Publishing House, at the bottom of The Vineyard, has gained prior approval to change from offices to residential use, and has now been sold.

It was vacated by Connexions, the agency charged with helping to find young people work, in August 2011, and there has been a To Let sign / For Sale sign outside since.

The new house on Wilsham Road has been going up during the winter, and the huge roof beam lifted into position.

At Abingdon School the concrete frame of the new science block is being filled in with breeze blocks and insulation slabs.

Mayott House is having the roof put on.

The site for 159 dwellings in a field off the Drayton Road are still having an archaeological survey.

External refurbishment of the Abingdon and Witney College D Block is nearing completion.

The large hedge, hiding the college, could soon be coming down.

A lot of the rest of the college has already been rebuilt or refurbished. There is a fairly new art block; and more recently engineering buildings, and a vehicle maintenance workshop have been added.

I found a picture of The North Berkshire College of Further Education, as it was called in 1967, on the ATV Television archive site.

The Short Film shows some mums doing an introduction to teaching course; and Mr Comely, the first ever college principal – appointed in 1963 – being interviewed about the course.

Mr Comely retired from the college in 1986, and then became a governor.

The College was renamed as Abingdon College after Abingdon was moved into Oxfordshire in 1974. Then in 2001 the college merged with Witney College to become Abingdon and Witney College. And the hedge has kept growing.

Councillor Neil Fawcett tweeted today
“Sadly the County Council Cabinet voted unanimously to allow the moving of the Marcham Road crossing #Abingdon”

Initially Oxfordshire County Council rejected the crossings, then at a second hearing reversed that decision and allowed the moving of the crossings. That decision was  referred back to the Cabinet for this final decision.

The lights will consequently move  from where they can be seen currently to where the nearest car is speeding.

Moving the pedestrian lights was proposed by the developers as a traffic mitigation measure so that traffic congestion after the development of 159 dwellings on Drayton Road is no worse than before. The area already suffers traffic congestion, and has done for decades, and local people want real road improvements before any further development.

The Leader of The Vale of White Horse District Council is still looking to get legal advice about whether any further avenues are still open to oppose the crossings,