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Oxford: More heat for Sandy Lane housing plan on pitches

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A plan to build 331 affordable homes on council land at Sandy Lane Recreation Ground has been met with backlash since the project was approved last month.

The £97.6million scheme would see the four football pitches on the grounds, a site chosen for its proximity to the upcoming Cowley Branch Line development, transformed into a 100 per cent affordable homes development of council-owned housing.

READ MORE: Oxford – Fears over wildlife and smells at 3,000 homes plan

Littlemore Station Cowley Branch Line CGI imageConceptual view of the future Littlemore Station on the Cowley Branch Line (Image: Foster + Partners / Ellison Institute of Technology)

Even though the council has promised to provide ‘new and improved’ football pitch facilities to be ready for community use before any construction work begins, football clubs and other locals have condemned the proposal.

Nick Duval, of the Kidlington Recreational Trust, said: “In my view Linda Smith should be ashamed of both herself and her colleagues on the city council.

“What right has she got to dispose of a recreation ground created to benefit the very residents that would elect her council.

“Were these asset stripping councillors not elected to serve and preserve the community.

READ MORE: Oxfordshire – Man banned from road after drink driving

“If selling these green spaces from under their feet is not a stab in the back to the residents, I really do not know what is.

“Sending these people down the road to Herschel Crescent sets a deplorable precedent for others to follow, and they will.”

He said that the plan will make “disposing of further community public spaces” a possibility for future councils to pay for projects.

Oxford City Councillor Linda Smith, for Blackbird Leys, said: “This is not the sale of an asset to generate income, it is part of Oxford Labour’s plan to alleviate this city’s housing crisis through using the city council’s wholly owned housing company to build homes.

Picture: Andrew Walmsley Catchline: BBLeys overgrown trees Length: Lead Date: 10/12 Booked by: Hannah Somerville 07766505807 Contact: Linda Smith 07961 121704 Location: Outside 6 Warburg Crescent, Blackbird Leys, Oxford OX4 6BS Caption: Councillor Linda Smith is going to give a speech at Oxford City Council’s City Executive Board meeting next week about the problem of overgrown trees in the Leys. Some have not been pruned since the 1950s and council policy means they won’t be for the foreseeable future, no matter how many complaints are received.Linda Smith (Image: Andrew Walmsley)

“These 331 new affordable homes will include 261 new council homes for social rent, taking local households in priority need directly off our housing register, and improving the housing situation for approximately 1,200 local people.

READ MORE: Oxford serial sex offender guilty of crimes against 4 women

“Around 300 children will have the benefit of moving into a safe, secure, efficient to heat and affordable council owned home here, with brilliant football facilities just a stones throw away.”

She added that planning policy and law gives council’s a ‘robust process’ for assessing whether a site is suitable for development – one which Sandy Lane went through when it was allocated for housing and a new Cowley Branch Line station in the 2016-2036 Local Plan.

As well as re-providing the existing football pitches 150m away at Herschel Crescent, the new development will create a ‘high-quality green space’ using existing trees and hedges around the edge of the site, for dog walking and exercise, plus new informal recreation areas.





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How to track Storm Dave as heavy snow and wind to hit UK

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Scotland and parts of northern England are expected to be affected by Storm Dave in the coming hours.

Disruption could be seen on roads, as well as on rail, air and ferry services, so whether you’ve got travel plans or are interested in seeing where the storm is, here’s how you can track it.

How to track Storm Dave

Brits can track Storm Dave via the Met Office website today through to tomorrow.

The Met Office’s tracker allows you to see the movement of Storm Dave and the impact of the storm.

You can see the rainfall, wind gusts, cloud cover and temperature as the storm moves across the UK.

Where is Storm Dave expected in the UK?

Up to 30 centimetres of snow could fall, with the Met Office issuing a yellow severe weather warning in Scotland for heavy snow and blizzards, causing some travel and power disruption.

Meanwhile, an amber weather warning for wind has been issued for parts of northern England, Scotland and Wales tonight.

The Met Office has upgraded a severe yellow weather warning for wind to amber, meaning flying debris could lead to “injuries or danger to life”.


What different Met Office weather warnings mean


The amber warning covers parts of Lancashire, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, North Wales and Scotland, and comes into effect at 7pm this evening and is due to remain in place until 3am on Sunday.

When is Storm Dave expected to hit the UK?

The warnings are in place this evening and tomorrow morning, with the storm expected to hit during this period.

Storm Dave will hit hardest on Saturday evening, before beginning to weaken on Sunday as it moves into the North Sea.


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The Met Office has issued multiple warnings for wind covering the whole of mainland Scotland, Northern Ireland, parts of northern England and North Wales from Saturday evening into Sunday.

Greg Dewhurst, a Met Office meteorologist, said: “There is cold air across Scotland at the moment and, as the rain pushes across this afternoon, it is going to turn to snow.

“We’ll see heavy snow forming across parts of the Highlands as we go through the rest of the afternoon into the evening time and early hours, as much as 20 to 30 centimetres could fall over the higher ground, and five to 10 centimetres over lower ground.”

Will you be tracking Storm Dave? Let us know in the comments.





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Which supermarket is cheapest? Tesco, Aldi and Lidl compared

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Analysis by Which? found Aldi offered the lowest prices in March for a basket of 95 everyday grocery items, reinforcing its position as the go-to retailer for budget-conscious households.

The data shows Aldi customers paid significantly less compared to rivals, with stark differences across the board:

  • £26.75 cheaper than Tesco (even with Clubcard discounts)
  • £28.47 less than Sainsbury’s (including Nectar prices)
  • £29.70 cheaper than Morrisons
  • £64.38 less than Waitrose

Even compared to Ocado, shoppers could save nearly £50 on a single shop.

Over a year, that could add up to more than £2,500 in savings for regular customers.

This comes as major retailers including Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons, Asda and Co-op are slashing prices across everything from vegetables to full roast dinners, with some items dropping as low as 4p.

This could be one of the cheapest Easter shopping periods in years – with meals from £1.25 per person and toys at half price.

But most deals are short-term, meaning shoppers may need to act quickly before stock disappears.

The biggest headline-grabbing deals are on traditional Easter veg.

Aldi shoppers can get potatoes, carrots, onions, swede and parsnips for just 8p and 4p each, bringing the cost of a full veg shop to under 50p. Products include British white potatoes (8p, 2kg), British carrots (4p, 1kg), XL garlic (8p, each), brown onions (8p, 1kg), British swede (4p, each) and British parsnips (4p, 500g).

Morrisons has carrots, parsnips and swede at just 4p, with savings of up to 96%.

These offers are only running for a limited period in the run-up to Easter, meaning availability could be tight as demand surges.


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Full Easter dinner for less than £2 per person

Supermarkets are also competing on full meal deals:

  • Aldi: full roast for four at £8.01 total
  • Lidl: Easter dinner from £1.63 per person
  • Asda: over 50% off lamb, pork and salmon

Core ingredients include:

  • Whole leg of lamb from around £6 per kg
  • Veg from 4p–8p
  • Mint sauce and gravy under £1

The supermarket expects to sell millions of vegetables and 17.5 million Easter eggs, with branded eggs cut to 99p.





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Didcot – Do you recognise him? Police investigate incident

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Thames Valley Police has released a CCTV image of an individual that officers would like to speak to in connection with the incident in Didcot.

Between 7pm and 8.30pm on Sunday, March 29, in Newlands Avenue, an offender approached the victim’s door and proceeded to kick it forcefully.

The motivations of the man to kick the door are not known.

Do you recognise him? (Image: TVP)

Police constable Matt Allinson, of Thames Valley Police, said: “We’re looking to identify the person in this CCTV image, as we believe they may have information that could help our investigation.

“If this person is you, or you recognise who this is, I would ask you to please get in touch with Thames Valley Police, either by making a report online or by calling us on 101, quoting reference 43260153059.

“Witnesses can also call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”





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