The Clarion, 9 December 2025

This week’s top stories

Plans to reorganise Oxfordshire’s fire service, which could see the closure of Eynsham, Woodstock and Henley fire stations, have provoked anger from firefighters. The Fire Brigades Union organised a rally outside County Hall this morning to coincide with the monthly council meeting. John Shuker, local union secretary, said:

“We are considering all options to fight these cuts – including industrial action. The council is threatening to close fire stations, remove fire engines, and reduce firefighter posts. This would leave communities across Oxfordshire without the fire cover needed to keep people safe. Firefighters’ working conditions are also coming under attack, with 14 firefighters in Kidlington even facing losing their homes. Only five fire engines would be guaranteed to be available at night across the entire county.”

But Oxfordshire County Council says “the proposals are not driven by financial savings and will not reduce our budget… they are intended to improve response times”. They continue:

“On-call fire engines with high staffing levels generally represent very good value for money and are therefore invariably worth keeping. If Eynsham, Henley, Woodstock, and Oxford Rewley Road’s on-call fire engines had higher staffing levels, they would not have been proposed for closure. Our proposals include potentially over £33m of reinvestment in Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service’s fire stations, and increasing our number of wholetime firefighters.”

Banbury MP Sean Woodcock said he opposed any reduction of full-time firefighters in the town, while in West Oxfordshire, a Conservative motion to express opposition was voted down amidst arguments about procedural shenanigans. The consultation is open until 20 January.

Oxfordshire’s railways are booming. The latest figures from the Office of Rail & Road show that Oxford station had 20% more passengers in 2024/25 than the previous year, well above the 7% rise nationally.

Culham was up by a staggering 57% and Radley by 45%. The Cotswold stations also put in a good showing, with Hanborough up by 31%, Charlbury by 25% and Kingham by 29% – all three now above their pre-Covid peak. Of the major towns, Banbury rose by 20% and Didcot Parkway by 13%, but Bicester North and Bicester Village were just 9% and Oxford Parkway was flat at just 0.15%.

Inspector Norse, Radiospread, Grittenham Clumps and John Thaw are among the names chosen for Oxfordshire’s gritters this winter. Oxfordshire County Council asked the public for “pun-tastic names” for its 30-strong fleet of gritting lorries. Snowy Beauchamp, named after Oxford United’s legendary midfielder Joey, and Roger Ban-ice-ster also make an appearance.

For OCC, Cllr Andrew Gant said: “Our gritter drivers do an amazing job at the most unsociable hours and in the coldest temperatures, helping to make our roads safer. If you do find yourself behind one of them, please be patient and considerate – they are there to keep you safe.” The full list of chosen names can be read on the OCC website for anyone whose pun tolerance is sufficiently robust.

Around the city

• The Ashmolean Museum is to give a new home to a painting that had hung in Campion Hall, Oxford’s Jesuit college, for many years before being recognised as the work of Flemish master Quentin Matsys. New research shows that although it had previously been attributed to his studio, Matsys himself had a more direct hand in this particular work than previously thought. Nick Austin, Master of Campion Hall, said: “To stand and pause before this painting is not only to admire its beauty or the virtuosic skill of the Master’s hand, but to risk being transformed.”
• Rain couldn’t stop the festivities at the second annual ‘Frost Fest’ on East Oxford’s Magdalen Road, held on Small Business Saturday. Retailers and residents thanked the people of Oxford and beyond for coming out in the pouring rain to support local shops and soak up a little festive cheer. Crowds enjoyed Christmas music from the street’s resident party expert Dave Seamer, whilst children got to meet Santa and families enjoyed shopping at the many independent businesses, pop-ups and markets. Organisers say they were delighted to see so many local councillors in attendance, plus Anneliese Dodds MP who joined in a spot of carol singing. Xander Cansell, owner of Caper bookshop, said:

“It was fantastic to see so many people enjoying the atmosphere, whether shopping for Christmas gifts, lantern-making at the Pegasus, finding delicious things to eat or enjoying a festive hot drink at the outside stalls. We know everyone who came along will have seen what a wonderful variety of indie businesses exist in the Magdalen Road Village and I’m sure they’ll be back again and again.”

• Colorectal surgeons at the Churchill Hospital say that new anoscopy equipment will allow them to treat cancers that previously could only be treated in London. The equipment was funded by Occtopus, the Oxford Colon Cancer Trust. Consultant surgeon David James said: “Early detection through a local clinic is crucial, and this equipment allows us to provide faster, more accurate diagnoses as patients can access appointments closer to home in a more comfortable and time-effective outpatient setting.”
• Oxfam has reported its annual results for the year to March 2025. They supported 9.2 million people “to fight poverty and build a radically better world”, working with 426 partner organisations. Oxfam’s income fell 8% to £339m, mostly reflecting a reduction in emergency appeals; the biggest reduction was in their German affiliate. Charitable spending reduced proportionately to £239m. They spend £123m on raising funds.
       Humanitarian emergencies tackled included Gaza, East Africa and Yemen. Oxfam also worked with the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office to research the rising impact of extreme heat and its links with water availability, health and mobility. Shop revenue was down 2% at £100m, but the previous year had been elevated by an exceptional corporate stock donation. 20,000 volunteers work in Oxfam shops. E-commerce grew 6.5% to £11m.

Around the county

• Amazon is proposing to build a data centre in Didcot on the edge of the decomissioned power station site. The company is the largest cloud computing provider globally with a 30% market share, ahead of Google and Microsoft. It plans to invest £8bn over the next five years on cloud computing infrastructure in the UK, which it claims will “support more than 14,000 full-time equivalent jobs at UK businesses”. The data centre itself will employ comparatively few staff; 8 car parking and 12 cycle spaces are planned. Amazon claims the data centre “will be a data repository which requires significantly less power consumption than typical data centres… it will house tape media that provides a long-term data storage solution for customers”. A planning application is with Vale of White Horse District Council.
• Raindrops keep falling on the heads of shoppers at Banbury’s council-owned Castle Quay shopping centre. Cherwell District Council is earmarking £1.65m for emergency repairs to stop the roof deteriorating further. A council paper reports: “Customer and tenant complaints are numerous. Wet areas on the tiled floors in mall areas present potential slip/trips and fall hazards and need be managed by the centre management team to ensure public safety. Leaks impact letting of vacant units.” The council is proposing to install a new roof membrane, and remove redundant roof plant, which will allow solar panels to be installed in the future. The spending will be considered at a Cherwell District Council meeting next week.
• Developers are bidding once again to build a life sciences technology park in a former quarry in Faringdon, south-west Oxfordshire. Vale of White Horse District Council refused permission for a previous application at Wicklesham Quarry last year. Promoters De Montalt Life Sciences say: “Lab space is generating significant premiums that can support new investment… There is an urgent need to provide high quality accommodation in a location well placed to support established hubs at Oxford Science Park, ARC, Milton Park, Harwell etc.” A local campaign against the development has highlighted the effect on the designated Site of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England says “Wicklesham and Coxwell Pits SSSI is of at least national scientific importance for its geological features.”
• OUFC are launching a new campaign, ‘A Christmas Surprise’. The club will travel across the county meeting Oxford United fans from across Oxfordshire who have gone above and beyond to help others. The stories will air on OUTV and Oxford United’s social media channels during December.
• Witney library has reopened this week, following refurbishments which began in February. The library is celebrating its 60th anniversary with a new meeting room, a redesigned children's area, and energy efficiency measures.
• The merger of Midcounties Co-op, Oxfordshire’s dominant Co-op chain with roots in Oxford and Chipping Norton, with the Midlands-based Central Co-op is to take effect on 26 January. Members of the two societies voted 97% in favour at a meeting last week. Members will be asked to vote on the name of the merged society. The two societies are of similar size with around 250 food stores each, but are dwarfed by the Manchester-based Co-operative Group which has almost 3,000 (including a few Oxfordshire outposts such as Witney’s Co-op).
• South Oxfordshire District Council leader David Rouane is stepping down at this week’s council meeting, after four years in the post. A new leader will be elected at the meeting. The council has a Liberal Democrat majority, holding 21 out of 36 seats.
• The campaign to save native curlews along the Upper Thames in Oxfordshire has been declared “successfully funded” at almost twice its initial target. Wild Oxfordshire sought to raise £25,000 to fund curlew conservation work for one year, but has already topped £48,000.

• A Quaker meeting house in north Oxfordshire has been opened for “champing”, church camping. The Sibford Gower meeting house has central heating, a kitchen and a shower. Prices start at £55/night and it can sleep six. Only one other church in Oxfordshire, St Leonard’s in Watlington, is currently open for champing. All champing churches include camp beds, lighting (often lanterns or candles), tea and coffee facilities, and a toilet; most are unheated. The project is organised by the Churches Conservation Trust.
• Markets across the county have been nominated for ‘Britain's Favourite Market’. Oxfordshire nominations include Abingdon, Banbury, Bicester, Charlbury, Chipping Norton, Deddington, Oxford Covered Market & Gloucester Green, Thame, and Witney. You can vote once a day. Oxfordshire is of course a market county with incredible heritage, and, arguably, unrivalled produce (but we would say that). We explored the history of the county's markets, and built a market directory earlier this year.

Oxfordshire politics

The Oxford–Cambridge Growth Corridor was debated in Parliament last week. Practically every MP between Oxford and Cambridge bobbed up and down for a chance to speak, plus, bizarrely, Jim Shannon, DUP MP for Strangford. (He wanted to thank Cambridge’s MP for visiting Portavogie. No, us neither.)

We don’t think many of the speeches will have surprised regular Clarion readers, with shout-outs for housing, rail and sewage. Calum Miller called for joined-up planning, citing the four massive developments in the Cherwell valley around Heyford and Ardley, each answering to a different Government department. Anneliese Dodds spoke up for “a greater Oxford, not an anti-growth unitary Oxfordshire”, but Layla Moran said the City Council plan “makes no sense… Abingdon had the highest number of PhDs per square kilometre in Europe because of the Culham Science Centre, yet the two would be artificially cut off even though they are absolutely adjacent”.

Government minister Matthew Pennycook, responding, promised big things from the Oxford Growth Commission, and said the proposed Abingdon Reservoir would help “businesses and communities grow and thrive”. He concluded: “The Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor is not a distant aspiration; it is happening now.”

Onto less abstruse matters! It was Small Business Saturday this weekend and all the MPs were out supporting their local businesses: Olly Glover was in Wantage, Sean Woodcock visited a farm shop and tea room in Banbury, Charlie Maynard was talking to small businesses in Witney about energy costs, Calum Miller shared cake with a poorly pigeon, Layla Moran visited the Handle Bar in Oxford, and Anneliese Dodds was out visiting businesses in the Roundway with local councillor and City Council Small Business Champion Chewe Munkonge.

• Banbury MP Sean Woodcock asked in Parliament if public procurement would be reformed to support small businesses. He spoke out in Parliament in the Dawn Sturgess [Salisbury/Novichok] inquiry, asking the Minister to ensure that responsibility lay with the Russian President: the Government says tighter controls are needed to ensure foreign agents couldn't act in this way in the UK. He signed a letter asking for more support for the homeless. Locally, he is encouraging constituents to take part in the national conversation on SEND and raising questions about the new road layout outside Banbury rail station. He celebrated the publication of the Child Poverty Strategy, including the abolition of the two-child benefit cap.
• Bicester & Woodstock MP Calum Miller is the LibDems’ foreign affairs spokesperson, which this week has included pressing the Foreign Secretary to use frozen Russian assets to give Ukraine the funds it needs to defend itself; raising concerns about the giant new Chinese embassy, for which the rather surprising response focused on the planning system; and asking if the government considered American strikes on Venezuela legal. More locally he was out in Kidlington collecting signatures for his petition to clear up the illegal rubbish dump, and addressed a Town Hall meeting about keeping Bicester's London Road open. Finally he asked for support for local food banks (scroll to the end for more).
• Witney MP Charlie Maynard is very very excited about the new library in Witney, and, inexplicably, an uninflated snow globe. If he could bottle that energy and sell it he'd make a fortune. He also flagged up the very important news that Besselsleigh Christmas lights are now on – surely the best-lit village in Oxfordshire (and only 10 minutes from Osney Island on the S6 bus).
• Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds pressed the government on steps it was taking on number plate cloning. She discussed global debt with CAFOD Emergency Response. In Parliament she raised the issue of aid workers in Sudan, who are being targeted at each change of ruling party in their area. Her excellent bullet-point summary of the Child Poverty Strategy is here. Locally, she's still pushing for a post office in Headington to replace the Co-op branch that will close in January, and hinted that one might be on its way. She had a super busy local weekend, attending the Headington lights switch-on, the Cowley Road Winter Wonderland, and the Magdalen Road Frost Fest, snatching a spare moment to get out on the doors in Wood Farm.
• Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran warned of the possibility of a Reform electoral victory (and possible foreign influence) with 25% of the vote, which she said made electoral reform still more vital. In the same TV interview (Peston) she spoke up for a new Customs Union with the EU. As chair of the Commons Health Select Committee, she spoke of the need to elevate mental health provision following its report into community mental health services. Finally in Parliament, she asked for a regulator on housing service charges.
• Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover shared his update of recent activities. He pressed the Government on plans to enable Egyptian British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, recently released from prison in Egypt, to return to the UK. If you only watch one political video in this newsletter, make it this one where, in a very short budget debate speech, Glover seems to be covering all the greatest hits Clarion readers hold dear. Hold tight for a tirade on (deep breath) supporting small businesses, planning reform, infrastructure supporting new housing, housing costs, transport and rail infrastructure, energy costs, Section 106 contributions, the tech economy, migration, and Brexit. With a mention of breweries, a bike shop and bats.
• Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo cycled from Thame to Haddenham with local councillors, the Mayor of Thame and campaigners to show support for the Thame–Haddenham Greenway. He asked the Government to speed up reforms to protect the Thames, calling out the ending of the Henley Swim after 20 years due to E.coli warnings. He visited CAE, a helicopter simulator company.
• Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber shared this recap of his week. In policy news, he launched a campaign to back pubs, including radical changes to business rates. The Angiolini inquiry, established to investigate how an off-duty police officer was able to abduct, rape and murder Sarah Everard, made 13 recommendations for police, which Barber has committed to following up; it praised Thames Valley Police’s Project Vigilant, an initiative designed to prevent sexual offences by identifying and disrupting predatory behaviour. In lighter news, he went to the Wantage Dickensian Christmas evening and the Vale Community Impact Cafe.

University and research

• Climate change, poverty, and drug resistance are combining to create an escalating health crisis that could become a ‘creeping catastrophe’ if left unaddressed, according to a major international study led by The Global Health Network at Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine. One of the main drivers is climate change, which is expanding mosquito and other vector ranges, increasing breeding sites, and accelerating human mobility and displacement. Mosquitos spread malaria and dengue among other diseases.
• The desk J.R.R. Tolkien used during his tenure at Merton College as Professor of English Language and Literature is up for auction at Christies, with an estimate of £50,000. It was subsequently owned by Dame Iris Murdoch and John Bayley. Another famous literary desk is on show at Christ Church; a writing desk designed by the philosopher John Locke forms part of an exhibition in the college library, open every Wednesday afternoon until 14 January.
• Further details have emerged of the plan to redevelop Mansfield College, which we reported on earlier this year. Architects Fielden Fowles say the planned buildings are in the Oxford tradition of “expressive collegiate elements” such as towers and cloisters. The architects plan to re-use stone from the 1960s John Marsh building, which it will replace, “drawing inspiration from the ancient practice of spolia”. A decision on the planning application is expected next spring with construction in autumn 2026.
• German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Oxford, as part of a three-day state visit to the UK last week. President Steinmeier was also shown examples of research collaboration between the UK and Germany.
• 19 innovators from Oxford University have been immortalised in photographs added to the Bodleian Libraries’ permanent collection. ‘Catalysts’ is a series of portraits by three photographers, Alys Tomlinson, Francis Augusto and Leia Morrison. Among the subjects are Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute, who worked on the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine; Rachel Upthegrove, whose work in psychosis research has informed early intervention services for child mental health; and endometriosis researcher Krina Zondervan. Photographer Alys Tomlinson said: “Working with such brilliant minds was an exciting prospect; I found everyone to be incredibly approachable and down-to-earth. The conversations I had were illuminating and varied… I learnt a great deal making these portraits.”

Trains and buses

• Commuters from Kings Sutton, near Banbury, have launched a petition against the downgrading of their morning commuter train to London. Currently the 06.41 arrives in Marylebone at 07.46 with one stop. From next Monday, it will be replaced with an 06.19 departure, with eight stops arriving at 07.42. Petition organisers say it will lead to “excessively long days” and note “no reduction in ticket prices despite a clear reduction in service quality”. Chiltern Railways say the change is in anticipation of introducing new trains longer than Kings Sutton’s platform. (Your Clarion railway correspondent has been on Chiltern trains that stop at little Bearley in Warwickshire without all the doors opening, so we’re a bit sceptical on this one.)
• The winter timetable change will also see a slight uplift in the CrossCountry service through Oxford, with extra northbound departures from Oxford at 09.14 and 12.11, and southbound from Banbury at 10.18 and 19.21. GWR is reducing the number of Sunday trains stopping at Didcot as part of an effort to manage endemic staff shortages.
• Saturday train services from Oxford to Reading, Banbury and the Midlands will operate to “a normal timetable” after the RMT union called off December’s industrial action on CrossCountry services. The union has been in dispute with the operator over overtime payments and resourcing.
• The Government has announced £15.4m of bus funds for Oxfordshire over the next three years. (This has duly made its way into MPs’ social feeds, but in reality this is just the annual grant – like celebrating paying your electricity bill after it's been done. Still, nice spin!)
• The Oxford Bus Company has unveiled the first winner of this year’s ‘Brand the Bus’ competition: Helen & Douglas House, the world's first children's hospice. Among the children supported by the hospice was Neve Tammam, who features on the bus, and who sadly died in April 2023. David Whittingham, Chief Executive of Helen & Douglas House, said: “The timing of these adverts is ideal, as we have just launched our Christmas appeal – we are likely to support at least 71 seriously unwell children over the Christmas period.” You can donate to Helen and Douglas House's Christmas appeal here: they are hoping to raise £66,000 to support seriously unwell children over Christmas.

Notes from Clarion HQ

The government is looking for traditions that define communities for recognition as UK living heritage. We’re sure the Oxford Civic Society and Oxford Preservation Trust will have views here; Clarion correspondents on Bluesky have already suggested May Morning, Abingdon bun throwing, and Aunt Sally. Any more ideas (serious or otherwise)?

Calum Miller's post on food banks gave us pause for thought. If you feel moved to, and are able to donate to a food bank, helping the most vulnerable in our county, or indeed know someone who needs to use one, here are some local links.

• Abingdon Foodbank
• Banbury Food Bank
• Bicester Food Bank
• Charlbury Cornerstone
• Chippy Larder
• Didcot Food Bank
• Eynsham Food Bank
• Oxford Mutual Aid
• Oxford Community Emergency Food Bank
• Thame Food Bank
• Witney & West Oxfordshire Food Bank

Finally, our silliest news story of the week so far is West Oxfordshire District Council’s decision to appoint a primate warden (or, at least, delegate someone to handle applications for monkey licences, now required by law. Assuming you own a monkey, that is). We thought this would only apply to Cotswold Wildlife Park outside Burford, but we have been reliably informed that the former Primate of All England had a house in Charlbury. Have a great week and see you on Friday.