The Clarion, 20 October 2026
This week: Beer to change the world, enough owl news to wish we were still on Twitter, queues for Stornoway, and all the redevelopment news in our fast-changing city. Let’s start with two contrasting long reads…
This week’s long reads
A new wave of Ukrainian refugees is asking for shelter in the UK, as conditions in their home country worsen. Oxford-based aid worker, campaigner and organiser Justin Robinson asks how people in Oxfordshire can help this Christmas. (As we go to press, we’ve been contacted with an urgent request for a mum and two children to be hosted within 30 minutes of Didcot. Email news@oxfordclarion.uk if you can help and we’ll put you in touch.)
Clarion guest contributor
The weather is cooling down (finally), and you know what that means? It means it’s time to cuddle some animals to keep warm. Obviously. In the latest instalment of an occasional series, we present some of the delightful little dudes currently looking for a fur-ever home.
Oxford Clarion
This week’s top stories
Oxford’s new Clarendon Square has been given a thumbs-up by city planners. The classical design by King Charles’ favourite architect, Quinlan Terry, will replace the closed Clarendon Centre shopping mall, opening up the site with three pedestrianised lane entrances and a central public square. A fourth access, from Carfax, will be added later.
The site is owned by Israeli-Canadian ‘contrarian investor’ and gold entrepreneur, Roy Sebag, through his Goldmoney Properties vehicle. Goldmoney say that part of the retail space will be dedicated to independent and local businesses who “improve the quality of our daily life through their art, ingenuity, creativity, and craftsmanship”. Demolition work is already underway, with the new square due to open in 2028.
City councillors voted to grant a previous scheme permission in 2022, but Goldmoney said it had “decided against executing the consented scheme”. The latest design was approved by planning officers through delegated powers (i.e. without a councillors’ planning meeting). Oxford City Council told the Clarion the new application “was of a scale and nature that made it a delegated decision… the application is different to the previous one approved for the site which did meet the terms of the constitution for a committee-level decision.”
Compared to 2022, the latest plans include a larger public square, reduced building heights, no student accommodation, and classical-style design. Roy Sebag described it as “the largest city-centre public realm investment in Oxford in a generation”.
It’s two years to the day since the railway line to Milton Keynes was declared open – and passenger trains still aren’t running.
In September 2025, the Clarion was first to break the news that a union dispute over guards on trains was holding up the start of services. We wrote: “Chiltern Railways will not want its existing guards to walk out on the suspicion that their days may be numbered.” This weekend, Chiltern Railways guards did indeed walk out on the suspicion their days were numbered – but the (nationalised) operator’s services were barely affected, suggesting that the Government will continue to face down the RMT union.
Meanwhile, in ‘run before you can walk’ news, Network Rail is readying a £650m contract to increase train capacity between Oxford Parkway and Bletchley. To take place between 2026 and 2036, the works are designed to dovetail with modernisation of the existing line from Bletchley on to Bedford. Among the planned works are new passing loops for freight trains, discontinuous electrification, and upgrading the new Winslow station. The new Universal theme park near Bedford, opening in 2031, is expected to lead to heavy demand on the line.
To cope with increased rail traffic from East West Rail, Oxfordshire County Council will today sign off on part-funding an underpass at London Road, Bicester. The scheme is part of a £20m rail improvements programme put forward by the council, also including reopening the Cowley Branch Line to passengers with stations at Cowley and Littlemore; drawing up designs for new stations at Wantage & Grove, Begbroke, and Ardley; and a contribution to redeveloping Oxford station.
For now, if you do want to travel on East West Rail, GWR is diverting some of its long-distance services over the route on 28/29 November and at New Year, though you’ll have to commit to a non-stop run between Swindon and London Euston.
Oxford’s Unity March. (Photos by Roger Close.)
Around the city
- Over 400 Oxfordshire residents, along with 22 community groups and trade unions, supported a unity march against the far right called by Oxfordshire Stand Up To Racism on Saturday. It was one of over 30 unity marches called across the UK. Vice-chair of OSUTR Ian Mckendrick said:
“The need for people to come together to show there is opposition to racism and bigotry was made starkly evident this week with the announcement by the Home Office of a 7% rise in hate crimes, the majority of which are racially and religiously motivated. We are on a very dangerous trajectory. We want to send a clear message that Oxford is an anti-racist city with no room for hate and division here.”
- Local musical heroes Stornoway attracted long queues for their new album Beyonder at Truck Store. The band have performed in local venues ranging from the A1 Pool Hall to the Sheldonian Theatre.
BBC Oxford presenter Tim Bearder was once suspended after playing Stornoway on the radio for a full hour. At the time (2006), singer and guitarist Brian Briggs said: “Well, he’s a bit of a strange man, so we weren’t necessarily convinced that his perspective on the band was representative of the wider population. But it was very exciting to listen to an hour of us doing silly interviews and playing our demos at 5am on the Alan Partridge slot on BBC Oxford.” Tim Bearder is now the leader of Oxfordshire County Council.
- The struggle to build homes on any available parcel of land in the city continues. Oxford City Council's cabinet meeting on Wednesday will hear proposals for 78 new affordable homes. Of these, 48 on the former Powells timber yard site on Cowley Road are intended as temporary accommodation for homeless people in Oxford, which would reduce the city council's dependence on hotel accommodation. 28 are proposed garage conversions in Kersington Crescent in Cowley; the final two are on the site of a property destroyed by fire in Wood Farm. #OxfordNeedsHomes
- The Regulator of Social Housing has downgraded social housing landlord GreenSquareAccord due to “serious weaknesses in its financial governance, risk management, quality of information and internal controls.” GSA manages social housing across Oxford (in Leys, Littlemore, Barton, and Northway) as well as West Oxfordshire. RSH’s Jonathan Walters said: “Our serious concerns over GSA’s governance have undermined our assurance in the organisation’s financial resilience and long-term viability.”
- Less Bonn Square, more Times Square: A 6m x 4m digital screen is proposed for the St Ebbe’s Street side of the Westgate. The centre owners have asked Oxford City Council to “approve it without delay given its importance to sustaining the vitality of the Westgate Centre, [which] is indivisible from that of the city centre as a whole”. They claim that it will be “not simply a screen for advertising commercial content – on the contrary, it is a digital cultural platform”, and suggest a positive impact for the surroundings by “enlivening a bland building elevation” [their own]. They add that the Covid pandemic, Ukraine war, and cost of living crisis have created “extremely challenging market circumstances for city centre retail”. A nearby BT Street Hub, which also claims not to be simply a screen for advertising commercial content, was recently permitted on appeal.
- Oxford's social enterprise brewery and bakery, Tap Social Movement, has secured B Corp status, the programme for certifying social impact and sustainability. Chris Turner from B Lab UK, who certify B Corps, called the company “a fantastic addition”. Tap Social brew, bake, and create inclusive community hospitality venues to turn lives around for prisoners and prison leavers through direct employment and advocacy. (We can confirm they make excellent beer and pastries.)
- The formal inspection of Oxford City Council’s Local Plan is underway. Points of contention include Iffley’s Horse Fields, Bertie Park, and the Green Belt. You can watch it online or attend the sessions in Osney Mead.
Around the county
- Thames Valley Police have released striking dashcam footage of a drug-driving collision where the driver fell asleep at the wheel (worth watching just for the happenstance of the soundtrack). Emma Dutton of Wallingford was given a 12-month suspended sentence and a 22-month driving ban at Oxford Magistrates’ Court. Dutton was found to be over the limit for cocaine. TVP said: “It isn't worth risking your licence, your freedom, or somebody else's life.”
- West Oxfordshire District Council is urging action from the MOD on empty homes in Long Hanborough, which if sold to the council could provide temporary or social housing. There are over 1,800 households currently on the housing waiting list. WODC leader Cllr Andy Graham (LibDem) said: “Seeing these homes standing empty is frustrating when there are families on our housing waiting list and people in need of temporary accommodation. I have written to the Minister asking for a clear plan for their future.”
- This story is a hoot: Wallingford Town Council has installed owl nesting boxes to address complaints about rodents within the allotments. The owls are just one of the initiatives that led to the town scooping two silver awards at the Thames & Chilterns in Bloom Awards this year: others include rainwater harvesting, investigating boreholes, and home-brewed compost for use in the town’s parks, gardens and floral displays, with surplus made available to allotment holders. (Fancy an allotment, with or without owls? We wrote about them last year.)
- More allotment news: A shed in an allotment in Little Coxwell near Faringdon is to become home to the Diocese of Oxford's newest worshipping community. The 'shed', a three sided field shelter, will sit at the back of the allotment space to allow the group to meet in all weathers. Revd Maria Jukes, vicar at Great Faringdon with Little Coxwell, said: “Little Coxwell is a rural community, and rooting a worshipping community in a space that relates to the land and farming feels natural. We have people who come along to The Shed who would never come to church.”
Oxfordshire politics
It was Oxfordshire Day yesterday! Here's a photo of Oxfordshire MPs and the Speaker, in a heartwarming and timely outbreak of county consensus. Aww.
- Banbury MP Sean Woodcock (Lab) backed a national recruitment campaign for foster carers, saying "Foster carers provide something every child needs: safety, stability and the feeling of belonging. You do not have to assume fostering is not for you because you do not fit a particular picture of what a foster carer looks like. The first step is simply to ask and find out." (Here’s Oxfordshire County Council’s guide.) Last week we reported on Woodcock speaking to Cherwell District Council over parking charges: signage has now been amended while the introduction of overnight parking charges has been paused.
- Bicester & Woodstock MP Calum Miller (LibDem) found himself in the middle of a Conservative motion this week which simultaneously condemned plans to accommodate asylum seekers at MOD Bicester while calling for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights. After rather exasperatedly noting that “the Opposition chose to cite a motion mentioning my constituency, without any reference to me”, he went on to say: “Leaving the ECHR would not stop the boats or resolve the failures in our asylum system. It would mean giving up an important international framework for protecting fundamental rights, with potentially serious consequences for the safeguards available to people in the UK.”
- Witney MP Charlie Maynard (LibDem) started back after conference with a bang, literally, as he was dealing with a burst water main in Faringdon. Unsurprisingly, he remains unimpressed with Thames Water. In Parliament he questioned senior representatives from AI companies on how the UK can keep people safe from the most powerful AI models. More happily, he’s celebrating the Government’s announcement of a national brain cancer lead alongside a wider package of measures to get new treatments to patients faster, something he has long campaigned for.
- Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds (Lab), a former MEP, thinks we need to work closer with the EU. In another subject close to many Clarion readers’ hearts, she met the Science & Technology Facilities Council to talk about the impact of "recent decisions" (aka swingeing funding cuts and consequent job losses) on UK science and researchers, particularly within particle physics. Like Woodcock, she's supporting the national campaign to recruit more foster carers.
- Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran (LibDem) started back in Parliament by taking the fight to the Conservatives, asking Kemi Badenoch asking Kemi Badenoch to apologise to the country “for her ineffective strategy to prevent violence against women and girls… dogwhistle politics aping Reform”. She also attended the Women of the Year awards, and made the case for rejoining the EU.
- Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover (LibDem) addressed the impact of climate change, saying that the Government must ensure building regulations reflect the extreme weather conditions we are already experiencing. Relatedly, on Flood Action Week he recommended constituents prepare for flood risks this coming winter. (No food blogging this week. Disappointing.)
- Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo (LibDem) celebrated the opening of the Henley Banking Hub and the announcement of a full-time day crew at Henley Fire Station. He is now calling for lighter gear to help firefighters work in hot weather.
- Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber (Con) has written to the Home Secretary outlining his concerns about the proposed MOD Bicester asylum accommodation: “We must expect an increase in crime as a result of the Government’s proposals. Experience in Thames Valley is that, as a minimum, we can expect crime to take place between asylum seekers. Without significant additional funding, this will come at an unacceptable cost to local taxpayers and a reduction in policing services elsewhere.”
University and research
- The start of Michaelmas Term sees the first 127 students take up residence at St Edmund Hall’s newly opened Norham Gardens in North Oxford. Three new buildings and a refurbished Victorian villa provide accessible accommodation constructed to the PassivHaus standard. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year students at the college will be able to live at the site, which cost £43 million to redevelop. This also means Teddy Hall can finally house all of its undergraduate students, freeing up private accommodation for other renters. The development has been nominated for an Oxford Preservation Trust Award for New Buildings, highlighting developments that are sympathetic to the city’s history and character; the award ceremony will be on 4 November.
- Oxford University has announced a new guide for schools in Oxfordshire to help them discover the range of resources it provides for local schools and young people. Alex Betts, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, said: "Our departments and colleges have long provided a wide range of fantastic initiatives for schools, but these are not always visible or transparent to teachers across Oxfordshire; this is the gap the guide is trying to fill."
- Mark Sterling will join Oxford Brookes in the new role of Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor in February 2027. Professor Sterling is currently Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Science and Engineering at Manchester Metropolitan University, where he led delivery of a pioneering healthcare education facility integrating AI-enabled virtual and mixed reality learning; an immersive theatre; and one of the UK's largest Anatomage suites to enhance experiential, technology-enabled education.
- Former Oxford Rhodes scholar Abdul El-Sayed has gone viral with a video in which he defends the US Constitution and its protection for freedom of religion, discussing implicit assumptions and bias in politics. Dr El-Sayed is the Democratic nominee for senator in Michigan.
- Immunologist Menna Clatworthy is to become the first woman to hold Oxford University’s Regius Professorship of Medicine. Gavin Screaton, head of the Medical Sciences Division, described her as “an outstanding clinician-scientist”.
The Legal Service. (Photos by Nicholas Posner.)
- An annual ceremony dating back to the 1500s took place at Christ Church Cathedral last week. The Legal Service marks the beginning of the legal year and is hosted by the county’s High Sheriff, Jawaid Malik. It historically coincided with the autumn Assizes, when a High Court judge visited Oxford to preside over civil and criminal cases. During the service, white gloves were presented to Mr Justice Choudhury, one of two Presiding Judges of the Midland Circuit, by Lord Mayor of Oxford Chewe Munkonge. The ceremony once took place in the Dean of Christ Church’s dining room, but since 2020 has been part of the public cathedral service. Following the Glove Ceremony, Revd Dr Nicholas Austin, master of Campion Hall, preached the annual Court Sermon. This address, given by a speaker nominated by Oxford University, represents the first University Sermon of the academic year.
Business and tech
Four stories, all from Greater Didcot™. Oxfordshire, at the cutting edge since medieval times, shows no signs of slowing down…
- Turn it on again: Milton Park-based Salience Labs, Didcot, which makes optical circuit switches for datacentres, has announced an oversubscribed $125m Series B funding round. This will enable it to scale manufacturing in the UK and expand in the USA. By switching optical signals directly, Salience’s switches avoid time and energy intensive conversion into electronic signals for switching, and then conversion back again. CEO Vaysh Kewada said the technology “will play a critical role in AI datacentre networking… high-performance optical switches are needed to deliver the token economics that workloads demand.”
- Biotech firm Summit Therapeutics, also based at Milton Park, has received a $2bn (yes, bn) equity investment from pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. The firms will collaborate on trials for a new medicine for gastrointestinal cancers.
- The Rosalind Franklin Institute in Harwell has received £67m funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. The Institute develops technologies that deepen understanding of biology and speed up early-stage drug discovery.
- Oxford Nanopore based in, you guessed it, Harwell, is due to sign a memorandum of understanding with India’s Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, to mark the launch of a collaborative Centre for Excellence in Hyderabad. The news comes as the Government announced a billion-pound trade mission to India, following the UK-India free trade agreement in July 2025.
Notes from Clarion HQ
We baked a train birthday cake to mark two years of no trains on East West Rail. Like the trains, the cake doesn’t have a guard, an essential safety measure to stop the Mini Clarions wolfing it down while we’re not looking. Have a great week.
