Just 50 days until the election and the UKIP Common Sense Tour bus visited Abingdon town centre early on Sunday morning.
Their local candidate Alan Harris was on board.
UKIP, the UK Independence Party, want the UK to leave the EU. They did very well in the European Elections last year, and it will be interesting to see how well they do in the national elections.
At this meeting, Town Council committee chairs reported back on what the town council had been doing in the last year. Here are some bits and pieces that caught my attention …
The Finance and General Purposes Committee recommended that, as the current town centre traffic wardens are retiring in September, the responsibility for monitoring Residents Parking is returned to the County Council. The scheme was introduced in 1994 to allow residents to park near their homes. The current wardens have provided an excellent service. The Committee feel council staff are overstretched and so are not sure they can carry on with this service. The final decision is for the full Town Council.
The Amenities Committee reported another successful Fun and Music in the Parks in 2014. Tickets go on sale for the next Music in the Park on Monday.
There is an estimated ten years space left in the cemetery, and it will take 5 years to set up a new one, and so this is becoming a more pressing concern.
The Town Council is still waiting for Tenders from Cinema Operators before finally deciding on plans for the Guildhall – although the closing date has been set as August 31st 2015. The council are still looking for the best place to site the Information Office. One possibility is the Museum basement.
Throwing Buns, under new ownership, will not be running Buns in the Basement anymore, and so The Mousehole Cafe could be returning.
The Town Council got an award for good use of Heraldry. Here are the current Deputy Mayor, Councillor Helen Pighills, and The Mayor, Councillor Angela Lawrence, with the award.
The Vale District Council will be considering the new plans for the Drayton Road estate next Wednesday, when Taylor Wimpey put forward their own plans, rather than those inherited from the original applicant.
Choose Abingdon is no longer supported financially by the District Council or County Council and the Manager has left to take up a post with the Town Council. The Town Council is still supporting the Choose Abingdon committee with £10K next year. That is so that the work on the Business Improvement District (BID) proposal can go to a vote in the summer.
New bus shelters are coming on Marcham Road. The County Council pays for them, and he Town Council maintains them.
Anybody who has been to the Spring Gardens Cemetery recently may have noticed that the hedge round the existing garden of remembrance has been removed, and a fence is being put up to screen the area from the road.
There have also been quite a few trees chopped down in the cemetery itself.
As I understand it the trees had a blight, and the hedge was being destroyed by mites that sucked the sap and destroyed the roots. The plan is to replace the trees with: Rowan, Silver Birch, and Flowering Cherry. And a new hedge is already beginning to grow.
The other change this winter is he construction of a path to the ‘new’ garden of remembrance.
By the way if you have questions about blight, mites, or any other matter, the Annual Parish Meeting takes place on Wednesday, 11th March, 7:00pm-9:00pm in the Guildhall (Roysse Room).
Each year the Town Council organises the Annual Parish Meeting as an opportunity for residents to raise matters which specifically affect the town. The Council also takes the opportunity to provide an update on its work during the past year.
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.