There was a good turn out to the exhibition today showing the developers plans for 170 new dwellings in a field in South Abingdon.

The field in question is east of the Drayton Road (on the picture with the pointy trees in front). 

The field in question (with red outline) appears on this map to be one of the few fields on the Abingdon perimeter that is neither floodplain (blue) nor greenbelt (green). Yellow is residential and purple stripes business.

The plan would involve a new junction onto the Drayton Road. (thanks to Nigel for sending this mash up map)

The developers have not done the traffic studies yet but say they would look to introduce traffic mitigation measures so that Drayton Road traffic would be no worse or dangerous than it is currently.

There was a high turnout because Drayton Road is such a traffic blackspot and residents were concerned about the traffic impact .

This attempt to develop a field in South Abingdon does raise the question about where can Abingdon expand now.

In South Abingdon there will be a lot of opposition if better infrastructure is not put in place. In North Abingdon green belt land would need to be sacrificed.

Thanks to Hester for spotting this one in the Public Notices section of yesterday’s Abingdon herald. A company from near Bristol are looking to get planning permission for 170 dwellings off the Drayton Road near Virginia Way in South Abingdon. More detail of the exact location will be given at the public exhibition. If anyone knows more please leave a comment.

A climb up to the top of the Charter Multi-Storey Car-Park by the side stairs this evening. If you do watch the video and are of a nervous disposition you might want to stop at Level 7.

At the Tesco Extra superstore just off the A34 in Abingdon a new system has been introduced to try to prevent supermarket trolleys being nicked. This is a long standing problem as many a trolley has ended up either in the River Ock or the River Thames.

The new system means that customers put a £1 deposit into the trolley which is returned when the trolley is returned. The system appeared to be fairly new as a lot of customers were having to hunt around and ask other people if they had the £1 change.

A Tesco trolley was seen this morning near the West St Helens Street Carpark minus the £1 deposit. But then no system involving supermarket trolleys can ever be totally foolproof.