This drone shot was taken from Daniel’s last video of the Kingsgate development, filmed two weeks ago. Since then the drone has been lost in the Oxford Canal.

I did ask Daniel how much a new drone cost and he said ‘too much’.

I cycled by the Kingsgate development this evening and was surprised how quickly and how green the grass has grown mid summer.

Traffic lights are still in place while the slip lane to the new entrance is laid.

The interactive sales map of the development shows that unit 5 is the first one to be sold. Units 1,2,4,6,7, and 192 are ‘For Sale’. The rest are for the future.

Daniel has been flying over the Wootton Road development. The land between the development and the Wootton Road has been levelled and placed outside a wooden fence.

The main entrance to the estate has been laid. Two houses have roofs and that white block looks like a sales office. The first homes are already becoming available. You can take a virtual tour at https://player.vimeo.com/video/566655790.

About half the area has not been worked on very much yet.

The estate is called Kings Gate. With a name like that it could be anywhere.

Lidl and Costa at the Fairacres retail park have been open since early in May. The Gym will be open to view on 10th July and fully open from 26th July. They have an offer for people joining early.

Homebase will be opening from October 2021. They were at the other end of the previous row of retail units before demolition.

Work continues on converting the area at the side of the new Homebase to an outdoor and garden area. Over the road is the Hilton Garden Inn, rebuilt much higher a couple of years ago.

The Monk of Abingdon, on his traffic island, has seen a lot of changes in the last few years. Around him the wild plants grow, buildings are demolished and built back again, and the vehicles flow.

Jeremy let me know about the new planning application for Old Abbey House, detailing how the hotel will look. It can be viewed at https://data.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/java/support/Main.jsp?MODULE=ApplicationDetails&REF=P21/V1498/FUL#exactline

From the look of the plans, the existing building will be divided into 25 double bedrooms, a reception, laundry room, and staff room.

There will also be a new extension to serve as a free-standing coffee shop / café on the grassed area at the front of the site.

There will be 14 car parking places and spaces for 14 bikes.