Vale campaigners: we KNOW you'll all be campaigning in Ridgeway this weekend. Fancy sending us #BattleofRidgeway photos for our Tuesday politics edition? #wearealltheClarion

Moths are being celebrated as pollinators with a new proposed installation in Oxford North's Canalside Park. Three bronze sculptures will emerge from a wildflower meadow. Each sculpture represents the invisible movements of a moth’s search for a flower to feed from & pollinate. (one for #teammoth)

Planning approval has been granted for a £44m masterplan at Wootton Science Park, to the south-west of Oxford. The masterplan delivers carbon efficient lab and workspace for SMEs and tech companies. It includes 'high quality landscaped areas, secure bike storage, a bistro and gym.'

Plans for a solar farm near Farmoor have been turned down by Vale of White Horse District Council. Planning officers said it was “inappropriate development in the Green Belt” and that it would harm the “strong undeveloped open and rural landscape character”.

Hundreds of people have queued to be the first to see the new Sephora store in Oxford's Westgate, the twelfth Sephora in the UK. Sephora is known for its high end and trending beauty & fragrance offer, often being the first to introduce cutting edge brands to the UK.

Oxford’s essential newsletter – now published twice a week! Featuring today: 🚍 Congestion charge, one week in 🦏 Baby rhino 🚴‍♀️ New cycleway 🚗 Oxford traffic x JRR Tolkien 🥖 Artisan baker x Kanye West 🕳 Potholes x C20th choral music Get it online or by email: oxfordclarion.uk/clarion-week...

ICYMI yesterday, our hacks to beat the congestion charge. You'll never believe number 12! (Are we doing it right?) oxfordclarion.uk/twelve-easy-...

Hello bluesky! Are you thinking about heading home on your commute? Here are 12 easy hacks to beat the Congestion Charge. Don't forget to share! oxfordclarion.uk/twelve-easy-...

Minchery Farmhouse in Littlemore, Banbury’s Unicorn Hotel, Wallingford Castle’s motte, and the church of St Thomas the Martyr near Oxford station remain on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk list, published today. The list identifies listed buildings which are decaying or at serious risk.

Oxford’s Castle Quarter is up for sale. Property firms LandSec and the Crown Estate, who own the site as part of their Westgate partnership, have put it on the market for £31m. The site includes the Malmaison hotel, restaurants and bars. www.cbre.co.uk/press-releas...

Oxford University Hospitals has responded to the maternity investigation by Channel 4 and the New Statesman, which has alleged non-standard practices and covert recording. Simon Crowther, interim CEO, said “We extend our heartfelt apologies to any family who has not received the care they deserve.”

The RSPB’s Otmoor reserve is to get a 21-hectare extension, funded by developers. A former agricultural site will be transformed into a floodplain grazing marsh, with wetland features such as scrapes and footdrains.

Two independents on Oxford City Council have been censured for their behaviour. Saj Malik, of the Real Independents, and Amar Latif, of the Oxford Independent Group, were found to have engaged in “intimidating and insulting” behaviour at a City Council debate on Oxford’s traffic filters.

Tona Erreguin, of Imma the Bakery in Stoke Row, has won Baker of the Year at the Baking Industry Awards. Mexican born Tona named her bakery Imma, which means ‘mother’ in Hebrew, to evoke memories of a mother’s kitchen. immabakery.com bakeryinfo.co.uk/events/bakin...

Oxford University Press is to acquire Sigmund Freud’s publisher Karger. The company was founded in Berlin in 1890 but relocated to Basel in 1937, and publishes almost 100 science journals. OUP CEO Nigel Portwood said it had been “stewarded carefully by the Karger family over many decades”.

Oxfordshire County Council have announced a new way to prioritise pothole & other repairs. Locations are chosen based volume of reports to the Fix My Street portal and engagement with town and parish councils before sending in Highways Asset Response Teams to 'where they are most needed'

Racial abuse, sexual harassment, and a failure to ensure rowers’ health and well-being were all found at Oxford Brookes University Boat Club, according to an investigation commissioned after allegations of bullying. A “toughness sheet” with insults towards club members surfaced last year.

North Oxfordshire residents will be able to put their empty Christmas glass bottles in their recycling bin for collection, instead of needing to take them for recycling, Cherwell District Council have announced. Kerbside glass recycling starts on 1 January. www.cherwell.gov.uk/glass-recycl...

A new National Forest is to be planted in the Oxford–Cambridge corridor, together with forest towns which “embed nature recovery into development with green spaces designed alongside new homes”. The Government today announced £1bn to be shared between this and a forest in the Midlands or North.

The first tenant has been announced at Oxford North, Oxford's new global innovation district. Law firm Mishcon de Reya's team operating in the fields of life sciences, healthcare, space, defence, AI, blockchain, quantum and more will relocate.

[Content warning: stillbirth]: Channel 4 is reporting allegations against the John Radcliffe Hospital maternity department including that a baby declared stillborn was later found to be alive. OUH is one of 12 trusts currently under a rapid maternity review ordered by the Health Secretary.

Books! The 2025 Oxford Indie Book Fair takes place on 23 November with 160 exhibitors from small publishers to poets. Talks include Oxford Brookes Chancellor Paterson Joseph on his book 'Children who Changed the World' and celebrated Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov. www.oxfordindiebookfair.co.uk

Over 100 Bicester businesses have signed a joint letter to the Treasury urging ministers to back an underpass at London Road - warning a footbridge would “paralyse” the town and “threaten local jobs.” They say a bridge pushes traffic onto already congested routes and drives people away from shops.

Social enterprise Tap Social is to open its fifth venue in early 2026 at Milton Park. 'Day Release' will be a cafe and taproom offering their Criminally Good Beer, artisan coffee, sourdough, and pastries. It'll also be home to a new Brew School which will host hands-on brewing sessions.

A Conservative motion to cancel Oxford’s new Congestion Charge has been rejected by a meeting of Oxfordshire County Council. The Conservative and Labour groups voted to withdraw the charge but were outvoted by the LibDem administration and the Greens. (Our live posts are in the thread below!)

And we’re back at Oxfordshire County Council’s full council meeting. The Conservative and Independent group has put forward a motion calling for the Oxford congestion charge to be withdrawn. Their leader Cllr Liam Walker begins by saying “the so-called consultation was a sham”.

Proposals to reopen Ardley station on the Chiltern railway line, between Bicester and Banbury, have moved forward with Oxfordshire County Council earmarking funds for a business case. The station would serve new housing at Heyford Park, with the intention of attracting developer funding.

Oxfordshire County Council’s full council meeting is just getting underway. We’ll be live-posting the public questions and addresses (around 11am–12pm), plus the debate this afternoon on the congestion charge (from 3pm). We’ll recap news from the rest of the meeting in our newsletter on Friday.

Buses are getting around Oxford faster as a result of the congestion charge, according to Oxford Bus Company. MD Luke Marion said “We’ve already seen encouraging improvements to traffic flow and bus journey times in the scheme’s first week.”

New staff accommodation at the John Radcliffe is a step closer to completion as a 'topping out' ceremony marks completion of the roof on units on Ivy Lane. This is part of the Trust's project to provide new staff with high-quality homes at rents more affordable than Oxfordshire’s private market.

Oxford City Council has announced the Oxford Living Wage amount will increase to £14.06 from April 2026. OLW was launched in 2018 to help workers earn enough to meet the city's living costs. It is reviewed annually and set at 95% of the London Living Wage. Over 175 organisations are signed up.

Cumnor Parish Council is fundraising to buy Cumnor Hurst, after All Souls announced the end of its lease to the Parish Council, who say the college wishes to sell on the open market which may mean loss of access to the Site of Special Scientific Interest. cumnorparishcouncil.org.uk/save-our-cum...

Following months of focus on domestic abuse, Thames Valley Police have announced nearly 50 arrests of outstanding high risk suspects, alongside victim support & a program of community engagement. Arrests resulted in in five suspects being charged so far. www.thamesvalley.police.uk/news/thames-...

A baby rhino, Markus, has been born at Cotswold Wildlife Park just outside Burford – the only white rhino birth in the UK this year. Head keeper Mark Goodwin said “He’s one of the most confident calves I’ve seen… if he grows into his features, he will be a big lad.”

“Boxes” for the new Botley Road railway bridge are being assembled close to the site. The structures will form part of the southern abutment when the new bridge is installed in early February. Becket Street car park and Botley Road itself have been used as work sites to construct the boxes.

Once more for the weekend long read crowd. We are particularly proud of this week's spooky work. 👇

Thames Valley Police have imposed a dispersal order this weekend for Oxford United v Millwall, which would have coincided with the latest protests about asylum seekers at the nearby Holiday Inn. Organisers of the counter-protest have called off their demonstration.

A light artwork is proposed for the dank Cow Lane underpass under the railway close to Didcot Parkway station. ‘Routes’, by Ben Carlin and Helen Brook, will comprise six animated panels that react to pedestrian movement.

Once more for the weekend long read crowd. We are particularly proud of this week's spooky work. 👇

Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council have each published their detailed proposals for council reorganisation today. The County’s proposal envisages one council for the whole of Oxfordshire, while the City proposes three councils (Greater Oxford, North, Ridgeway).

An Oxford student has been acquitted of damaging Stonehenge by spraying it with orange powder in support of Just Stop Oil, reports the BBC. Niamh Lynch, a geography student at Regent's Park College, cited "reasonable excuse" in her defence. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Banbury MP Sean Woodcock is encouraging the town to apply for the new UK Town of Culture competition, saying it could "restore a real sense of pride and belonging in the place we call home." Applications will be judged on the story of the town, a cultural programme for all and programme delivery.

Botley Road businesses Warlands Cycles, Jericho Coffee Traders and Spanner Works will launch a pop up shop in Broad Street this weekend. The initiative, from Oxford City Council and Network Rail, is timed to take advantage of festive trade and located at the heart of Oxford's Christmas events.

Oxford City Council has launched a consultation on its next Air Quality Action Plan 2026-2030. The plan sets a target for Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) of 20µg/m3, building on reductions to beat the 30 µg/m3 target in almost all locations in the 2021-2025 Plan. consultation.oxford.gov.uk/environmenta...

This missed our spooky newsletter, but the work is so good, we had to share. Pumpkin art from the heart of Oxford and @chessboardman.bsky.social www.tumblr.com/thechessboar... Have you seen any pumpkin art on the streets of Oxford? Share your favourites!

All Oxford's news in the Clarion newsletter. Including: 🚘 Congestion charge leads to drop in traffic… 👻 …and uptick in ghosts 🦺 Battle of Ridgeway 2025 🚲 New bikepacking route 🐈‍⬛ MP's cats revealed at last 🎃 The best Halloween events Read online or by email: oxfordclarion.uk/clarion-week...

Former Oxford City Councillor for Hinksey Park, now MP for Penistone & Stockbridge, Dr Marie Tidball, has won the Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Award. A councillor between 2016 & 2022, she was a founding director and coordinator of the Oxford University disability law & policy project.

15 new affordable homes in Westlands Drive, Northway, have been given the go-ahead. City Council housing arm Ox Place is building them as a “low car development”, with just 3 car spaces (2 wheelchair users, 1 visiting carers) but bike spaces for each house plus communal storage.

Oxford's dog warden Ady Higgs met homeless dog owners last week to advise on caring for their dogs and to donate supplies from the local RSPCA. The ODS dog warden service won an RSPCA PawPrints Gold award last year. All Oxford residents can order a free dog tag from the City Council.

Renovations at the New Theatre have turned up a trove of old artefacts including newspaper clippings, photos and glass bottles from the 1930s. Among the finds was a photograph of a soldier tucked carefully behind one of the bars, believed to have been hidden there decades ago.