The Clarion, 9 June 2026

Oxford Pride this weekend. Photo by Roger Close.

It’s a busy week for m’learned friends, with legal bills stacking up in the bids to halt Oxford United’s stadium and building on Iffley’s Horse Fields, never mind Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre. But we also have coffee shops, a restored 14th century pub, EV chargers, and best of all…

This week’s photo story

Oxford Pride was a joyous event – and our photographer Roger Close was there to capture the joy. Head over to our photo story for a riot of colour and good vibes.

This week’s top stories

Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre will more than double in size under new plans being considered by the Government. New accommodation for 240 detainees will bring the total capacity up to 400, with new perimeter fencing, lighting columns, and entrance gates. The centre, close to Oxford Airport in Kidlington, was closed in 2018 but reopened last December.

Documents submitted with the application argue that the centre will provide “a secure and humane environment”. The Planning Statement repeatedly refers to the political context, claiming: “Both the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary have confirmed that tackling irregular migration remains a top government priority… the UK Government has demonstrated continual political focus on enforced returns… the proposed development at Campsfield IRC forms part of a wider, Government-approved response.”

As a ‘Crown Development Application’, the decision will be made by the national Planning Inspectorate rather than local councils. Local MP Calum Miller said: “I have written to the Housing and Planning Minister to raise concerns about the use of this exceptional route and what it means for local democratic engagement.” He said he was “unconvinced” by the case to expand Campsfield.

The Coalition to Close Campsfield continues to protest against the centre, management contractors Mitie, and its investors – including ten Oxford colleges. The Coalition is organising a fundraising event at Tap Social in Botley this coming Sunday: tickets are available online.

The Bicester Village designer outlet has unwittingly become a hub for money-laundering, according to a new book. Investigative journalist Oliver Bullough’s Everybody Loves Our Dollars suggests that Chinese students are being used to launder proceeds from drugs, quoting a senior police officer:

“Factories in China ship drugs to British gangsters, who then give the payments in cash to Chinese students studying at UK universities. The students either take the cash to Bicester Village, or first pay it into their bank accounts before going; then they buy Gucci handbags or whatever, and ship them back to China, where the criminals sell them to fashion victims. It’s all co-ordinated by WeChat [Chinese social network] and we really struggle to follow it.”

In an interview with the Democracy for Sale podcast, Bullough elaborated that this circumvented Chinese capital controls. “The easiest way to do it isn’t in money at all, it’s in stuff – whether that be luxury handbags or used cars. This is how Hezbollah move money around the world, this is how Chinese gangsters move money – and if democracy is undermined by this money, we’re not getting it back. There’s a global wave of governments being captured by big money.” (In a separate, and fascinating, interview, he confessed to some anxiety about his reporting: “The last thing that a Chinese money-laundering gang wants is for their innermost secrets to be broadcast to the world.”) There is no suggestion that Bicester Village management or its tenants are involved in this trade.

Corpus Christi parade; Oxfam’s Pride display.

Around the city

Oxford United’s new stadium is being hauled to judicial review at the High Court by pressure group Friends of Stratfield Brake. The group believe that part of the Triangle site, just outside Kidlington, constitutes ancient woodland – i.e. continuously wooded since 1600 AD – and are seeking to overturn Cherwell District Council’s grant of planning permission for the site. They are being represented by activist law firm Leigh Day. Confirming that they had been formally served notice, OUFC said they have asked for the claim to be considered as quickly as possible: the club has a hard deadline of June 2028 to vacate the Kassam Stadium, and any delay to the stadium construction could leave them homeless. OUFC say: “We are confident that the planning application was robust and considered thoroughly by Cherwell District Council, and the Club will fully support the Council in defending their decision to grant planning permission.”
And in other legal news, Friends of the Fields Iffley have won a stay of execution in their bid to remove the Horse Fields as a development site in Oxford City Council’s Local Plan. The group says: “The Council did not follow the correct procedure at the [January council] meeting and councillors lacked the full information from public consultation.” At the High Court, Mr Justice Mould agreed that their case was “arguable and raises a serious issue to be tried”, and added that the Local Plan should not be submitted to the Government until the issue is resolved. As an Aarhus Convention case, the Friends’ legal fees are capped and are being paid by a crowdfunder.
Disruption to appointments is expected at the John Radcliffe and other Oxfordshire hospitals during next week’s industrial action. Oxford University Hospitals is intending to contact all affected patients and to offer to rebook them at the next available date. A national strike of resident doctors has been called by the BMA, which says: “The Government has the power to stop this strike action by coming to the table with an improved offer on both pay and jobs. There will be further action in July if no progress is made.” Felicity Taylor-Drewe at OUH said: “With industrial action reducing the number of resident doctors we have working in our hospitals, there will inevitably be a knock-on effect. Patients may experience longer waiting times, particularly in our two Emergency Departments at the JR and Horton.”
The feast of Corpus Christi was on Thursday, but the congregation of the Oxford Oratory processed through the city on Sunday, starting at Oxford University's Catholic Chaplaincy on St Aldate's and continuing along St Giles. Also processing along St Giles were Keble College (“the Lamb of God visits the Lamb & Flag”), while Christ Church’s procession on Thursday was hastily relocated indoors due to inclement conditions.
Minchery Farmhouse, most recently known as a pub called ‘The Priory and ?’ (that’s not a placeholder because we’ve forgotten, that really was its name), is set to be restored as part of the proposed Ozone redevelopment of the leisure park by the Kassam Stadium.
Developers Pioneer Group say the farmhouse, which closed in 2013, would be restored as “a high-quality pub and social venue”. A five-screen cinema and bowling rink would be retained on the site, plus a central square for food markets and community events, and retail and café space. The core of the development is high-tech offices (lab space) which Pioneer say will “support at least 1,700 jobs in the city”.
The 15th century building once formed part of the notorious Littlemore Priory, which was dissolute even before Cardinal Wolsey chose to dissolve it; historian Eileen Power called it “one of the worst nunneries for which records survive”. When the pub closed in 2013, excavations revealed burials of a prioress, a woman with child, and “a body which had received a blunt-force trauma to its head”.
Rose Hill councillor Ed Turner has launched a petition to repair the Cottesmore Road bridge over the southern bypass, which connects Rose Hill and Littlemore – and to install lighting along the ring road cycle track until the bridge can reopen. He says: “It is used by hundreds of people in both communities every day, and is an essential part of our lives.”
Oxfam Superstore in Cowley has been given a Pride-themed display in time for Pride Month and Oxford Pride. The display features, among other items, books and music with a LGBTQIA+ theme or author. Pointing out that the UK is not even in the top 20 most LGBTQIA+ friendly countries in Europe, Oxfam says it stands against all oppression and discrimination. The charity’s David Humphrey explained: “This Pride month, and beyond, we're showing solidarity with LGBTQIA+ people because we believe that happiness, safety, and a life free from poverty is everyone’s right. Our shops are at the heart of local communities and provide an opportunity for connection and belonging."

Electric vehicle charger (via Cherwell District Council); masterplan for the new homes at Standlake; Bablock Hythe, where there was once a ferry and ought to be a bridge (photo by P.L. Chadwick at geograph.org.uk, CC-BY-SA).

Around the county

1,500 electric vehicle chargers will be rolled out across Oxfordshire car parks and residential streets over the next two years. Two new contracts have been awarded: one for on-street chargers and county council car parks (including Park & Rides), and another for district and city council car parks. Oxfordshire County Council is also launching a “community microhub scheme” where parish councils and community organisations will be invited to host public EV chargers in car parks they own, such as at village halls.
Areas with limited off-street parking will be prioritised for public chargers. Most chargers will be 7kW units that can be used for overnight charging, but there will also be rapid 50kW+ chargers in “strategic locations” such as Park & Rides. Government funding, and investment from charging companies EZ-Charge and Connected Kerb, will pay for the installations.
A new 200-home development is proposed for the West Oxfordshire village of Standlake, south of Witney. The ‘Land South of The Downs’ development will include a convenience store, a play park, and “landmark buildings to add character and distinctiveness”. The application is scaled down from an original proposal which would have included 490 dwellings and a primary school. The site was suggested in West Oxfordshire District Council’s Local Plan consultation last autumn. The developers say “The site is located in a strategic active travel network in Standlake”; the Clarion hasn’t been able to find anything more than some footpaths and a bridleway, but we live in hope they might make a contribution to a pedestrian/cycle bridge over the Thames at nearby Bablock Hythe.
Plans to relocate a village primary school which celebrates its 150th birthday this year have been approved by the Department for Education. Brize Norton Primary School will move out of the village centre and into Brize Meadow, a new housing development on the edge of Carterton. The new one-form entry school will cost £10m. A consultation is now open which, bizarrely, finishes with the reassurance that “by submitting your name/role, this will be shared with third parties, including, but not exclusive to Pope Francis and potentially the DfE”. Separately, we reported last week that two primary schools are planned for New Astrop, an extension to Brize Norton on the opposite (eastern) side.
The old Wychwood Brewery site in Witney, closed by multinational Carlsberg Marston’s in 2023, has been reborn as a bakery and pizza cafe. West Oxfordshire cafe chain Blake’s has taken on the premises as their new central bakery, serving both the new Witney outlet, their Clanfield and Coleshill branches, and a Soho Farmhouse branch. (Our Upper Thames correspondents assure us that Blake’s is the place for coffee in the area. The Clarion does not have a Soho Farmhouse correspondent.)
Cherwell District Council has been awarded bronze accreditation by the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance, following its housing service's work in identifying and taking quick action on domestic abuse cases. Cllr Ian Middleton said: “Domestic abuse has a devastating impact on its victims. This accreditation should offer any domestic abuse survivor who needs our help the reassurance that we will handle their case with sympathy and expertise. We are now working towards silver accreditation.”

Oxfordshire politics

Several Clarion readers have asked us about Early Day Motion 240, a cross-party motion which opposes the ‘Draft Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations’ – principally in connection with the rights of trans and non-binary people. Layla Moran, Calum Miller and Freddie van Mierlo have already signed the motion. On your behalf, we reached out to the other Oxfordshire MPs to ask for their comments.

As a Parliamentary Private Secretary, Sean Woodcock cannot sign EDMs under the Ministerial Code.
Anneliese Dodds commented: “I do not sign Early Day Motions as they are almost never debated and have no or very little legislative effect. I have been engaging, and continue to engage, with my trans constituents on this and other matters they have raised with me.”
Olly Glover wrote: “Whilst I agree that the EHRC guidance is problematic, the Early Day Motion does not suggest a process for deciding what suitable replacement guidance would look like which would comply with the Supreme Court ruling. Therefore, I have not yet decided whether I will sign this particular EDM, and I want to take some time to fully understand the issues and make a fully informed decision.”
Charlie Maynard: At the time of publication we had yet to receive a response, but we’ll report it when we do.

On to the rest of the MPs' activities. Our word count gets ever more fraught each week, so we’re focusing on the top one or two issues for each MP... let us know what you think.

Banbury MP Sean Woodcock asked the Solicitor General in parliament what what the Crown Prosecution Service is doing to protect victims of rape and sexual assault (lots, and the video is here if you want to know more). Douwe Egberts might have left Banbury, but nonetheless he hosted representatives of the British Coffee Association in Parliament.
Witney MP Charlie Maynard went in to bat to raise the standards of Single Living Military Accommodation. In a punchy video, he explains the issue. More locally, he spoke at a business breakfast in Witney.
Oxford East MP Anneliese Dodds has been to Chad to see the camps housing refugees from Sudan. Locally, she met with Oxfordshire County Council officers to look at options for the closed Cottesmore Road footbridge (video on progress).
Oxford West & Abingdon MP Layla Moran met with the Minister for Housing to discuss service charges (the upshot: change is on its way, she's going to keep pushing individual cases). Speaking on the Health Bill, she urged the government to take the opportunity to address health inequalities, both for moral and economic reasons.
Didcot & Wantage MP Olly Glover is his party's transport spokesperson and has had enough of the Tube strike. (Not strictly Oxfordshire news, but some of us have been catching the 07.53 to Paddington on and off for 25 years, so we’ll allow it.) He led the Westminster Hall debate on Government support for high street businesses, challenging the minister, among other things to introduce National 'Buy Local' Schemes to encourage local shopping; create Independent Shop Zones to protect small, locally owned businesses against large chains; reform the business rates system; and invest in town centre infrastructure to improve accessibility and attract visitors.
Henley & Thame MP Freddie van Mierlo supported the Government on the Health Bill, saying it was fixing issues around the responsibility for ICBs commissioning health services. (He claimed to be “slightly gobsmacked” at the proposal. In a good way.) Plus: Did you know primary schools exist 'behind the wire' on RAF bases? When personnel numbers on the base decline, it makes funding a challenge. He secured a meeting to discuss an interim solution for RAF Benson's school while new helicopters are commissioned.
Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber spent a day with the Abingdon Bridge at their Youth Summit to help develop their youth strategy. He highlighted discussions around youth facilities but also opportunities for getting young people into employment, including the need to make it easier for employers to take on young people, particularly for casual work to help them gain experience.

We threatened a dedicated Thames Water section. So: After the third burst water pipe in Banbury Town Centre in under a year (watch the video… it’s quite something), Sean Woodcock wrote to Thames Water to ask how this can be prevented going forward. Freddie van Mierlo is in the Daily Mail blasting the company (you can click the link safely, it’s just a screenshot). Charlie Maynard has repeated the call for Thames to be put into Special Administration, a proposal that seems to have won the backing of one Andy Burnham. And Layla Moran tells us Thames Water write letters too! To all constituents in OX2 affected by a sudden drop in water pressure.

University and research

Oxford Quantum Circuits has closed a £260m funding round, claimed to be Europe’s largest ever private funding round for a quantum computing business. The investment will be used to develop quantum computing toward that elusive ‘commercially useful’ stage. OQC, an Oxford University spin-out, currently makes quantum computers with 16 and 32 qubits, but is looking to ever larger scales in the future. CEO Gerald Mullally said this “shows that British companies can play a leading role in a technology that will shape all our futures”.

Do not quadsqueeze this cat. Photos by the ever patient Dinah Rose.

More quantum news: it’s one thing on top of another. Oxford University physicists have demonstrated a new range of quantum superpositions that could enable advances in quantum computing and sensing.
We’ve heard of Schrödinger's Cat, where a cat is held superposed in two classical states (alive or dead) until observed. The new study has shown superpositions of exotic quantum states, including squeezed, trisqueezed and quadsqueezed states (albeit on a Strontium-88 ion, not a cat). Quantum entanglement and measurement achieve the desired motion and internal electronic state. Dr Sebastian Saner explained: "This gave us a tool to sculpt quantum superpositions into almost any shape. The states we produced exhibit rotational symmetries and form striking geometric interference patterns.’
St. Hilda’s College has bought Stonemason House on Magdalen Road to allow accommodation for 44 graduate students. The college will be able to accommodate all undergraduates and 50% of its graduate students from 2027. Pointing to relieving the strain on the private rental market the college said “This a landmark moment. It advances our commitment to providing accommodation for nearly half of our graduate students and represents a significant investment in the College’s long-term future.”
An Oxford professor has chosen to discontinue his lectures on the law of gender identity after being interrupted. Dr Michael Foran (he/him) described the protestors' statement and walkout as lacking the “virtues of academic charity”. His lecture can be seen in full online. Footage seen by the Clarion shows protestors calmly delivering a short statement accusing Dr Foran of bigotry. Other students wishing to hear the lecture chant “go away” and “boring”, play music, and bang on the desk. Foran's book was published by Cambridge University Press in May.
The Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations will “urgently accelerate” the development of the Oxford Vaccine Group's new Ebola vaccine that targets the Bundibugyo strain. The vaccine team is led by Professor Teresa Lambe, who co-designed the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. We've previously written about how Oxford University is working to produce and test larger quantities of this vaccine.
Linacre College says that it “respects the right to lawful and peaceful protest” following a demonstration in support of a former kitchen worker at the college (reported in last Tuesday’s Clarion), but that legal procedure should be observed. In a letter to members of the college, principal Nick Leimu-Brown wrote:

“The allegations that have been made against the College and individual members of staff are extremely serious. The College rejects those allegations and disputes the claims that have been made. However, these matters are the subject of ongoing legal proceedings. Because we respect that legal process, and because the truth of the claims are for an Employment Tribunal to determine, we are not able to discuss the claimant, the background to the case, or many of the facts that would place the allegations in their proper context. This feels very frustrating and unfair. Allegations can be widely reported on social media, while the detailed evidence and the College's response must be kept confidential until they are considered through the judicial process. Nevertheless, we believe that justice is best served when all parties allow that process to proceed fairly, carefully and according to law.”

12 Oxford scientists have been elected to the Royal Society, one of the highest honours in the scientific world – joining the ranks of Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Albert Einstein (as well as Elon Musk).
34 critical raw materials needed for the UK to function are showcased in an exhibition at Oxford University Museum of Natural History. Some forecasts have the UK needing 40% of global lithium supply, meaning decisions made now about design and usage have long-term consequences. The exhibition is a collaboration with the Department of Earth Sciences and Oxford EARTH – a transdisciplinary research programme addressing the resourcing challenge we face to meet future demand equitably and sustainably. The exhibition starts on 17 June.
Magnetic fields have been measured on exoplanets (planets around other stars) for the first time by astronomers from Oxford University. They measured wind speeds on hot planets, then found wind speed decreased with temperature – only explainable by magnetic fields. Wind speeds of 7200-25000 km/h were measured, faster than a speeding bullet. Magnetic fields shield the planet from radiation, necessary to allow life as we know it to evolve. The team used the Very Large Telescope in Chile and the Gemini North telescope in Hawai’i. Co-author Thaddeus Komacek called it “a triumph of years of study”.

Trains and buses

(but mostly buses this week)

A trial weekend bus service between Thornhill Park & Ride and Waterperry Gardens starts on Saturday 13 June and will continue until the end of August, stopping along the route in Wheatley. In 1932 renowned horticulturist Beatrix Havergal established her School of Horticulture for Ladies there, training generations of women gardeners, and growing prize-winning Royal Sovereign strawberries for Buckingham Palace. Waterperry Gardens is owned by the ‘School of Philosophy and Economic Science’, an organisation with an… interesting backstory. (We’re just going to point you towards their Wikipedia page.)
An Oxford Bus Company bus driver is swapping his steering wheel for a saddle as he prepares to ride between Anfield, the home of his beloved Liverpool FC, and the Kassam Stadium in a day. Mark Temple is riding in aid of Sobell House, the hospice who cared for both his dad and his wife’s grandmother. Last month, Sobell House won the Brand the Bus competition run by Oxford Bus Company. Mark said: “Sobell is a great charity, and the staff are always really appreciative, no matter what you do to support. And it will be great to drive the branded bus later in the year.”
Meanwhile, Oxford City Farm has won the runner-up prize in the 2026 'Brand the Bus’ competition, which includes a rear bus ad on a double-decker, digital on-bus advertising, and radio adverts.

Notes from Clarion HQ

Funny how news gets around. Last Monday, a Clarion writer was walking through Jericho in search of early morning coffee and noticed an empty shop-front with posters announcing the arrival of Bad Girl Books, a ‘romantasy’ bookshop. We reported it later that day (and in last Tuesday’s newsletter). The Oxford Mail followed up the story the next day, followed by the Bookseller, and then the Times. National news… all thanks to a coffee craving. Should you too feel in need of a pick-me-up first thing, Opera Cafe opens at 7.30am. See you on Friday.