Shark

HEADINGTON NEWS ARCHIVE for 2022

New cycle lanes in 2022

New cycle lanes opened in Morrell Avenue and Warneford Lane:

Planning Appeals in Headington in 2022
Still in progress at end of year (2)
Allowed (5)
Dismissed (7)

* On the same day Oxford City Council approved a newer application for a care home on the site: 21/00216/FUL

Improvements in Headington in 2022
Section 106 money from Oxford Brookes

Brookes was required to fund environmental improvements in the vicinity of London Road as a condition of planning permission, and the following resulted in 2022:

  • Planters to replace the nine redundant cycle racks at the top of Kennett Road, plus money for planting and future maintenance
  • Cycle hoops outside St Andrew's School
  • Planting outside Dorset House
  • A replacement tree on Headington Hill.
County Councillor discretionary spending

This funded the planters in Windmill Road in 2022.

Local Election 2022: results

Following ward boundary changes, all city councillors had to be newly elected in May 2021, with the councillor in each ward who had more votes elected for three years, and the one who had fewer votes for just one year. All the city councillors in the latter group who stood in the Headington area have now been re-elected until 2026, namely:

  • Barton & Sandhills: Mike Rowley (Labour)
  • Churchill: Susan Brown (Labour)
  • Headington: Chris Smowton (LibDem)
  • Headington Hill & Northway: Barbara Coyne (Labour)
  • Lye Valley: Ajaz Rehman (Labour)
  • Quarry & Risinghurst: Chewe Mukonge (Labour)

In Marston Mick Haines (Independent) did not stand for re-election, and a new city councillor has been elected until 2026:

  • Marston: Alistair Morris (Green Party)

The next city council elections will be held in 2024. There will be no county council elections until 2025, as following the boundary changes all county councillors were elected for four years in May 2021.

New Heritage Assets in 2022

This consultation on the second batch of Heritage Asset nominations ended on 26 January 2022. It was agreed on 23 March 2022 to add all of the nominations to the register, including four in Headington:

All Saints' vicarage sold

All Saints' vicarage next to the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre at 85 Old Road was dedicated on 11 June 1913, and the first six vicars of All Saints' Church in Lime Walk all lived there.

Following the retirement of the Revd James Cocke in 2020, in 2022 the Oxford Diocesan Board of Finance put it up for sale by Carter Jonas with an asking price £1.8 million. There are covenants on the site, and an overage for future development.

The building is on Oxford City Council's Heritage Asset Register.

New Haemophilia and Thrombosis Centre

The Haemophilia and Thrombosis department at the Churchill Hospital moved to a new £4m centre on the redesigned Mayfair Ward at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre on 14 March 2022. It is the second largest such centre in the UK.

Oxford Brookes: Headington Hill Hall site
(1) New Engineering Building

A planning application was approved on 21 June 2022 for an Engineering Building on the site of the ancillary car park next to the Richard Hamilton Building:

(2) Temporary Children's Nursery

A planning application for a temporary children’s nursery building in the garden of Headington Hill Hall was withdrawn in July 2022:

(3) John Garne Way Development

On 12 October 2021 the Oxford Planning Committee refused this revised application by Oxford Brookes University to replace twelve buildings at Clive Booth student village in John Garne Way, but it was called in to the Planning Review Committee by thirteen city councillors (details here), and was approved at its meeting on 11 November 2021. It is for:

“Demolition of twelve buildings (including main accommodation Blocks C, F, G, H, J, K, L and M) and erection of twelve buildings to provide student accommodation, with ancillary communal and social facilities and associated administrative building (Class C2). Erection of children's nursery (Class E). Alterations to car parking, installation of cycle parking structures and associated landscaping works, including reorganisation of existing footpaths and cycle ways, drainage features and ancillary development. Installation of a waste compactor unit and alterations to an existing road to enable access”

On 11 December 2021 the following article by Peter Hitchens condemning this decision was published in the Spectator:
“Only a benevolent dictator can save Oxford”
(but note that only two articles can be viewed as a guest)

(4) Cuckoo Lane footpath

Planning permission was granted to Oxford Brookes University in January 2022 for its amended its planning application relating to the Cuckoo Lane footpath, which includes partial demolition of the boundary wall (which is curtilage listed) to form a new entrance gap, and closing the existing gap.

(5) New Technology, Design, & Environment building
(on site of Helena Kennedy Building)

The original planning application by Oxford Brookes for the demolition of the existing Helena Kennedy building and the erection of a replacement academic building for the Faculty of Technology, Design, and Environment was approved on 1 August 2018:

The designs were shown at a public exhibition in March 2018:

The plans were delayed, however, as asbestos was found in the ground, and a revised application incorporating a basement has been submitted:

New intensive care unit at JR

A new five-storey adult intensive care unit with 48 beds was built on the site of the former Barnes building at the John Radcliffe Hospital:

Barclays Bank (all floors)

This bank at 105 London Road (on the corner of Old High Street) closed on 1 May 2020, and has been converted into a shop with two floors of flats above.

(1) Ground floor + basement shop

This has now been let, and it will be a Treatz café. A planning application for a new door on the south side for was approved on 23 September 2021: the plans were produced for Mujtaba & Salman Ltd of 40 Shelley Road in Cowley, the nature of their business being “unlicensed restaurants and cafés”

The building was advertised as a retail unit ideal for café/restaurant use. (This change of use is permitted development under the Use Classes Order that came into force on 1 September 2020.)

On 6 August 2020 an earlier planning application for “Change of use of basement and ground floor from financial and professional services (Use Class A2) to drinking establishments (Use Class A4)” was refused:

The developers Bradford Securities Ltd of Wolvercote put in all the following applications for the extensive redevelopment of the first floor and the building of an additional floor.

(2) First floor: conversion into flats

An application for “Change of use of first floor from Commercial, Business and Service (Use Class E) to create 1 x 1 bed flat (Use Class C3). Erection of three-storey rear extension and formation of loft conversion to create 1 x 1 bed flat (Use Class C3). Insertion of 2no rooflights to front elevation was refused in September 2022:

Previous applications relating to the first floor:

  • On 29 October 2020 a planning application to determine whether this office space could be converted into three flats under permitted development rights was withdrawn (20/02339/B56)
  • On 29 December 2020 prior approval was granted for an application to determine whether this office space could be converted into one one-bedroomed flat under permitted development rights (20/02783/B56)
  • On 30 December 2020 an application to certify that a proposed change of use to create two apartments was lawful development was approved (20/02773/CPU)
  • On 7 July 2021 details of bicycle storage were submitted (20/02783/CND)

(3) New floor on the roof with three flats

An appeal against Oxford City Council's refusal of the revised planning application to build three flats on top of this bank was allowed on 21 July 2020, but the scheme does not appear to be going ahead:

This approved planning application was for three one-bedroom apartments on a new floor on top of the bank with new access at the rear. The new storey would have had external cladding of smooth anodised aluminium with a bronze finish.

This earlier application was withdrawn:

In December 2020 an additional planning application relating to a non-material amendment to allow photovoltaic panels on the roof was approved:

 

Twitter

For up-to-the-minute information:

follow @HeadingtonNews on Twitter

Shop and businesses changes in 2022
The Oxford Fine Food Store

This opened in the former Queen's Bakery at 1 Windmill Road on 23 January 2022: it was part of Lamb Catering, who run the Black Boy. It closed after a few months.

Former Coventry Building Society

135 London Road

This closed on 8 January 2022 after c.40 years in these premises, and the freehold of the premises was advertised for sale (offers in excess of £500,000). The planning application submitted by Ashken/RMA Properties to turn the upper floor into two flats was refused in December 2022:

Treatz

Treatz desserts opened in the former Barclays Bank at 105 London Road on 12 August 2022. Planning application 22/00143/ADV for “Display of 2no. internally illuminated fascia signs, 2no. non-illuminated fascia signs and 2no. internally illuminated hanging signs” has been approved.

Caffè Nero in former Lloyds Bank

Caffè Nero opened on Saturday 13 November 2022 at 87 London Road in the premises of this former bank. It has been granted a pavement licence for two tables on the London Road and four on Stephen Road:

The bank closed on 16 September 2019, and the whole building was advertised to let at a rental of £83,000 per year, with a sublet income from the offices on the top two floors, occupied: At Your Service Events Planning on the first floor and Nigel Grice & Associates Ltd on the second floor.

Leaders

Following the takeover of Scott Fraser by Leaders in 2020, the latter's office at 2 Windmill Road has closed and been incorporated with Scott Fraser at 77 London Road.

Curry Adda

Curry Adda opened at 74 London Road (the former premises of the ABC Restaurant) on 25 June 2022. It is run by Aziz Rahman of the former Aziz restaurant (which moved from the Cowley Road to the Chequers in Quarry in 2016, and then on to Iffley in 2019).

Greggs' expansion

Greggs at 118 London Road reopened on 9 December 2022 after building work including the expansion into 116 London Road next door (the former Santander Bank). They were granted planning permission for “Alterations to shopfront, installation of 1no AC unit to rear elevation and provision of outdoor seating area to front”.

The Santander bank closed on 12 August 2021 and its former premises (ground-floor only) were advertised to let at £32,500 pa:

Grounded Kitchen

The Grounded Kitchen (Korean restaurant) opened on 11 May 2022 at 108–110 London Road (in the former Marie Curie Cancer Care charity shop to the right of Iceland that closed in September 2021):

Foot Health Practitioner

Foot-health practitioner Linda Nann moved into the former Oxford Locksmith's shop at 9A Windmill Road in 2022:

Former Sue Ryder charity shop

The former charity shop (which opened at 2A Windmill Road on 17 May 2012) closed in January 2022.

Pen to Paper/Oxford Orthodontic Centre

Pen to Paper at 95 London Road closed permanently on 8 May 2022. The building has been sold to the Oxford Orthodontic Centre upstairs, which will now operate on the ground-floor and part of the second floor.

A planning application to create a flat on part of the first and second floors (22/02089/FUL) was withdrawn in December 2022.

Robert Stanley Opticians became Bayfield

Robert Stanley Opticians was taken over by Bayfield Opticians & Audiologists early in 2022..

BT hubs refused

Three planning applications for BT Street Hubs in Headington shopping centre (all on London Road) were refused in 2022:

IDRM Building, Churchill Drive

Work on the £35m Institute of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine on the corner of Churchill Drive and Roosevelt Drive was completed on 25 February, 2022. This is a partnership between the University of Oxford, the British Heart Foundation, and a philanthropist, and will bring together 220 world-leading scientists to tackle serious heart problems.

The University of Oxford submitted two detailed applications in mid-2019 relating to the proposed Plot B3 on the corner of Churchill Drive and Roosevelt Drive, and both have been approved:

(1) “Details submitted in compliance with condition 4 (Restrict building heights), condition 5 (materials), condition 6 (Landscape and public realm), condition 7 (Protection of trees), condition 8 (Arboricultural method statement.), condition 10 (Landscape management), condition 11 (Boundary treatments), condition 18 (Sustainability strategy), condition 19 (Foul & surface water), condition 20 (Sustainable drainage), condition 21 (Ground contamination), condition 22 (Vibration and piling), condition 23 (Petrol / oil interceptors), condition 24 (Noise attenuation), condition 25 (Internal & external lighting), condition 26 (Cooking smells), condition 27 (Repeat ecological surveys), condition 29 (Habitat creation), condition 31 (Archaeological watching brief) of planning permission 12/02072/OUT”.

(2) “Application for reserved matters (appearance, landscaping, scale and layout) for plot B3 to create institute of Developmental Regenerative Medicine (IDRM)”:

Two public consultations were held at Boundary Brook House on 8 & 9 February 2019 on the University's plan for this site. They would like the new development to be a bridge between the campus and the neighbouring residential area, offering attractive landscaping and amenity space for both. The IDRM would “bring together 200+ world-leading researchers to tackle the most pressing scientific and clinical problems in the fields of developmental biology and regenerative medicine”.

The Institute is on Plot B3, one of five plots on the Old Road campus for which outline planning permission was granted in July 2013:

Office building in All Saints Road

Building started in autumn 2018 of a new two-storey office building in All Saints Road between Nos. 7 and 9 (at the rear of 73 Lime Walk), but the office is still unoccupied:

An earlier application for an office building here was approved in September 2015 (15/02281/FUL), but an application to remove conditions from the plans was refused in May 2017 (17/00435/VAR).

New hospital accommodation approved

On 6 November 2019 the East Area Planning Committee approved the following two planning applications submitted by A2 Dominion South Ltd:

(1) Ivy Land Flats on JR site

“Demolition of existing buildings. Phased construction of key worker housing comprising 56 cluster units, 21 x one-bed studio apartments, 48 flats (17 x one-bed, 31 x two-beds), management office and associated works including parking and landscaping”.

Currently there are 408 key-worker bedrooms on the Ivy Lane site, and the new development will provide 468.

(2) Site adjacent to Randolph Court on the Churchill site

“Demolition of existing buildings. Construction of key worker housing (19 cluster units) and associated works”

Oxford Mail, 8 November 2019: “Nurse recruitment at heart of drive for new Oxford hospital accommodation”

Oxford Mail, 2 October 2018: “New staff accommodation at John Radcliffe and Churchill hospitals planned”

295–301 London Road: Plans approved

The full planning application for the redevelopment of the existing Sikh Gurdwara and “Demolition of existing two-storey building. Erection of a part two-, part three-storey building to create 5 x 2 bed and 2 x 1 bed flats. Provision of bin and cycle storage along with private amenity space” was approved by the East Area Planning Committee on 2 September 2020. The plans were called in and subsequently approved by the Planning Review Committee on 15 October 2020:

This building was built for the Currill family in 1890 as a house and a shoe shop. In more recent years it was occupied by Sharp & Howse.

Two earlier planning applications

(1) A planning application submitted in February 2019 was withdrawn: this was for “Outline application with all matters reserved apart from scale and access for the demolition of existing two storey building comprising offices at ground floor level and 2 x 1-bed flats at first floor level and its replacement with a three-storey building comprising eight flats (2 x 1-bed flats, 4 x 2-bed flats and 2 x 3-bed flats) along with access to the rear at the site (serving a car park belonging to the adjacent Sikh Temple). Provision bin and cycle storage and private amenity space.”

(2) A planning application for the conversion of existing offices on this site into two shops was approved on 7 February 2018: