny Hannaby, for Oxfordshire County Council, said: “We hear people’s concerns about the changing face of their high streets and shops used as fronts for crime. Buying counterfeit cigarettes helps criminal activity take hold in our communities.”
Lab space news: The Harwell Campus has announced completion of new “highly flexible, future-ready space for science, innovation and technology focused occupiers”. The 70,000 square foot Tech Foundry 3 comprises six units, each with private access and roof-mounted solar panels. The units are designed to allow the installation of mezzanine floors, potentially doubling the floor space. Enquiries are now open for interested occupiers.
Fast-expanding coffee-and-pasties chain Cornish Bakery is opening a branch in Witney. The company plans to take over 11 Market Square (formerly a Shoe Zone), two down from Coffee #1, three from Gail’s, and four from the 1863 cafe in the Corn Exchange. (We fear the Nationwide in the middle may be getting nervous.)

Oxfordshire politics

We suspect much of this week was spent either knocking doors or recovering from it, but here's the best of the rest from our national representatives.

Banbury MP Sean Woodcock visited the John Radcliffe Hospital (where many babies from his constituency are born) to celebrate the International Day of the Midwife. In this video, coincidentally released just before the district election, he called on the County Council to sort out congestion, parking access and potholes in Banbury. As we finalised this newsletter, he posted this reflection on the local elections, where a key member of his team, Andrew Crichton, lost to Reform: he called for “real change that local people can see and feel”, citing Banbury's Town of Culture bid as a priority. (They’re speaking of little else on the streets of Bretch Hill.) As we went to press, we learned that he has been appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Cabinet Office.

Bicester & Woodstock MP Calum Miller appeared on BBC Politics South to warn of an upcoming crisis in the care sector, saying it was caught between an uncompetitive minimum wage, and restricted access for overseas workers. He attended a public meeting with constituents at Heyford Park after, as we reported last week, the Environment Agency found that a watercourse nearby has one of the highest concentrations of harmful "forever chemicals" in the country. In the photo above he's at a coffee morning in Kidlington with SENtipede, a support group for parents with SEND children which organises weekly coffee mornings in Kidlington and Cowley.

Witney MP Charlie Maynard, judging by his Facebook page, seems to have visited most of the polling districts in the county on polling day (or at least the contested ones) so I guess we know what he's been up to for the last week. He did find time to visit the Lag BaOmer street fair on Broad Street in Oxford, as well as meet the Cotswold Wildlife Park and Shilton Parish Council teams. (We’re sure Shilton is lovely but frankly we’ve met parish councils which are more unruly than the penguin pool at feeding time.)

Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds ran the Town and Gown on Sunday (three days after election day – ouch!) and attended the EFL in the Community awards. Dodds, like Woodcock, reflected on the election results: “While I’m relieved about our city, I was very sorry to see communities across the country lose excellent Labour representatives. The Labour Party will have to reflect, and act, to show we’ve heard the message the public conveyed to us on 7 May.”
Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran was on Peston's local election special on YouTube, along with Zack Polanski and Sir John Curtice. She called out the rise of antisemitism in the UK, and spoke about Oxford's interfaith community who stand against all forms of racism.
Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover is responsible for this week's ‘Letter to Thames Water’. (Should we give it its own weekly column?) Technically this is actually a response from Thames Water (who knew? They write back!) about sewage dumping. Glover says they “acknowledged the importance of protecting our local waterways but provided limited detail… both Didcot and Wantage Sewage Treatment Works are identified for upgrades, yet no construction timelines have been confirmed. The focus remains on reducing the impact of sewage spills, rather than preventing them altogether.” In other news, he's working to save East Hagbourne Post Office, and he reckons he's passed 15,000 individual pieces of casework since being elected.

Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo has made a video on (wait for it) Thames Water flooding Wheatley with sewage. He’s campaigning to improve overseas voting, and is celebrating new medicine being approved for Duchenne muscular dystrophy – something he has long called for in Parliament. He’s been out with Thames Valley Police assessing the success of the police swoop on a Littleworth garage site, which we reported in February. Finally, he's campaigning against closure of the Co-op in Dorchester.

Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber attended a discussion event for the Times on re-arming Europe, arguing: “We should all be concerned that there are twice as many police officers in England & Wales as there are soldiers in the British Army.” He went out with Thames Valley Police's new Roads Policing Unit, an unmarked HGV which spots dangerous drivers on the roads – in this shift, 30 offences including careless driving and use of mobile phones. He discussed support for church schools with the Bishop of Dorchester (Oxfordshire’s rural bishop). Most importantly, we never need much of an excuse to print a picture of Oscar, his excellent Labrador: this week, it’s his appointment as the new President of The Friends of the Ridgeway. (Barber, that is, not Oscar.) He said: “For over 5,000 years, people have used this trail for commerce, for warfare and as an intrinsic part of the community. I look forward to working with this amazing team of volunteers to help champion the Ridgeway as one of England’s most important National Trails."

Oxford beekeeper Spencer Drake; Christ Church’s Picture Gallery.

University and research

Christ Church’s Picture Gallery has closed for transformation into “a larger, more accessible, museum-standard space”. The 1960s building is home to 7,000 works of art, said to be one of the most important private collections of Old Masters in the UK. The collection is particularly strong in C14th-18th Italian art. Some of the most prominent works will be loaned to other galleries during the closure period.
The renovation plans by architect Ptolemy Dean seek to “provide modern conditions for a collection of historic & international significance”. Among the improvements will be an increase in gallery space, enhanced security, lift access, and a purpose-designed space for the print and drawing collection. Sarah Foot, Dean of Christ Church, called it “an essential investment in the long-term care and public enjoyment of the collection”.
Oxford scientists have demonstrated ‘quadsqueezing’ for the first time. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle says that, as you know one quantum property more precisely, another must be less defined; squeezing is where physicists choose to have one property more tightly defined at the expense of another. Researchers used lasers to control forces on a single trapped ion, allowing them to control the certainty of up to four properties at once – quadsqueezing. Oana Băzăvan explained: “The result is more than the creation of a new quantum state. It is a demonstration of a new method for engineering interactions.” (Only in Oxfordshire could we have regular quantum news; getting this into four sentences is an alternative form of quadsqueezing. Kudos to our Quantum Correspondent.)
Oxford University has banned the use of facial recognition and smart glasses. A new policy on AI tools and agents also forbids recording lectures and tutorials, with explicit permission is needed for any exception. Oxford began a ‘digital transformation’ in 2022 and has been working with OpenAI since 2025.
Oriel College has installed beehives at its sports ground off Cowley Road. The chapel choir inaugurated the apiary at Bartlemas last Saturday by singing a 17th-century madrigal, 'Melissomelos', inspired by the sound of honeybees. Also known as the bee's madrigal, it was composed by Magdalen alumnus Charles Butler for the 1623 edition of his beekeeping book The Feminine Monarchie. The revived Oxford Beekeeping Society continued the celebrations with honey cake and mead. If this has perhaps made you yearn to sing madrigals to your very own bees, the Oxfordshire Beekeepers Association has its annual taster day on Sunday 16 August.
A ransomware attack on Canvas, a 'virtual learning environment' used by universities worldwide, led Oxford University to suspend its access over the weekend. Access was restored yesterday: the university does not believe that exam results or financial information have been compromised.

Fencing being reclaimed from Oxford station.

Trains and buses

Stagecoach has published timetables for its four new services to East Oxford, including two new “express” circular routes and additional services to Templars Square. The routes combine to provide a regular quarter-hourly service from the city centre to Headington and the John Radcliffe. Extra morning and evening journeys will provide a direct link from Blackbird Leys to the JR for commuters. The new timetables take effect on 31 May.
Botley Road bridge news: Formal consultation has opened into the 4.4m height limit for the new Botley Road railway bridge. Oxfordshire County Council says new signs will “ensure potential impact incidents are minimised”. We wrote last year about how consultations work, though in this case we think it’s pretty certain that the proposal will be approved. (Unless there's an appetite to close the Botley Road for a further three years. Any takers…?)
Historic GWR ‘spear fencing’ from Oxford station, made surplus by the ongoing station works, has been donated to the Cholsey & Wallingford Railway. The steam line will use it to improve the appearance of Wallingford station and separate the rail yard from the running line.

A massive penis (left) and Cllr Liam Walker.

Notes from Clarion HQ

Are we going to have to write about potholes again? Sigh.

Submitted by a correspondent, who hypothesised this was an art installation in homage to Oxfordshire Artweeks, this pothole is in Vermont Drive, Woodstock. It did give us the excuse to post both our Artweeks feature and our potholes explainer on our Bluesky channel… and it promptly did numbers. Seriously? We wrote a well researched article on potholes, their science and politics, and no one read it… but put a phallic scribble at the top and suddenly it goes viral? Is that all we had to do in the first place?

We were intrigued by the symmetry between the Cherwell and West Oxfordshire results. 20 LibDem councillors on each; 8 Labour; 4 Green. But there’s a difference on the right. On Cherwell, there are now 8 Conservatives and 6 Reform councillors. On West Oxfordshire, it’s 16 Tories and just 1 Reformer. It’s tempting to conclude that the West Oxfordshire Conservatives edged over the line by appealing to would-be Reform voters with a pothole-heavy campaign, given that driving to work is the strongest correlation with voting Reform.

The next set of elections will probably be fought as unitary councils. Potholes and bins, together at last! But reshaping the field poses challenges to all Oxfordshire’s parties. Can the Liberal Democrats move past unforced errors on fire stations and, perhaps, recycling centres to genuinely push a narrative? Can the Conservatives move on from grumbling about Witney’s High Street and car parks to articulate a positive vision for town centres? Can Labour face up to hard choices on Oxford traffic rather than endlessly saying “no, not like that”? And can the Greens convince that they’re ready to lead the whole city, town and gown? There’s so much more to this quad-squeezing, active-travelling, house-building, coffee-drinking, Morris-dancing, multi-faithing, Europe-facing world-leading county… than potholes.

See you on Friday.