Revised Walking and Cycling Plans for Abingdon Town Centre

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Oxfordshire County Council has published revised proposals to improve walking and cycling through Abingdon town centre after taking account of feedback from last year’s public consultation.

The scheme, funded through the UK Government’s Active Travel Fund, originally had a budget of £1.47 million. It has since received a further £269,000, allowing the council to make several changes in response to concerns raised by residents and businesses.

The original plans included a contraflow cycle lane along East St Helen Street, new pedestrian and cycle crossings, and changes to the busy junction linking High Street, Bridge Street and Stert Street.

Following consultation, several aspects of the scheme have been revised. The illustrations below are my own mock-ups based on photographs taken today to help show the changes. They are not the council’s official drawings, so if you want to see the precise layout you should look at the plans on the council’s consultation webpage.

The main changes are:

* No net loss of residents’ parking spaces. Parking spaces that need removing will instead be relocated. New residents’ parking will be created on Lombard Street and St Helen’s Court, while some shared visitor/residents’ spaces on East St Helen Street will become residents-only. To accommodate these changes, Lombard Street would become one-way eastbound for motor vehicles while remaining open to westbound cyclists.

* More loading space for businesses has been included.

* The proposed planting along East St Helen Street has been removed, allowing wider passing places along East St Helen Street.

* A new pedestrian crossing is proposed between Parasol Restaurant and The Punch Bowl.

* Another pedestrian crossing would be provided outside St Helen’s Church.


* A protected southbound cycle lane is added on West St Helen Street, linking St Helen’s Court with East St Helen Street. This would require the removal of four parking spaces.

How to comment:

The council is currently asking for feedback only on these revised changes, with comments open until 1 September 2026. See: : https://letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/east-st-helen-street-active-travel-update

Later this autumn or winter, the council expects to hold a formal consultation on the complete revised scheme, giving everyone another opportunity to comment before any final decisions are made.

Bees Evicted from Wall

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Walking past Cosener’s House on Wednesday, I saw six people dressed in beekeeping suits. Two of them were  on scaffold. They were working beside a hole in the side wall of a building while bees flew around them.

The team must have dismantled part of the wall to remove a colony of bees. Along with the bees, they removed some large pieces of honeycomb in large plastic boxes.

I was told there were three boxes of comb like the one pictured. The bees must have been there for a long time to have produced so much honey.

Once the bees and honeycomb had been removed, the wall was rebuilt.

As I was taking photographs, a man driving past remarked, “That’s not something you see every day.”

The following day, bees were still flying around the rebuilt wall. By today, however, there were fewer signs of the bees.

Abbey Millstream Through the Year: July 2026

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July is a good month for spotting young waterfowl along the Mill Stream, although many of the youngsters are well hidden. These ducklings were out in the open below the weir.

There seem to be plenty of ducklings about, but the thick summer growth along the banks provides plenty of places for them to shelter, making them difficult to spot.

Moorhen chicks are often easier to find because of their high-pitched cheeping, which gives them away before they can be seen. Apart from the ducklings and moorhen chicks, I haven’t noticed many other young birds this month.

Around the weir, the reeds provide dense cover for wildlife. They protect not only birds but also large numbers of small fish.

The fish are easiest to see in the shallower water, or where bright green floating plants provide a contrast.

I found large numbers of Red Admirals feeding on a pink flowering plant beside the water’s edge.

Another interesting plant growing beside the stream has orange flowers that look rather like tiny jugs. It may be Orange Balsam.

The brambles beside the Mill Stream and the larger bramble bushes in the Abbey Meadows have produced a good crop of blackberries throughout July.

I met a couple using a 30-year-old walking guide who were puzzled by Abingdon’s Sword Bridge (the green iron footbridge, opened in 2007, with decorative motifs based on the ceremonial sword). It wasn’t shown in their guide. They were looking for the Abbey Gardens, so I pointed them towards the next bridge. That bridge, built by Cowley Concrete, looks striking in the early morning sunlight, with its underside reflected in the water.

Fabulous PHAB 41 Years

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The Vale of White Horse PHAB Club, which has met at Christchurch, Northcourt, Abingdon for the past 41 years, held its final gathering with a celebration meal at Coseners House on Thursday 30 July.

The celebration followed one last club outing a week earlier, when members enjoyed a trip to the Cotswold Wildlife Park on Thursday 23 July.

The club’s closure marks the end of an era for its members. Some important committee members have retired. Happy Retirement to Nigel & Barbra Carter and others!

The club was founded in 1985  by David Carter, who wanted to create opportunities for disabled and non-disabled people to enjoy activities together, valuing everybody’s unique gifts. Nigel and Barbara, his parents, helped him establish the club and, following David’s death, continued his vision, enabling it to flourish for more than four decades.

Over the years, members have enjoyed a wide variety of activities and outings. The annual Christmas meals at Cosener’s House became a much-loved tradition, making it a fitting venue for the club’s final celebration.

Although the formal club is coming to an end, the friendships built over four decades will continue. Members will meet informally about once a month at a local pub for a chat, a catch-up and a few games.

Nigel, the chairman, began his farewell speech by inviting everyone to sing along to We Are Family and ended it with So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, goodbye from Sound of Music. As people left at the end Nigel gave everybody a handshake, as he does every week at the club, but this time he also presented them a commemorative PHAB White Horse Abingdon 1985–2026 medal.

Reflecting on the years gone by, Nigel encouraged everyone to continue in the “PHAB way of doing things”, with a spirit of friendship, mutual support, and valuing each other. He mentioned the club member who could not say much but had a wonderful smile. He recalled many happy memories, from Christmas celebrations to inspirational moments such as members learning sign language to perform together as a deaf choir. Above all, he paid tribute to the courage, determination and vision of his son David Carter, whose desire to bring disabled and non-disabled people together created a club that has enriched hundreds of lives.