The Abingdon-on-Thames town council meeting in the Guildhall began with a presentation by the Abingdon Carbon Cutters about Abingdon as a town in transition to a more sustainable future.

We heard that the Mayor’s quiz made a £2000 profit for charity thanks mainly to Paul Mayhew-Archer, the question master. The Mayor’s Civic Dinner is on Friday 13th February. It includes a meal of local produce, fair trade wine, and Scottish Dancing.

The museum are aiming to put on a John Piper exhibition and would like anybody with an original John Piper picture, or print – of a local scene – to get in touch.

The Roysse Court Gardens are to be worked on by council staff this early spring and the council want to remove the fountain so the area can be repaved. Anybody who wants a fountain and is willing to collect should get in touch. Postage would be hefty.

Groups interested in taking part in Fun in the Parks can apply in February.

Next year’s budget was agreed. All the main items had been talked over already in committees and in Conservative or Lib-Dem group meetings and so they were agreed with little discussion. What caused a lot of discussion was whether the Mayor should get an additional £500 allowance. The proposal was eventually voted down.

The Guildhall is being closed on 31st August for re-development, lasting no less than 12 months and likely to be 18 months. The exact re-development details are still under discussion but will involve improved accessibility overall, and a major change to the large Abbey Hall with cinema screen and raked seating.

As the older buildings had already been renovated, I was suprised to hear that they too will close for  ‘various heritage improvements’. All user groups including the Town Council committee meetings will be looking for rooms during the closure period. The intention is to make it a much better venue and attract lot more groups and events.

I saw my first election poster in St Peters Road, Abingdon.

Since this is a marginal seat, Lord Ashcroft has been polling Oxford West and Abingdon as one of his 114 Constituency Polls.

There are just 100 days to go until the General Election on May 7th (from 26th Jan 2015).

The District Council and Town Council elections will be on the same day. There will be a Town Council meeting this Wednesday (28th Jan at 7 pm at the Guildhall), including a discussion on the future of the Guildhall. So if you are interested in standing, why not go along and see what it’s like.

Pictured at the height of summer, Mark’s wildflower meadow, at the bottom of St Ethelwold’s garden, was named after a young man who starved to death after his benefits were cut.

Atos, the company in charge of assessing whether a lot of vulnerable people like Mark should return to work or loose their benefits, lost their government contract by mutual consent. Atos could not make a profit from the contract, and the government received too many complaints about the way cases were handled.

Autumn is now here and just a few flowers remain among the fallen leaves in Mark’s Garden.

The contract will go to a new company in the Spring. A private company needs to make a profit. The government has a political agenda and targets. So it will always be difficult to assess individuals like Mark, who have complex needs, within such a set up where time is money.

This is a contribution to the Blog Action Day on the Theme of Inequality.

Before the meeting there was a presentation on the forthcoming Abingdon Hydro share offer on November 1st.

In a second presentation The Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Abingdon, Mrs Felicity Dick, explained the role of the Lord Lieutenant as the Queen’s representative in Oxfordshire.

The Town Council Meeting then examined the minutes of the previous town council meeting (25th June), and made a few corrections. After that the council went through the minutes of all the sub-committees – discussing and voting on the recommendations.

(Pictured above is a new fashion shop that has appeared this week in Bury Street.)

The town council is a business in the proposed Abingdon Business Improvement District (BID). Like other businesses in the town centre it can vote for, or against, the BID, intended to promote the town centre at a levy of 1.5 – 1.7%  on business rates.

The Town Council actually has 4 businesses (Guildhall, Museum, Town Council etc) and each have a vote. So the Town Council voted by 17-0 with 1 abstention to vote 4X for the BID.

There followed a discussion, and agreement, on a plan for choosing a cinema operator for the Guildhall. Adverts will go out in trade magazines looking for expressions of interest. Then operators will be asked to tender to run the future cinema. A decision about the preferred operator will be made on 11th December 2014.

You do wonder whether a pop up cinema like the one in Wantage at The Beacon (the renamed Civic Hall) might validate whether the people will use the cinema they say they want.

When the County Hall Museum was redeveloped the flag pole was trimmed, cutting off the rotten end. Now it appears that the flag pole is too short as the flags are getting snagged and damaged. This has been a false economy and a new longer flag pole will be purchased.

The Town Council is also selling some of the worn Union Flags that have graced our streets to raise money for the Mayor’s Charity fund. They will be £5 each. Email the council to get one.

A company (sounded similar to the one that half planned a last minute Retro Music festival last weekend and pulled out with 3 days to go) want to do a Christmas Market Place event in December, with council help. The council did not think the company had given enough detail to their plan, and so have not approved it.