On Thursday 6th May 2021, local elections are scheduled. Here in East Abingdon we have had 3 brochures through our door. The pandemic seems to have reduced the usual flood of leaflets.

These elections involve all 63 seats on Oxfordshire County Council, currently controlled by the Conservative Party. 3 of those seats are in Abingdon:

Abingdon East
Cheryl Briggs – Green
Jill Kirkwood – Freedom Alliance. No Lockdowns. No Curfews.
David Pope – Conservative
Alison Rooke – Liberal Democrat
Edward Shelton – Labour

Abingdon North
Michel Grandjean – Green Party
Nathan Ley – Liberal Democrat
Charlotte Njeru – Conservative
Norma Queralt – Labour
Geoff Sandford – Freedom Alliance. No Lockdowns. No Curfews

Abingdon South
Arjun Bais – Labour
Neil Fawcett – Liberal Democrat
Christopher Palmer – Conservative
Eladia Posthill – Reform UK

The County Council spends 80% of local government expenditure, and dwarf district and town council expenditure by a long way. Their main areas of expenditure are:
* Adult and children’s social care (biggest expenditure by a long way)
* Education and learning
* Highways and transport
* Public health improvement and prevention services
* Waste disposal and recycling (the district council collects waste)
* Fire and rescue and community safety
* Libraries, cultural, registration and coroner’s services

There is an election for the Police and Crime Commissioner for the Thames Valley Police:
Matthew Barber – Conservative
Laetisia Carter – Labour and Co-operative
John Howson – Liberal Democrats
Alan Robinson – Independent

There is an election for Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council – Fitzharris Ock Ward:
Caroline Bullock – Labour
Rawda Jehanli – Liberal Democrat
Cavan Pirouet – Conservative

Abingdon Carbon Cutters have arranged an online hustings where you can book a place here.

The Abingdon Facebook group, run and moderated by James Davis, has also arrange a hustings where candidates are sent questions via the group. Their answers are then posted back through the Facebook group.

This evening the Annual Town Meeting took place on Microsoft Teams. The meeting was chaired by the Mayor of Abingdon, Cllr Charlie Birks. There were 66 people present at the start.

It began with a video showing the work of the Town Council including their emphasis on youth work. They have a budget of £30K for supporting young people in the town by giving grants to some youth organizations. The ones mentioned were: Damascus (pictured above), Abingdon Bridge, Carousel, and Be Free Young Carers.

Each of the committee chairs then reported back to the public of the town on their committee’s work. The video and full details of each committee report can be seen at https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/town-council/annual-parish-meeting.

At the end of the meeting there was a chance for questions.

Kat K said that a plant based diet benefited the environment. Therefore would the council, as a start, consider removing beef from council events. (Cllr Sam Bowring, leader of the council, said this was an interesting issue and they would look at the evidence.)

Pat B asked whether the Town Council would support turning the sports field, being proposed for housing in Northcourt, into a playground and park. She said there is not much green space for children near Northcourt. It could be purchased through crowd funding and run by the council. (Cllr Sam Bowring said they would need to see what happened at the planning appeal, assess the feasibility and find where funds would could come from).

Nigel L asked about replacing trees in Boxhill Wood, after some were cut down. (Cllr Jim Halliday gave a very detailed overview of maintenance of the wood. He said some trees are the responsibility of the district council, and some the town council. The town council had done a tree survey and were carrying out some of the work. Historically the area at the centre was left to regenerate naturally. But there could be planting of appropriate species near the play area.)

Hester H asked about town vitality post Covid. (Cllr Bowring said this was mainly district council initiatives such as the bringing back empty shops scheme, and the Oxfordshire recovery plan)

Bobbie N asked about plans for the information office and was told that the Town Council are discussing a down floor reception at Roysse Court for both information service and the registration service.

Robin T asked about 20 MPH areas. (Cllr Neil Fawcett, who is also a County Councillor, said County Councillors have suggested where schemes should be considered.)

Steve Rich recently retired after 19 years working for the council, and was not there. He continues as the Band Master of Abingdon Town Band. Next year will be the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and post-Covid the town council are planning a Bun Throwing and a range of other ‘come-back’ events. The Town Council will be looking to raise funds for a lasting memorial for the jubilee – a bandstand.

The on line meeting worked very well.

Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council will provide an update of its work at this meeting, which will be on-line for the first time. Last year the annual parish meeting was one of the last events before lockdown. At the meeting the Chairs of the Council’s various Committees present reports to the meeting to detail what the Committee has been doing during the last year. There is also an opportunity to ask questions. For more details, including how to submit questions beforehand, see https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/town-council/annual-parish-meeting.

The Town Council is creating a Neighbourhood Plan and needs local people to help make it the best it can be.

The plan will take a long-term view of what in our town needs protecting and what could be changed. It will be written by the local community of Abingdon, the people who know and love the area, and its creation is being led by a steering group accountable to the Town Council. Upon completion it will be subject to an independent examination and then a local referendum. Should this referendum be successful, the plan has legal force. The local planning authority (Vale of White Horse District Council) must then take the Abingdon Neighbourhood Plan’s policies into account when considering planning issues across the town.

Over the next two weeks, starting today, there will be ten themed virtual focus groups to gather views and ideas. Places are limited to 15 people per group. You can sign up for more than one but they would like to hear from as many people as possible. There will be further opportunities for people to get involved as the process continues.

Groups include:
Abingdon Families – Tue 23 Feb 2021
Access & Movement – Wed 24 Feb 2021
Leisure & Sports – Thu 25 Feb 2021
Culture – Thu 25 Feb 2021
Healthy Town & Outdoor Recreation – Fr 26 Feb 2021
The Environment – Mon 1 Mar 2021
Heritage & The built environment – Tue 2 Mar 2021
Business, Economy & The Town Centre – Wed 3 Mar 2021
Youth 7-11 Years Old – Mon 8 Mar 2021
Youth 12-16 Years Old – Tue 9 Mar 2021

See https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon-news/abingdon-thames-town-council/neighbourhood-plan-focus-groups to read about each focus group and sign up on line.