We happened to be in London today and saw a lot of journalists had descended on Abingdon Street.

They were in a big huddle but it looked as though the big news event had already happened.

The first clue to the news event was the presence of bookmakers giving odds for the winners of a general election. The PM had called a shock general election

She is likely to win by more than a head.

The public gallery of the Council meeting was packed at the start. There is a new custom of receiving grants directly from the Mayor, and about a dozen groups came to receive their grant cheque.

After that most people left.

There followed a presentation by Ian Hudspeth from the County Council on Better Oxfordshire and the aim of replacing 6 councils with ONE council. This proposal is currently being considered by the Secretary of State and a response is expected by about June.

There was also some discussion round the subject of devolution of some powers to an area committee which could work closely with the Town Council.

The next item on the agenda was the Community Led Plan which the Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council has been working towards. A press release has been prepared asking for people to become involved. Some people could become part of the steering committee. Others could get involved in working groups that look at different areas of life such as: environment, community, economy, planning, transport. The target is to get the plan completed before the next Town Council election in 2019. It was said by the person advising the council that such plans are usually undertaken by smaller places like villages. They had never undertaken a plan for such a large area as Abingdon and it would be a challenge.

Some early suggestions about boundary changes had already been tabled and are being considered by the district council. It would see Abingdon’s boundary take in the housing developments north and south of Abingdon, and an area of Abingdon Common the other side of the A34.

The next discussion was on flag poles. The council is to put three flag poles on the Market Place that community groups can hire for £50 + VAT and fly their own flag. The issue of flying a rainbow flag over the County Hall was raised, and was voted down by 9 votes to 4 with 3 abstentions.

Next was the subject of the Guildhall. This building comprises the new Abbey Hall, and the old historic rooms. The original project, that did not go ahead because of cost, was to improve the new Abbey Hall, and make it a decent civic hall for community events.

The new plan is to improve accessibility to the historic rooms by installing a lift and better walkways. The council has over £1 million, in deferred funding from the district council, that can be used on any Guildhall capital projects so it could all be used on the historic part if the council so wishes. Future plans for the Abbey Hall are not being looked at this time.

This made a number of councillors upset since people expected the Abbey Hall to be redeveloped not the old part, which was refurbished five years ago. But all the Councillors voted in favour of employing consultants to start planning work on making the historic rooms accessible.

Proposals to reduce the number of local councils from three levels to two look increasingly likely. Consultation information can be found on the table near the entrance of Abingdon Library for the ‘One Oxfordshire’ proposal already launched by the leaders of Oxfordshire County Council. Responses to that consultation, which can also be found at http://www.oneoxfordshire.org/, end on 28th February 2017.

The leaders of the Vale of White Horse District Council, and South Oxfordshire, have also announced today that they want to work together with Oxfordshire County Council to develop a proposal for a unitary council that represents the best deal for the people of Oxfordshire. They say they hope all the councils will be involved.

A unitary council running the joint County Council and District Council services would include the following…

County Council Services:
Child protection
Fostering and adoption
Adult social services
Educational Support
Roads and transport
Fire and Rescue service
Waste disposal
Public Health
Libraries
Trading Standards
Countryside access
Parking

District/city council services:
Housing and benfits
Parks and leisure
Local planning
Street cleaning
Waste collection
Environmental health
Concil tax collection
Electoral registration

We will have to see how the proposals develop, but Abingdon Town Council would continue to provide local services in some areas, and might gain some local services as three layers of council is reduced to two.

Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council provides:
Guildhall and Museum
Information Centre
Allotments
Cemeteries
Parks and Open Spaces
Christmas Lights
Market Place, markets and fairs
Fisheries
Abingdon in Bloom

At the start of the council meeting there were a group of 13-16 year olds in the spectator seats. They were there with the youth leader from the Abingdon Damascus Youth Project to receive a cheque for £2,684. There was also somebody to receive a £7,000 grant for South & Vale Young Carers. After they left the meeting we heard shouts of delight outside.

There followed a presentation to the council by the groups: Host Abingdon, and by Abingdon More in Common.

After that a report was presented by County Councillor, Alison Rooke. This gave details of the On-Street parking consulation that was on the blog yesterday. You can respond here by 10 Feb 2017.

As Oxfordshire received less than 5% of the £400m+ applied for from the Local Growth Fund it does mean that developing the four way interchange at Lodge Hill will be more challenging to achieve. Council officers are to meet with developers.

Because the two Children’s Centres were built with Sure Start finance of several hundreds of pounds it means future use should be for children – or the funds would be clawed back by central government.

The Mayor presented a list of all her engagements since the last council meeting, and named some upcoming events for all councillors including the annual bowls match against Oxford to be played at Oxford for the first time.

Then the council went through all the committee papers since the last Town Council meeting …

There have been two meetings of the committee considering a Community Led Plan for Abingdon but no details were given.

The museum is considering charging visitors who are not resident in Abingdon.

The Town Crier magazine, usually sent to all houses in Abingdon 3 or 4 times a year, will not be published this year. People can visit the town council web site instead to find what is happening.

Nothing to report on the new cemetery.

Tenders had been considered for the Guildhall development and a recommendation made. So that could have been accepted in confidential session at this meeting.

There was then a discussion of the budget for the coming year. The Lib-Dem group proposed putting some money aside to show support for the South Abingdon Children’s Centre – should a sustainable project plan be produced. They noted that successful projects agreed to by the County have had support from their town councils. This led to an adjournment by the Conservative group to discuss the proposed amendment.

I left at this point for haggis and neeps. For it is Burns Night …