Photo: courtesy of Stephanie Jenkins and the Headington Forum

Several of you have commented on the intermittent flooding in Cuckoo Lane and one resident has asked if it could be resurfaced. Our latest information is that

There have been a couple of incidents where pedestrians have struck their heads on the tunnels that cross the footpath.  These tunnels form part of the Grade II listed Headington House so cannot be interfered with, although some sort of application for Listed Building consent is not out of the question.

The only positive drainage in this section of Cuckoo Lane is by two gullies, one opposite the end of Stephen Road which drains to Thames Water’s surface water sewers, while another between here and Old High Street has to be assumed to go to a soakaway.  By normal standards, 2 gullies for just over 400m2 is just about adequate, but this really doesn’t work for such an elongated site.  The provision of further gullies would almost certainly have to be to soakaways and these would constitute fairly substantial amounts of work.

You can find out more about the history of Cuckoo Lane here