The Clarion, 5 May 2026

It’s a short week, but a long one. (Can we really call it a “midweek” newsletter on the first working day of the week?) All the Oxfordshire news you need in our election week roundup…

This week’s top story

Elections for Oxford City Council, West Oxfordshire and Cherwell district councils are on Thursday. Here’s our detailed guide to who’s in contention:

The 2026 election run-down

Elections come but once a year… depending where you live. This time, it’s the turn of Oxford City and the northern districts. Each council has a subtly different arrangement for electing its councillors (have we mentioned de Gaulle’s 246 varieties of cheese…?), but essentially, every City ward has two councillors,

Oxford ClarionOxford Clarion

So you’ve cast your vote. What next? In two long reads, we explained what happens on polling day and how the election count works. The forecast declaration times (all Friday) are 3am for Oxford, 2.30pm West Oxfordshire, 7pm Cherwell. That said, we think the City count might go on longer this year. Expect recounts!

We’ll be posting live from our Bluesky account, so if you’re not following us, now’s a great time to do so. (Or if you don’t want to sign up for Bluesky, you can just view and refresh the page.) We’ll then round up the City results and first reactions in Friday’s newsletter.

And if you do follow along, here are eight wards we think will be pivotal, and the contenders in each: Barton & Sandhills (Labour, Reform, Ind); Marston (Green, Labour, IOA, Reform); Cowley (Ind, Green); Littlemore (Labour, Ind); Lye Valley (Labour, Green, Reform); Northfield Brook (Labour, Reform); St Clement's (Labour, Green); Walton Manor (Labour, LibDem). Read more in our round-up.

Around the city

• Over 1,200 runners took part in Monday’s Bannister Miles ‘Community Mile’, Oxford’s open-to-all run which celebrates Roger Bannister’s four-minute mile at the Iffley Road track. Five waves of runners set off from St Aldate’s, including over 200 kids in the ‘family wave’. The starting pistol was fired by Gordon Sanghera, CEO of one of the city’s biggest startups, Oxford Nanopore. (And if you missed the Community Mile, there’s another chance to run on 7 June with Run Jericho, which raises money for St Barnabas Primary School.)

• Tourist coaches could be banished from St Giles as soon as this summer. A new coach management strategy commissioned by Oxfordshire County Council seeks “a short-term, experimental scheme substituting the pick-up/drop-off point on St Giles’ with an alternative location – ideally by June/July 2026”. The strategy is asked to identify “permanent, long-term measures to improve the operation of visitor coaches in Oxford”. There are also coach drop-off points by the Oxford Playhouse and the Crown Court, but OCC reports that “residential streets are increasingly used for informal coach parking”. Transport consultancy Phil Jones Associates, which has been appointed to draw up the strategy, reports that coach drivers on St Giles frequently undertake illegal manoeuvres and stop outside designated areas. They are drawing up a shortlist of alternative locations for coaches to use.
• A special banner marking the centenary of the 1926 General Strike in Oxford was accompanied by the Oxford Silver Band at the head of a May Day march on Saturday, from Manzil Way to Bonn Square. The General Strike was the greatest single event in the history of the trade union movement. For nine days, millions of workers struck in support of coal miners. In Oxford, trains stood still, and building workers struck alongside 500 workers at Oxford University Press and Wolvercote Paper Mill. The banner portrays Oxford and national people, events and places, including Oxford railway station at a standstill; Oxford University Press; and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin’s son Oliver Baldwin, a Labour MP, addressing a rally in St Giles in support of the miners.
• A 1470s painting by Botticelli, The Virgin and Child Enthroned, will be on display at the Ashmolean for three years after a Government export ban prevented it from leaving the country. It has been bought by financier Gary Klesch and art historian Anita Klesch. Xa Sturgis, director of the Ashmolean, told The Art Newspaper: “We’re so pleased that it will remain in the UK. We recognise the Klesch Collection’s commitment to lending works to public institutions.” The Kleschs have built up a collection of C15th-17th art. The painting, originally in a convent in Florence, was bought by Lady Wantage in 1904, forming part of a private collection at the family’s Betterton House residence: “When there was no further room on the walls for paintings [they] moved on to sculpture.”
• In a story we definitely should have posted on #Caturday, the John Radcliffe Hospital has announced a 'kitten scanner' – a miniature replica MRI machine, to help reduce fear and anxiety, and therefore general anaesthetic, in children who need to undergo MRI scans. Children can play with the kitten scanner before their appointment, placing character toys into the MRI while a cartoon video shows them what to expect during their real scan. This means many children no longer need to fast before their MRI, can avoid injections, and spend less time in hospital. Ella Cooper from Oxford Hospitals Charity, who funded the scanner, said: “This project really caught our imagination and watching the expression on children’s faces transform interacting the scanner is just wonderful. It's a fantastic example of a brilliant idea coming from the clinical teams.”
• A second 5G mast has been set alight on Oxford's ring road. Thames Valley Police are appealing for witnesses to the suspected arson attack at the end of Sandy Lane West on Wednesday night. This follows a previous fire in Cutteslowe on 5 March.
• Oxford's Westgate is celebrating the arrival of summer with a series of events on its roof terrace from 8 May, including live music, food pop-ups and a Shaun the Sheep trail. Exclusive dining offers are available via the free Westgate members club.
• Oxfam is calling on the UK Government to suspend its trade agreement with Israel, following the adoption of a new death penalty law that they warn is “discriminatory by design”, applicable in practice primarily to Palestinians. In a statement sent to the Foreign Secretary, Oxfam warns this is a “grave and dangerous escalation” of the Israeli government’s systematic assault on Palestinian life and rights, and urges the UK government to take immediate action. They also note that the legislation does not exclude children: Israel is one of the few countries in the world that systematically prosecutes children in military courts. Shahd Mousalli from Oxfam said: “This is a discriminatory law that risks enabling executions following deeply flawed proceedings. The UK’s claim to be upholding international law is clearly undermined by choosing to remain a preferential trading partner of a government that systematically violates it.”

Around the county

• Campaigners say that the former US airbase at Upper Heyford, proposed for redevelopment into a new town, could be leaching “forever chemicals” into nearby rivers – and have called for the Environment Agency to launch “an urgent, independent investigation” to verify the source. They say Gallos Brook, which runs through Heyford Park to join the River Ray near Islip, has the highest PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) concentration anywhere in the UK – and that 2025’s results were higher than 2024’s. They believe this makes it unsafe for children and dogs to play nearby. A petition has now topped 550 signatures and a public meeting was held on Thursday. The campaigners are calling for a halt to all development at Heyford Park until the situation is addressed.
• A community gardening initiative in Bicester is set to close following a five-year wait for the Town Council to grant permission. The group behind the project, Cherwell Collective, says: “Despite years of regular correspondence, reminders, and assurances, this has not materialised.” The Collective has spent £60,000 in Bicester, focusing on the Garth Park Wall Garden where it has attracted almost 300 volunteers and over 1200 households. But it says a donor recently pulled out “upon hearing the council had not provided a land use agreement and had not fixed the dangers on site”. They continue to run Harvest@Home greenspace gardens in Banbury and Kidlington; the project aims to “empower individuals to grow their own food at home through skills learned as they care for the community greenspace gardens we manage”.
• Another volume of Oxfordshire’s county history has been made available free online. Volume 19 of the Victoria County History of Oxfordshire, covering Wychwood Forest and first published in print in 2019, has been added to the British History Online website. 21 volumes of the Oxfordshire VCH have now been completed out of a projected 23: only the Chadlington and Burford areas are outstanding. The editors say “Subject to continued funding, we hope to complete our coverage of the ancient county by the end of the decade.”
• Witney's new brewpub, Scarlet River, has opened, reports the Oxford Drinker. It's on a prime site next to Marks & Spencer in the Marriotts Walk shopping centre and is set up by former Tap Social head brewer Jason Bolger. It features craft keg ales, and a Scarlet River-branded gin and spiced rum. All brewing takes place on the premises in the 500-litre kit behind the bar, being pumped into tanks to mature. This is the first time commercial brewing has taken place in Witney since Wychwood Brewery was closed by corporate owners Marstons in 2023.
• Also in West Oxfordshire pub news, the Black Prince in Woodstock – the town’s sole free house for many years – could be set for a revival after closure in 2023. Private aviation tycoon Dustin Dryden, based at Oxford Airport, has lodged a planning application for a “traditional casual dining destination with a number of guest rooms providing predominantly short-stay accommodation arranged as eleven bedroom suites”. A brochure website promises that “world-class chefs are waiting to create unforgettable culinary experiences for you”. The application is with West Oxfordshire District Council for consideration: Woodstock Town Council has already objected on the basis of “overdevelopment of the site”. (We are fairly sure that Woodstock Town Council objected to Blenheim Palace in 1705 as “overdevelopment of the site”.)
• Oxfordshire's interfaith representatives have made a statement in solidarity against antisemitism, following violent attacks on two Jewish people in London on Tuesday. They write: “We stand in solidarity with our Jewish friends and neighbours and condemn all forms of antisemitism, Islamophobia, xenophobia and racial hatred.” Oxford's annual Interfaith Peace & Friendship Walk takes place on Thursday 11 June.

Oxfordshire politics

Consider this an addendum to our political pets article. Independent candidate for Littlemore, David Stares, has sent us this image of him with his dog Ted, nominating him as candidates' cutest pet. If you’re in Littlemore, you can find David's policies on Facebook here.

Meanwhile, the Greens’ Cherwell leader Ian Middleton sent us this picture of Mickey the cat guarding a recently reinstalled stakeboard in Kidlington. We have also heard tell of LibDem stakeboards down in Ducklington, and Labour stakeboards across East Oxford. One day, perhaps, the vandals will learn that for most campaigners this is a red rag to a bull – if the replacement Ducklington stakeboards get any larger, you’ll be able to see them from Artemis II.

There was a distinct lack of Conservative campaigning photos from around Oxford in our election preview article. So we’ll put that right by publishing this Summertown snap.

On to national matters. (Because city/district council elections are being fought on housing, parks, licensing etc. – but you knew that, right?) Though you may spot a few clues to the local battlegrounds from where MPs have been campaigning this week....

• Banbury MP Sean Woodcock celebrated the Renters’ Rights Act coming in to force, a piece of Labour Government legislation that aims to ban ‘no-fault’ evictions, ends bidding wars, caps upfront rent and limits rent increases. He also celebrated new legislation supporting sick and disabled people into work through the Right to Try, allowing those out of work due to illness or disability to try out work without immediately losing benefits. In Parliament, he asked the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister what lessons have been learned and implemented from the appointment of Peter Mandelson (in an impeccably friendly way). Local election battlegrounds: he seems to have spent his Bank Holiday weekend campaigning out in Banbury and Chipping Norton, two Labour strongholds in his constituency.

• Bicester & Woodstock MP Calum Miller has complained at being shut out of the Botley West Solar Farm decision-making process, saying that the process is opaque: “This is the largest solar development ever proposed in this country. The decision was delayed for a reason. Ministers and officials clearly had concerns serious enough to extend a statutory timetable and seek further information. But the Department is consulting the applicant and a hand-picked list of parties; the MPs whose constituents will live alongside this scheme are not on it. That is indefensible." (We’ve written about Botley West and Oxfordshire’s solar boom previously.) After the stabbing in Golders Green, he said the Government must do more to prevent terrorism. Finally, he has put together a video round-up of his recent votes in Parliament. Local election battlegrounds: here he is out in Hanborough with local LibDem candidates and WODC leader Andy Graham.
• Witney MP Charlie Maynard has been at Carterton May Day Fair, filming an excellent video with a giant tortoise. Two weeks ago we accused him of channeling David Attenborough; this week we have shades of Martin Bell, reporting live from the scene of an unexploded grenade near Carterton.(Nothing to do with the giant tortoise.) Local election battleground: he's been campaigning in Witney East where there is significant house-building planned. The LibDems are calling for social infrastructure to accompany the homes.

• Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds paid tribute to the Bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries, who died last week. Like Woodcock, she celebrated the Renters’ Rights Act. She met with Voi Scooters in Headington to discuss constituents’ concerns (principally about parking). She spoke at the Fabian Society Big Tech Summit yesterday on the risks and opportunities that Big Tech poses for democracy. Local election battlegrounds: she's been campaigning in Littlemore, Barton & Sandhills and Lye Valley.
• Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran posted this very cheery video having come out of a meeting with Wes Streeting on the future of Summertown GP surgery. Local election battleground: she’s been out in Walton Manor where the LibDems are trying to take the seat from Labour.

• Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover popped up on the Prime Minister’s Questions order paper to challenge the Government’s approach to affordable housing, winning plaudits from housing charity Shelter for doing so. He asked: “Despite ambitious targets for housebuilding, Shelter believes that the current approach is failing to provide enough social and genuinely affordable housing. Will the Prime Minister end his Government’s warm embrace of the developer-led model, and introduce powers for local authorities to build their own social and affordable homes?” (Watch the exchange here.) He featured in a Times diary item about politicians and cats. (Dear The Times, get your own ideas.) And finally, visiting friends in the North, he posted the above photo of a ticket machine with the wry observation: “Great to see Northern’s confidence in their rail service. If only Northern could be nationalised to sort all this out. Oh wait, they were, half a decade ago.” (We are all Olly Glover when we travel by train…)

• Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo has foiled our hopes of getting through a week without someone writing a letter about Thames Water. This week he wrote to the Secretary of State requesting that private companies providing public services, like – purely for example – Thames Water, are required to follow the Public Office Bill's Code of Conduct. In other watery news, he visited HR Wallingford who "de-risk floating offshore wind technologies in realistic deep-water conditions" (another example of an innovative Oxfordshire company that's got us curious). If you think you would like to see more Freddie, and perhaps ask him questions about water, de-risking floating offshore wind technologies or even giant curlews, Thame Players are hosting ‘An evening with Freddie van Mierlo’ for charity on 30 September. See you there?
• Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber has written a serious analysis of the Crime & Policing Act, entitled 'The good, the bad and the missed opportunities'. If law and order, particularly retail crime and knife crime interests you (not like that), this is worth a read. He has also condemned Home Office cuts to organised crime units, warning that it risks weakening police forces' ability to tackle organised crime groups. A letter to the Home Secretary was signed by sixteen Police & Crime Commissioners.

University and research

• Oxbridge colleges should centralise their admissions procedures in the interest of fairness, according to a new report. The Higher Education Policy Institute, a thinktank based in Oxford, asserts that having to choose a college is inefficient, inconsistent and unfair. In 2024, the College Disparities Campaign publicised the dramatic differences between the endowments of Oxford's 39 colleges. Poorer colleges tend to offer less financial support and charge higher rents, which the authors claimed to affect students' academic performance.
• Oxford researchers could have identified a crucial ingredient for reforesting tropical island ecosystems. Researchers surveyed fungal diversity in the uninhabited Palmyra Atoll in the North Pacific, and found that the Pisonia ‘birdcatcher’ tree, central to rainforest restoration, has a very specific fungal partner helping it access water and nutrients. The fungus also converts seabird guano into peat. Oxford University's Stuart West said: "Most trees associate with many different mycorrhizal fungal partners. In contrast, we found that Pisonia relies almost entirely on a single species. This suggests an unusually tight and potentially fragile symbiotic relationship."
• The University of Oxford and the United Nations have launched a "Peace and Security" fellowship. It will bring serving UN practitioners to Oxford to research peacekeeping, conflict prevention and political missions. Supported by Oxford mentors from many disciplines, Fellows will receive time, resources and scholarly guidance, and will share their findings at a closing seminar and in a final paper. The programme will culminate in a public lecture at Oxford on 18 June, delivered by Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, on the future direction of UN peace operations.
• Oxford physicists are part of a team with Queen’s University Belfast that has shown how to dramatically boost the intensity of lasers. They used the Gemini laser at the STFC Central Laser Facility, Harwell and fired it at a plasma causing it to behave like a mirror rapidly moving towards the source. This compressed the light making it more energetic: then, going one further, they showed a way to concentrate this light across many frequencies on a tiny point. This intense concentration of energy could allow scientists to probe how light and matter interact, and the theory of quantum electrodynamics, without the need for a high-energy particle accelerator such as CERN. The work originated from a thesis by Dr Robin Timmis, who said: “The simulations suggest that we may have made the most intense source of coherent light ever. The discoveries we have made so far are fascinating, and it feels like we are just getting started in terms of understanding the rich and complex physics of this mechanism.”
• In a brace of recently published articles on AI, the University of Oxford has shown that AI chatbots trained to sound warm and empathetic make more mistakes (you’re exactly right!), and speculated that the newspapers firms racing to replace people with AI will be the first to fail. In a paper published in Nature, researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute found that “warm models” were 40% more likely to agree with users’ incorrect beliefs, and that the accuracy drop was most pronounced “when users expressed sadness or other emotional cues”. In testing, one such model gave credence to a user’s belief that Adolf Hitler escaped to Argentina in 1945.
       Separately, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, from the Saïd Business School, believes that while AI can reduce staff costs, it can also reduce profitability by damaging morale and cutting off the talent pipeline. AI should be used to augment, not replace key talent, he says: “Yes, it can reduce headcount, but it can also lock companies into today’s patterns, which AI performs well at, rather than exploring potential futures, which humans do better.”
• Oxford Brookes is set to debut a new car at this summer’s Formula Student educational engineering competitions, which task teams to design, build and race a single-seater race car. The car has been redesigned to be lighter and more efficient, with changes to the chassis, cooling system and battery. Sébastien Cavedon, for Oxford Brookes, said: “We’ve reduced weight and simplified the car. These are major changes that should make a noticeable difference on track.” The university runs motorsport engineering courses with links to F1 in the county.
• A new Oxford Centre for Korean Studies is to be established at Oxford University. Announced at the opening of the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, it will serve as “a global hub for research on Korea, bringing together work across the Humanities and Social Sciences”. The centre will initially be based at Wolfson College when its first operations start in October. Jieun Kiaer of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies said: “Korean film and music has already captured the imagination of global audiences in recent years and Korean studies is such a rich and fascinating field, so we hope the research coming out of the Centre will interest a wide audience.”

Notes from Clarion HQ

We didn’t have a ‘trains and buses’ section this week. Whisper it: every single train your Clarion transport correspondent has taken this week has been on time. Maybe no news is good news? (Though we’re still waiting for ‘no news’ to develop into ‘some news’ on East-West Rail and trains to Bristol…)

Oxfordshire Artweeks is underway! It’s southern Oxfordshire’s turn this week, followed by the north and west from this Saturday, and Oxford city from Saturday 16 May. We can’t think of a better excuse to jump on a train or bus and explore your county. Hopefully they might even be on time.

Our mango article got our readers in the Other Place lobbying for a Cambridge Clarion. Oxford is (more than) enough for our volunteer team, but we would love to see Clarions in more cities. If anyone wants to take up the challenge, drop us a line at news@oxfordclarion.uk. We can share reporting on East-West Rail. And mangoes.

The very best of luck to all candidates and campaigners this week. The finish line is in sight. We’ll be in the Town Hall mainlining coffee: see you there.