The 43-bed Mayott House care home on Ock Street is being demolished. The former residents have moved to new homes, some to Old Station House, some to other care homes,and I did hear were very pleased with the change.

Mayott House was first opened fifty years ago to care for elderly people. In 1998 the operation of the home and staff was transferred from Oxfordshire County Council to a charity.

It is to be replaced by a housing scheme for up to 42 people – designed to allow residents to live more independently than in a care home, keep couples together, and with access to 24-hour care.

65 Oxford Road was surrounded by shrubs and trees when the Google Street View camera came through Abingdon.

Here is 65 Oxford Road as it looks today. Not a blade of grass remains.

Permission to demolish the original house and replace it with two detached houses was obtained subject to certain conditions, including the protection of trees.

A report, previous to this planning application, from August 2009, says that there were 11 trees (2 of high quality, 3 of medium quality, 5 of lower quality, and 1 of inferior quality).

Thanks to Pat for 2 of the pictures and Google for the other.

The sun has gone down on 2013. There follow pictures of some of the new Abingdon buildings of 2013…

The new Science Centre at St Helen and St Katharine is progressing well.

New flats have been built on Marcham Road.

Audrey’s Flower Shop was once on this site on Ock Street, but now it is Audrey’s Court.

A new Design and Technology Centre opened at Our Lady’s Abingdon in October.

Bridge House, a Care Home between Waitrose and the Abbey Gardens, also opened earlier in the year. This was once the site of the Abbey Press.

Campion House, next to John Mason School, was demolished, and replaced with Retirement Apartments in 2013.

I intended going to a Town Council meeting for this evening’s blog report, but it has been postponed. So this is a very short report.

Town Council staff will soon move from Old Abbey House to the building above the Registry Office in Roysse Court – its back view is still covered in scaffold. Those upstairs offices have been ‘To Let’ for some years, while owned by the Vale of White Horse District Council, and are being brought back into use by the Town Council, as recent planning applications show.

On 5th November there was a planning application to remove lath and plaster to allow treatment of common furniture beetle, and death watch beetle in the timbers.

On 10th December another application was put in to remove and replace the existing chimney.