It was a sunny day in Abingdon.
Demolition experts have moved into to the ex Bellinger Garage on Ock Street – after the new care home got planning permission on appeal.
Nearby work has been underway pollarding the Plane trees on Conduit Road. The road has been kept open and the tree surgeons pass down a log at a time on the one side, allowing cars to pass on the other.
Just over a week ago the builder handed back the keys to Abingdon Baptist Church after an extensive re-ordering of the interior.
Last Sunday church members returned to worship there, and today (9th February 2019) there was a special re-dedication service.
The church building downstairs was packed, and the large balcony almost full of people.
On the civic side there was the Mayor of Abingdon, Chairman of the Vale, and Councillors, two of whom are church members.
There were ministers and people from other Abingdon churches, and past baptist ministers including Revd. David Fleming who now serves in Luton. David Fleming spoke about the early vision of reordering the church. Revd. Dr Paul Goodliff, and the present minister, Revd. Steve Millard, then described how the plans had come together and been carried out.
To re-dedicate the church, and give an address, was Revd. Lynn Green – General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain. She remembered being a student minister at Abingdon Baptist Church around 1992-3. She said a church could be like the Tardis in Doctor Who. It may look old fashioned and irrelevant on the outside, but inside it was bigger and so much more amazing.
Back in 2015 the outside of the church was painted from sky blue to the grey colour required by English Heritage. Solid doors were replaced with glass doors to make the building more open.
The church then closed in 2018, and builders brought a digger to dig out the old floor and baptism pool.
During that process some old bones were discovered. The police were interested until they turned out to be 200-year-old Abingdon baptists. They were reburied after an archaeological investigation.
The church building has been made into a space that can be used for future generations, and the community. The floor and the stage, and baptism pool were remade. Walls were made good so the big crack is gone. Pews were replaced with more comfortable flexible seats. There are some cinema style seats in the balcony – the best seats in the house. The interior is now bright and light. Lots of new cables have been laid to allow the latest and future technologies.
After the re-dedication service, tea and coffee and cakes were served.
Bellinger, the car dealer, moved from their Ock Street site on 7th October 2016.
Churchill Retirement Living then put in a planning application during February 2017 for 39 one and two bedroom apartments on the site.
The application was initially turned down by the Vale of White Horse District Council planning committee. The council officer judged that the benefits outweighed the concerns, but Councillors disagreed. Reasons for refusal were ‘…the scale, bulk and close proximity of the proposed building to existing dwellings, the proposal will cause an undue loss of light, sunlight and privacy to neighbouring properties…‘
So the site has had a couple of years to return to nature. I once took a picture of a young fox on the site.
The plan was then granted on appeal on 3rd October 2018 by a planning inspector, and so building work cannot be far off now.
Outline Planning Permission was granted for 200 homes in a field north of Abingdon on 13th February 2018. The land was already part of the local plan.
Last week fences were added, probably to allow an archaeological survey. Meanwhile the detailed plans are being reworked. No building work will happen until they are approved.
The site is on the field bounded by Tilsley Park, the Wootton Road, Dunmore Road, and the A34 (pictured above.)
Detailed plans were submitted but withdrawn in October, pending a rethink.
Among the comments to those plans were the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissiong Group who said ‘This development would realise an extra 480 patients on average, for the GP’s in the area …‘ Before they could approve the plans extra financial support would be needed for the local health economy.
The Friends of Abingdon suggested that the developer had underestimated the walking distance to a number of local facilities.
The Vale urban design officer suggested the plan ‘presents a lacklustre scheme with a measure of spatial inefficiency’.