You may have seen in the press that Waitrose is coming to Headington. With the merger of Somerfield and the Co-op, the Co-op have decided to keep their London Road site and sell the Somerfield shop off Old High Street. Waitrose is buying the building and hoping to open there in May.

There’s been some lively discussion about whether this is good for Headington or not. The way I see it is that it demonstrates business’s confidence in our district centre as a viable location and could have beneficial knock-on effects. I stress ‘could’ – what we’d want to see happen is other, locally-run businesses opening up alongside Waitrose as the centre becomes more attractive to shoppers. But that depends on many factors and we certainly can’t be complacent.

In the first instance, Ruth and I are in contact with Waitrose in order to encourage them, with their John Lewis ethos of partnership, to become involved in the new Headington Business Association and an active player in the community. If that were to happen, it would certainly be something to celebrate.