The Clarion, 21 July 2026

While we are waiting to see if Oxfordshire’s two Labour MPs get the call from the PM, here is the very best of the city and county news: new roads, new homes, new hit (we hope) singles, a new post office and a whole lot of AI. Oh, and more cheese.

This week’s photo stories

This year’s Royal Swan Upping concluded on Friday in Abingdon, five days after setting off up the Thames from Middlesex. The Clarion’s photographers bring you this report. 🦢

Up the swans

The King’s Swan Marker visited Abingdon yesterday for the centuries-old tradition of Swan Upping. Once established to verify ownership of swans on the Thames, this tradition now focuses on swan conservation, welfare, and education. Our photographer, Roger Close, assisted by the Clarion’s Abingdon correspondent, went along to take a

Oxford ClarionOxford Clarion

This week’s top stories

Two new sliproads have opened at Shores Green, Witney, at a cost of £26.8m. They enable Witney traffic to use the A40 from one end of town to the other, bypassing the congested Bridge Street. They had been proposed since 2012 as an alternative to the rejected scheme for a Cogges Link Road.

For Oxfordshire County Council, Cllr Liz Leffman said: “This project has been a long time coming, and residents have advocated for it for years. We are delighted to have been able to deliver this scheme on time and in budget and seeing it in use this morning has been a joy.”

Cllr Ruth Smith, leader of Witney Town Council, added: “Thank you to all the councillors and officers who kept the project alive. I look forward to the impact it makes on traffic flow and air quality. I hope we all find it less frustrating to visit the other side of town and to venture west.”

Oxfordshire is getting more money for walking and cycling. The Government has doubled the amount of active travel funding it gives the county, from £2.7m to £5.4m. The increased funding from Active Travel England is a result of their rating for Oxfordshire County Council's walking and cycling schemes, which has increased from 2 to 3 – the joint best in the country.

However, at £7.10 per year per person, it is less than half the average of the target in the Government’s new Cycling & Walking Investment Strategy (because most funding flows to larger cities), and just one-fifth of the price of the two new Shores Green slip roads. No plans have been revealed for how the funds will be divvied up when Oxfordshire is split into three smaller councils.

Further details have emerged of the rationale behind the decision to split Oxfordshire into three councils, taken by former Secretary of State Steve Reed just before he was despatched to the back benches by new Prime Minister Andy Burnham. In a letter to Oxfordshire councils, he says that the Greater Oxford plan “clearly supports housing growth, reflects Oxford’s economic geography, gives the city a distinct voice within devolution arrangements, and enables place-based service delivery aligned with local needs”:

“The selected option would therefore better support housing growth, infrastructure planning and economic development across the area whilst providing a stronger and more visible voice for the city. This would be especially beneficial should a decision be taken to establish a centrally-led Development Corporation, with the proposed Greater Oxford council providing a strong local partner for that Development Corporation, to support planning, transport, housing and infrastructure in and around Oxford.”

He conceded that the three-council option would be the most expensive, saying “my selected option may take longer than the other proposals to payback the upfront costs of reorganisation”, but welcomed the effective bailout of West Berkshire by the Oxfordshire councils: “It is also a positive move for the financial sustainability of West Berkshire, given the financial challenges it currently faces.” But although the letter spoke of the advantages for Oxford City and for the Ridgeway councils, it was largely silent on the effect on North Oxfordshire.

(We’ll have more coverage in the weeks to come, because cheese is better with a little sunlight shed upon it rather than straight out of the fridge.)

Around the city

• The new south-side walkway under the Botley Road railway bridge has opened. The north-side path has in turn been closed to bring it up to the same standard. The path has separate pedestrian and cyclist sections, but for now cyclists are still being asked to dismount. Network Rail says work is still on track for the road to reopen at the end of August.
• Thames Valley Police have made a series of arrests in connection with child sexual exploitation in Oxford between 2001 and 2005. Ten men in their 40s have been arrested in Oxford and other locations across England. The men have been released on bail.
• Headington will once again have a Post Office from 15 September. The previous branch closed along with the Co-op in the New Year. The new location will be around the corner at Leopard Press, 12 Windmill Road.

• Oxford Preservation Trust has gained Listed Building Consent to restore the Grade II listed drinking fountain over Walton Well, on Walton Well Road. The fountain was built in 1885 to replace a long-standing trough over the ancient spring, but has not worked for years. The works will restore the decorative stonework, but will also add a potable water outlet, providing the first public water refill point in Jericho. The work is being funded by OPT following a successful crowdfunding appeal.
• #OxfordNeedsHomes: Work has begun on 24 new homes (12 affordable and 12 private sale) at Goose Green Close in Wolvercote. The project forms part of Oxford City Council’s programme to deliver around 1,600 affordable homes across the city, with a significant proportion at social rent.

• East Oxford’s all-women punk band the HorMones are releasing their debut singles this month. The band, aged between 52 and 80, first took up their instruments in 2023, and have been building up a loyal fan base across their gigs (see our review of FloFest) with a fierce blend of anger, humour and cheekiness. Their first two singles, Dirty and Sandwiches, will be released on Tuesday 21 July on major streaming platforms. More songs will be released later this year, and a documentary entitled The HorMones – The Women Are Here is in the pipeline. In the meantime, they continue to gig across Oxfordshire and beyond, with upcoming performances including Bunkfest on 5 September and the O2 on 17 October.
• Thames Valley Police is seeking witnesses after a road rage incident between a cyclist and a taxi driver on Banbury Road on 3 July. TVP report: “The driver overtook the cyclists before stopping at traffic lights. One of the cyclists challenged him about the overtake before allegedly striking the wing mirror.”

Around the county

• A hosepipe ban comes in force across Oxfordshire on Thursday. Thames Water says the ban is necessary “following the driest spring in years, three official heatwaves, record temperatures and sustained high demand” – with demand currently 10% above normal levels. The ban covers watering gardens, cleaning cars and patios with a hosepipe, filling up pools, and sprinklers. The company stresses that you can still “wash your car using a bucket”. A full list of exemptions will be published on Thursday.
• German appliance manufacturer Miele, based in Abingdon since 1981, has announced a major reorganisation of UK operations, reports Abingdon Blog. Logistics and warehousing will transfer to Northampton from early 2027, while many office-based staff have been told their roles will move to Reading. For many, Miele's Abingdon site is best known for its Experience Centre, where visitors can explore the latest appliances and watch cooking demonstrations as well as the Miele Outlet, where returned and ex-display appliances are sold at reduced prices.
• Changes are to be made at Oxford University Hospitals as a result of the recently issued Amos maternity and neonatal report, which criticised the hospital for its adherence to a scanning pathway known as 'the Oxford Way'. Acting on feedback within the report, the hospitals have introduced enhanced late pregnancy scanning for those with an identified risk factor for their baby not growing as expected. They have also commissioned an independent review of the fetal growth scanning pathway.
       Separately, Oxfordshire voices will be well represented on the national taskforce, recently convened to act on the report, with Layla Moran MP as a member of the Parliamentary & Mayoral sub-group. (Moran is the Chair of the parliamentary Health & Social Care Committee.) She commented: “Given the work of the committee, I agreed to join the group to lend my perspective on how we can achieve whole system change. The most important thing is that the plan works this time.” Also represented on the taskforce is Rebecca Matthews, founder of 'Families Failed by OUH', and Marie Tidball MP, former Hinksey Park councillor.
       Freddie van Mierlo, MP for Henley & Thame, has formally asked the Health Secretary to consider an independent investigation into OUH maternity services. We took a deep dive into Oxfordshire's maternity care ahead of the publication of the report and then reported on the findings; we'll continue to watch this one closely.
• West Oxfordshire District Council has confirmed the extension of the Our House Project, which provides accommodation for young people in shared homes, supporting young people who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, or unable to remain living with family or friends. Cllr Geoff Saul, WODC: "The Project has made a real difference to the lives of some of our most vulnerable young residents by giving them the stability, support and opportunities they need to build independent, successful futures. Extending this funding means we can continue offering that lifeline."
• Footfall at the Marriotts Walk shopping centre in Witney has increased by over 28% over the last year, generating over £450,000 for West Oxfordshire District Council since its acquisition of the centre. The Council is now planning to add more seating and better planting at the centre.
• Following the closure of Oxford's Crafters' Emporium, Bicester residents are reporting that their branch on Sheep Street has also closed. But if you still wish to buy hand crafted products from local independent businesses, Templars Square in Cowley has announced the opening of the Crafty Cave, home to creations from more than 30 independent small businesses, with over 90% of items handmade. The store also has an inclusive calm zone for families, which is inspired by the owners’ experiences as parents to two autistic boys, and features free crafting and drawing.
• Progress tackling health inequalities in Oxfordshire was reviewed by local government, health, voluntary and community organisations at a summit last week. The event also saw the official launch of the county council’s annual public health report, ‘Some are more equal than others’, which this year focuses on health inequalities. The report reviews progress since the 2019/20 report with the same name.
• Oxfordshire’s beloved music festival Truck, this year headlined by Kaiser Chiefs and The Libertines, starts this Thursday. Thames Travel are running a shuttle bus between Didcot Parkway and the festival site at Hill Farm in Steventon through the weekend, with a journey time of 20 minutes.
• Fairytale Farm in Chipping Norton will host a six-week celebration this summer, featuring interactive storytelling, puppet activities, trail games and animal experiences, alongside its new permanent ride and play areas. The Fairytale Festival runs from 18 July to 1 September.

Oxfordshire politics

As we publish, we are still waiting to see if Oxfordshire’s Labour MPs (and former local councillors Tom Hayes, Marie Tidball and Perran Moon, plus semi-local Luke Akehurst) get positions in the PM's reshuffle. Our back-of-an-envelope calculation is that the current reshuffle tally is Oxford 10½, Cambridge 5 (including the PM), others 11½. As MPs are now on their summer recess, this section will take a break until September: if MPs do something significant we'll fold it into the regular news sections. See you on the other side!

• Banbury MP Sean Woodcock (Lab) wants you to take part in a Government consultation on the anti social use of fireworks. In this week's first Thames Water klaxon, he spoke in Parliament about how Thames Water had let his constituents down. Together with Anneliese Dodds, he released a video describing the three unitary councils plan as “great news”.
• Bicester & Woodstock MP Calum Miller (LibDem) has two big issues on his plate. First, he may or may not be pleased that Matthew Pennycook remains in post after the reshuffle as the minister dealing with the proposed asylum centre site in Bicester. He wants you to email him to campaign against the site. Secondly, he is unimpressed at the local government reorganisation decision and takes no prisoners in this video, saying: "One of the final acts of Starmer’s dying Labour Government was to impose blatant political gerrymandering on Oxfordshire – absolutely shameful."

• Witney MP Charlie Maynard (LibDem) has been shortlisted for the 2026 Political Purpose Awards in the Rivers & Seas category for campaigning against, of course, Thames Water. Celebrating two years since being elected, he rounded up what he's been up to in this post, including over 16,000 pieces of casework resolved.

• Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds (Lab) has been out campaigning for mayoral candidate Beverley Craig in Manchester. She met with the Bicycle Association to discuss illegally modified e-bikes.
• Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran (LibDem) has hit the parliamentary recess running with a tour of villages round her constituency. Marcham villagers talked to her about safe cycling and service charge issues. Before recess, she spoke to The World at One about a report from the Health & Social Care Select Committee, of which she is chair, on fixing the food environment to tackle obesity.

• Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover (LibDem) wrote to the Secretary of State to ask what the government is doing to support the transition to EVs. (Heidi Alexander kept her position in the reshuffle, so it will at least have landed in the right inbox.) He urged the Government to ensure climate resilience was embedded in all decision-making. Here is his weekly roundup.
       In conjunction with a cross-party group of MPs, he urged the Secretary of State to intervene over £162m proposed cuts to the Science & Technology Facilities Council, warning the cuts could seriously damage the UK's global leadership in science, innovation and space research – especially given that a quarter of university physics departments are at risk of closure. Glover said: “Many of my constituents work in research and development at Harwell and Culham and in this sector in universities. There is a deep sense of disappointment, confusion and anger, about the cuts and a lack of transparency surrounding the decision.” The group of MPs has offered to facilitate meetings between ministers, affected businesses, research facilities and scientific institutions to demonstrate the potential consequences of the funding cuts.
• Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo (LibDem) is calling for households to receive help to install home cooling systems. His Bill, presented to Parliament last week, aims to make measures like air conditioning and shutters more affordable via VAT zero-rating. Van Mierlo commented: “The current heat wave has brought into sharp focus how ill-prepared we are for the changing climate. Residents in the South-East are on the frontline of rising temperatures in the UK. Whilst other European countries like France are considering emergency measures the UK must do the same. The direction of travel is only one way; we can’t allow ourselves to be in the same position year after year.” Oxfordshire County Council called for the same in what looks like.an arranged campaign. And in finally, in an oddly interesting video, he tests his constituency knowledge on GeoGuessr (rabbit hole warning).
• Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber (Con) launched a video on his YouTube channel talking about what TVP are doing to tackle shoplifting. (The Clarion feels sorry for 21st century politicians. Once it was enough to have opinions on policy and to look after your constituents. Now they have to be content creators, masters of the short post, the short form video and the long form content. Gone are the days of one pithy quote for a journalist!) He's not a fan of the three councils plan, saying that all three are set to fail financially from the start. (Barber first set out his stall for One Oxfordshire in an article for the Clarion in 2025. See what we mean about needing to master all forms of content?)

University and research

• Oxford University is part of a new Defence Alliance of 35 universities across the UK to "help strengthen defence research, build critical skills and support the UK's future defence capability". The initiative is part of a £182m investment to build defence-related skills and expand opportunities across Britain. Luke Pollard MP, Minister for Defence Readiness said: “As we prepare for warfighting readiness, working with universities and innovators boosts skills and helps keep us safe. This package will create opportunities for young people, ensuring our £298bn defence investment is an engine for growth.” (We wrote about Oxfordshire's role in the defence of the UK in this faintly terrifying long read in 2025.)
• You can stick your AI up your…: A landmark study by Oxford University Hospitals suggests AI can be safely deployed in prostate cancer diagnosis, alongside routine diagnostic workflows. More than 1,000 men’s prostate biopsies were assessed in real time, with AI used alongside expert histopathologists. For OUH, Clare Verrill said: “This study shows we can safely and effectively roll out AI to help improve prostate cancer diagnosis in the NHS, alongside experts. This helps realise the vision of digitally enabled healthcare for all, which paves the way for large-scale uptake across the NHS.”
• Good Oxford AI news: Lennard Lee, honorary consultant at Oxford University Hospitals and associate professor at the University of Oxford has been recognised by the Royal College of Physicians for leading research in the development of personalised cancer vaccines using AI. The RCP Excellence in Patient Care Awards selected Dr Lee’s work as one of the top three investigator-led research projects in the UK, recognising his leadership of the UK Cancer Vaccine Advance programme.
• Large language models (AI tools like ChatGPT) consistently “change the direction of posts on contested topics, even when told to preserve the original meaning”, according to a study by the Oxford Internet Institute. In one test on abortion-related topics, researchers found that Elon Musk’s Grok LLM was more supportive of ‘pro-life’ positions than ‘pro-choice’, which they traced to the world’s richest edgelord’s instruction to “challenge mainstream narratives if necessary”. Sandra Wachter at the OII called this “a new and more subtle way of influencing opinions, one the law has yet to catch up with”.
• A new study from Oxford Brookes reveals stable housing is the single biggest catalyst for community integration and employment for refugees. The study covered twelve diverse areas of the UK and refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Hong Kong. The research showed that when refugees are trapped in short-term limbo, their potential economic and social contributions are restricted, yet when they have stable housing they can contribute to local economic growth – far from the ‘burden’ narrative often portrayed in the media.
• An Oxford University Press survey of over 3,000 children, plus an analysis of the largest database of children's written language, finds that most children say that reading shapes how they treat others and helps them to navigate real-life situations. Seven in every ten children read weekly, but the frequency drops with age. Writing for children often tackles deep emotion and helps children challenging situations. OUP has a list of recommendations to help children navigate real life, from starting school to prejudice and racism.

Trains and buses

• Oxfordshire’s all-in bus ticket has proved so popular that the County Council has resorted to a price hike to avoid running out of subsidy cash. Without a price rise, they forecast that the MyBus ticket could cost them up to £3.2m next year.
       OCC says that while the ticket was designed to encourage multi-operator journeys, many people are using it simply because it offers a better deal on everyday travel. They considered asking bus companies to share the cost but “savings were insufficient to justify the risk of operators withdrawing”.
       Daily tickets will go up from £6.50 to £8.50 (young person £3.50 to £5.50), and weekly tickets from £30 to £34 (£17 to £24). The new fares would start in August, with a potential smaller rise in January. Councillor Gareth Epps, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for transport, said: “MyBus has been a huge success. I do not want to change it. Government financial cuts are the only reason we are considering this unpalatable step. However, I will be writing to the secretary of state for transport to seek a better way forward for the future of MyBus.” 
• In more bus ticketing news (we know, we know, we are achingly cool), tap-on/tap-off tickets are being rolled out to the Pulhams network in West Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds. The Freeflow system, starting 26 July, is the same one used by sister fleet Oxford Bus Company. Pulhams’ Gloucestershire-based fleet of electric buses now regularly serves Oxford on the X52 bus to Cheltenham.

Charity begins at home

• Oxfam has launched a petition to tell the new PM to act decisively in his first 100 days. The charity has set out five tests for his premiership, including tackling the climate crisis. Jean McClean, Oxfam GB, said: "The first 100 days offer a chance to show Britain can lead with unity rather than division. We face huge challenges, from rising inequality and the climate crisis to conflict and growing global instability. But these are not inevitable. They are political choices. The new Prime Minister has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to choose a different path – an economy that works for everyone, a Britain that leads on the world stage, action on the climate crisis, and a politics that brings people together instead of driving them apart."

Notes from Clarion HQ

Who’d have thought that the dry subject of local government reorganisation could be so polarising? Everyone, it seems, has an opinion. We'll be bringing you updates and opinions across the spectrum as we move from the decision, to a challenge (maybe?), and implementation. Unlike Steve Reed’s ministerial career, this one might not be over… yet. Stay tuned, and if you believe our coverage is useful on lifting the lid, do share it with a friend.

It's all been a bit heavy-going for the last few weeks. Perhaps we are due an Ozymandias update for some light relief? See you on Friday.