Oxford and Oxfordshire news, sport and information updated throughout the day

Stories for 18 February 2006

Oxfordshire News

Budget cuts will mean fewer recruits for police

Fewer police officers will be recruited and council taxpayers will pay more for police services as Thames Valley Police cuts £9.5m from its budget.   more...

Whose fault is it?

I read that the £33m deficit in Oxfordshire NHS trusts' budgets is not the fault of the managers (Oxford Mail, January 26).   more...

Off yer bikes

I refer to Harriet Waters's column (On Yer Bike, Oxford Mail, January 31). I feel that her proposal for open house to all cyclists anywhere in Oxford cannot go unchallenged.   more...

Councillor tries to stop felling of beech

A humble beech tree could prove the stumbling block to a multi-million pound biochemistry development at Oxford University.   more...

'EU tax decision will cripple us'

Oxfordshire's 'boat people' say they will be financially crippled when fuel prices triple because of an EU directive due to come into force later this year.   more...

Streets suffer 'visual chaos'

Traffic signs which obscure views, obtrusive posts on pavements and ugly street furniture are creating "visual chaos" in Oxford's historic city centre.   more...

Tax rise lowest around region

Oxfordshire is set to have one of the lowest council tax increases in the South East of England.   more...

Dentists quit NHS over Government deal

Dental patients will find it even harder to get treatment on the NHS as more dentists quit the service over a new Government deal.   more...

Man jailed for fracas

A drunken man bit a police officer's thigh in a fracas after he thought a friend was being kidnapped.   more...

University lecturers vote to strike

Oxford students are likely to face disruption after lecturers' unions voted to take part in a national strike unless a pay dispute is resolved.   more...

Saturday, February 18: Partners against crime

The crackdown on drug dealing at Blackbird Leys, Oxford, is an excellent example of police and the community working together.   more...

Victim of its own success

I must take issue with you over the assertion that because only one of the six Oxfordshire MPs is a Labour MP, Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt is not concerned with the financial problems of the NHS in Oxfordshire (Oxford Mail, February 9).   more...

Bid for record

Some years ago when the Oxford station area was redesigned, 35 poles were erected to carry the traffic lights.   more...

Shopping lane facing the end

One of the country's oldest shopping precincts is on the verge of extinction, its traders have warned.   more...

Politicians fall out over repairs to path

Repairs to a well-used footpath in Wantage have become the centre of a political tussle in the town.   more...

4,000 back call for open space

Four thousand people are now demanding that an area of open space must be retained in Witney's Marriots Close development project.   more...

Historic gaol site awaits new lease of life

RIP pistol Pete' reads the graffiti scrawled on the stonework outside a padlocked door.   more...

Ticket trauma left me fuming

I would like to add to Jo Newport's wonderful letter, Parking charge hike is a rip-off (Oxford Mail, February 9).   more...

Weed it out

Police have vowed to target drug dens after residents on an Oxford estate voted drugs as their number one concern.   more...

Convoys slow A40 motorists

Slow-moving cars will be used to prevent motorists speeding through roadworks on a busy stretch of dual carriageway in Oxford after a workman was struck by a car.   more...

Oxfordshire Sport

Bookies back Oxford

Bookmakers are confident that Oxford United will survive their relegation battle.   more...