OLD ROOMS

Currently the historic rooms of the Guildhall are not available for hire. By 2018, to allow better use of the ground floor and old magistrates court the following has already been given planning permission, and will go ahead:

* Accessible ground floor toilets
* Muniment room for archives
* Add platform lift to give access to the old magistrates court – previously used by the music centre
* Repaving of Roysse Court

The council also intends to open the rest of the building in 2018, but at present there is no disabled access to the Bear Room, Council Chamber or Abbey Room. The council’s proposed way of doing this would involve altering a historic staircase to install a lift. The council have already published a report saying that this staircase has been altered extensively in the past and so can be altered again to allow accessibility. The report also rejects the idea of an external lift. But they have agreed to seek an independent expert who can re-assess their findings.

NEW ROOM

The council is currently in discussion with other public-sector partners as to how the Abbey Hall can be used but are not at liberty to divulge these ideas as yet. The council would like to share these exciting ideas as soon as all affected parties have been properly consulted.

Thanks to a kind hand for writing and sending me this report

There was a meeting of the Finance and General Purposes Committee of Abingdon Town Council this evening. 16 members of the public were present. Four had registered a wish to speak and one of them reminded those present that we were only able to do so thanks to the efforts of former Councillor Janet Morgan, who had sadly died a few days ago. In the 1990s she had persuaded the Town and District Councils to introduce rules to allow this, which was unusual in local government at that time.The picture taken in 2011 shows her being made a Freeman of the town.

One speaker made a strong statement in favour of the planned lift in the old part of the Guildhall. The others were more concerned with the uncertainty over the future of the Abbey Hall and the need to fill the “dark hole” caused by the absence of any town centre venue for entertainment and leisure activities. 1445 people have now signed the online petition about this, and many others have signed the offline petition. Questions were asked about the plans for the Hall, the costs of the alterations to the historic parts of the complex and whether the Council have taken professional advice on ways of improving the accessibility of the building without destroying its historic features: answers weren’t forthcoming on the night but we were told that the Committee would be discussing them in confidential session later in the evening and replies would be sent after that. There is also likely to be a Press Release in the next few days about the future of the Abbey Hall.

The Committee then went in to a lengthy wrangle about the proposals for the former South Abingdon Childrens Centre. An impasse had arisen whereby both the Town and County Councils had agreed funding, but neither would enter a formal commitment quite yet.

At Preston Road Community Centre this afternoon people came along for the second event in “Abingdon For All,” the Community Led Plan for the town, run by the Town Council.

There was a big map on which people could put green, red or yellow numbered stickers showing what they liked, disliked, and hoped for the town. Most of the stickers were clumped round the town centre.

People could also fill in more detailed surveys. There are online surveys anybody can fill in – if you did not manage to go to the event.

The Town Council were also looking for people to get involved in various ways to drive the project forward.

Outside the centre there were also people getting signatures for a petition.

The petition read “THE ABBEY HALL and GUILDHALL

1. We wish the Town Council to renovate the ABBEY HALL, as promised. We want the residue of the Vale grant to be invested to help fund a large town centre space to serve a growing population of 38,000 people. The Hall is needed for civic functions, for Abingdon’s many clubs and societies, and for activities for all ages. It should have disabled access to public rooms. A cinema space would be good.

Do not sell the Abbey Hall for development.

2. We need the Council to maintain and preserve the beautiful and historic GUILDHALL and its 18th century staircase intact for future generations.

The online petition is at http://chn.ge/2wkAH4V

There was a meeting of Abingdon Town Council this evening. I could not get there but will do my best to do a report by reading committee minutes

The most significant current happening at the Town Council are the plans for the old part of the Guildhall. Once Abingdon Music Centre have moved out, the old Magistrates Court would be redeveloped as an extension to the County Hall Museum with space for art exhibitions.

The old staircase near the Roysse Room could also become a lift giving access to the upstairs rooms like the old Council Chamber.

The remaining money left from the £1.2m, given as a parting gift by the VWHDC (Vale of White Horse District Council) when it handed over the Guildhall, would be spent on the old part of the Guildhall. There are also proposals from the leader of the Town Council, Cllr Mike Badcock, that the Museum and Guildhall Committees combine and operate as one committee.

However there seem no plans for the new part of the Guildhall, closed down currently to save on business rates and other expense.

Another venture the Town Council is involved with is the South Abingdon Children’s Centre. They have offered a grant of £90K over three years to secure its future, and, before parting with the money, have asked some questions about governance to the group called Abingdon Carousel who are planning to run the centre.

It is important that this centre be open by September and continue to operate for the community and children that needs it.