At the recent meeting of the Town Council planning committee it was recommended that the town council lead the development of a Neighbourhood Plan for the town.

Thame has a very good neighbourhood plan that gives a framework for decisions about future development – all agreed in a referendum of the town. Wantage will soon have one too.

People in South Abingdon have already been through consultations towards developing a Resident’s Plan (called SARP). A lot of work was put in by volunteers gathering information, working with people who had already developed successful Residents Plans. As a result a questionnaire was put together to go to every house in the area. That was sent to the Vale of White Horse District Council for approval, and was never heard of again. Perhaps, instead, the Town Council can bring back that good work into the town’s neighbourhood plan.

At the meeting, Hester, representing The Friends of Abingdon, said The Friends are very much in favour of such a plan as it will allow more local control of CIL Money (Community Infrastructure Levy paid by developers to build in the area), and help control development. The Friends hope to see a wide variety of people involved to ensure the process is inclusive.

So the next stage is for the town council to put money in the budget for next year, to hire a consultant with the expertise to lead such a process, and get all sorts of people involved. Then in a couple of years we can all vote on it.

Town Councillors were invited to a planning committee meeting to make a collective response to the County Council’s proposal to close Children’s Centres in Oxfordshire. There were also members of the public who came to speak.

Oxfordshire County Council is having funding cut by central government, and so is proposing to close all the children’s centres and set up a more reduced centralised service for only the most vulnerable, and has given 3 options:
1. Eight Family and Resource Centres for the most vulnerable. With some universal services provided by other agencies
2. Eight Family and Resource Centres with limited universal services provided by the county
3. Six centres, with grants to help for other groups to set up universal services.

At the meeting, members of the public had argued that the current universal services were essential, and cutting them was a false economy – intervention cost far more later on. The children’s centres have built trust with families over the years, and that would be lost. Children’s Centres also offer a professional service that cannot be matched by the voluntary sector.

Abingdon has 2 children’s centres: one in a dedicated building in ground next to Caldecott School – built about fifteen years ago when the family centre and community centre at Saxton Road were demolished for housing. The other is in the grounds of Dunmore School.

Councillors discussed the matter. None of them wanted to loose the 2 Abingdon children’s centres because of all the work they do. Some councillors opposed the closures. Others thought the voluntary sector could fill the gap. Others wanted to press the County Council to look for additional funding to try to keep more centres open, including those in Abingdon, and particularly the one in South Abingdon. It was left to the Chair, Deputy Chair, and Town Clerk to bring the different ideas together, and send a reply to the consultation.

If you want to send your own response you have until 10th January

In Abingdon Library there is a poster advertising a consultation on the future of children’s services in Oxfordshire – that is the proposed closure of all Oxfordshire’s 43 Childrens Centres.

There are also papers on further Budget saving options for 2016/17. There are 92 items that could be cut to produce savings. They include:

• Remove the real time bus information service to save £140,000 annually.
• Remove subsidised bus services and save £1,220,000 annually.
• Reduce street lighting maintenance and save £920,000 annually.
• Cut the number of waste recycling centres to save £205,000 annually.
• Reduce maintenance of footpaths to save £40,000 annually.
• Stop the funding of the seven Health and Wellbeing centres (used by the elderly) to save £2,050,000 annually.
• Reduce support for the homeless to save £1,500,000 annually.

There appears no end to the possible cuts. The Oxfordshire Consultation website has more information.

A notice on the door of Abbey House says that District Council staff (from the Vale and South Oxfordshire) have moved to new offices at Milton Park today.

Since the previous offices in Crowmarsh Gifford were destroyed by fire six months ago, some staff have been at Abbey House, some at Sandford-on-Thames, and some working from home.

So from now on staff will be under one roof.

The new home could be temporary. No decision has been made on whether Crowmarsh Gifford will be rebuilt. But if the two district councils are to merge, in the long run, then Milton Park does look more central that Crowmarsh Gifford.