The Abingdon Town Council noticeboard is usually a colourful mix of community event posters and council committee updates. Lately, however, committee papers have dominated. I did find some things of interests:

There is the consultation by the Vale of White Horse District Council on redrawing district council boundaries. In Abingdon that will mean instead of having 5 wards with 2 councillors each, the district council will be three wards (Abingdon North, South, and East) with 3 councillors each. Comments can be made until 16th September. See Have your say on a new political map for vale of white horse district council/.

Abingdon could be loosing a Nail Bar. Its entrance is the doorway between Costa and Starbucks. It was the first Abingdon Nail Bar but now there are several and it could become a flat.

Regarding the Old Gaol development which included plans for three retail spaces to complement the flats. Currently, one space houses Costa and another serves as a dentist. The proposal under consideration suggests converting the remaining unit into flats. However, the Town Council’s Planning Committee argues for maintaining the original agreement.

The Thames Water Reservoir consultation ends on Wednesday, 28 August 2024 (apologies I said 28th July by mistake) . See: https://www.thameswater.co.uk/news/reservoir-public-events-start.

The post box on the Market Place is sometimes used to post What’s On posters. This Saturday the Oxford Welsh Voice Choir are performing at St Helens.

Today, the polls were open for the 2024 general election. From 7 am to 10 pm, power shifted away from the Houses of Parliament and Abingdon Street SW1, returning to the people in communities like ours. Here in Abingdon, after providing a name, address, and photo ID, people could mark an X next to their chosen candidate. The sunny weather should have encouraged a good turnout. People thinking the result a foregone conclusion could have kept people at home.

In Oxford West and Abingdon, the race is typically much tighter, with the constituency frequently swinging between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems. But you could get 12-1 betting odds on a Conservative victory this time around. The Liberal Democrats were not taking anything for granted. They were the one party with volunteers stationed at polling stations to record voters’ polling numbers. This strategy allows them to call and remind known supporters to cast their votes.

Here are the results:
Social Democratic Party, Anni Byard: 259
Green, Chris Goodall: 3,236
Reform UK, James Gunn: 4,164
Liberal Democrat, Layla Moran: 23,414 (elected)
Independent, Josh Phillips: 168
Conservative, Vinay Raniga: 8,520
Christian Peoples Alliance, Ian Shelley: 256
Labour, Stephen Webb: 5,981
(Turnout: 64.5% – 45,998 valid votes were counted from an electorate of 71,318)

Congratulations to Layla Moran!

Up until Monday, we had only received election leaflets from three of the candidates. On Monday, however, we received leaflets from all the remaining candidates along with a copy of “Round and About.” Here’s the breakdown of the leaflets received so far:

Liberal Democrats: 6 leaflets (possibly more)
Conservatives: 2 leaflets
Labour: 2 leaflets
CPA: 1 leaflet
Green: 1 leaflet
Independent: 1 leaflet
Reform: 1 leaflet
SDP: 1 leaflet

In terms of street posters, I’ve observed:
Liberal Democrats: Most prominent
Labour: Second most prominent
Reform: Third most prominent

I haven’t been active on social media, so I can’t comment much on that aspect.

The only candidate I have seen in person is the Reform candidate, who was in Bury Street on a Saturday, and I saw him again the next Saturday. I’ve heard that the SDP candidate was seen by others, but missed them.

No party has knocked on the door or phoned us, which is unusual for this area. Overall, it feels like a low-key election campaign in Abingdon. It may all be happening on Instagram, TicToc and X. Or is this the calm before the storm?

The general election is scheduled for July 4th, and a pre-election hustings for Oxford West & Abingdon provided voters with a chance to hear from the candidates. The hustings, organized by the Church in Abingdon, took place last Friday at Abingdon Baptist Church and was live-streamed. You can watch a recording at https://www.youtube.com/live/3VCJuzWwhGk.

Each candidate had an opportunity to introduce themselves (from 20 minutes 00 seconds into the recording):

Anni Byard – Social Democratic
Chris Goodall – Green
James Gunn – Reform UK
Layla Moran – Liberal Democratic
Vinay Raniga – Conservative
Ian Shelley – Christian Peoples Alliance
Stephen Webb – Labour
Josh Phillips, an Independent candidate, was absent.

The event featured questions addressing various national and local issues:
* Food Banks: Discussing strategies to eliminate the need for them (from 37:11).
* Top Concerns: Identify the three most important issues the electorate are concerned about (from 50:26).
* Assisted Dying: Sharing views on this matter of individual conscience (from 59:07).
* Abingdon Reservoir: Addressing the need for a public inquiry (from 1:07:50).
* Solar Farm at Botley West: Stating their positions on this project (from 1:15:38).
* Community Contributions: Highlighting their contributions over the past five years and future plans if elected (from 1:27:30).
* 20 MPH Rollout: Opinions on the implementation of this speed limit (from 1:38:12).
* Immigration: Discussing the need for a timely, affordable, and fair path to citizenship (from 1:47:56).
* Climate Change: Proposing national and local actions for drastic climate measures (from 1:57:00).
* Military Spending vs. Diplomacy: Debating the balance between increased military spending and diplomacy (from 2:07:22).

All candidates agreed on the necessity of a public inquiry into the Abingdon Reservoir. The chairman, Chris Bryan, said this was the first time in his memory that all the candidates had agreed on an issue.

In terms of what three issues the electorate are most concerned about:
James Gunn – Reform UK: Cost of Living, NHS Waiting Lists, Net Zero will crash the economy
Layla Moran – Liberal Democratic: NHS GP appointments, Cost of Living, Sewage scandal
Vinay Raniga – Conservative: Cost of Living, Public Sector Reform (NHS), Immigration
Ian Shelley – Christian Peoples Alliance: Immigration, Free Speech, Economy
Stephen Webb – Labour: NHS GP appointments, Cost of Living, Affordable Housing (younger people)
Anni Byard – Social Democratic: Cost of Living, Environment, Affordable Housing (younger people)
Chris Goodall – Green: Nature and Climate, NHS, Palestine