Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council held a special town council meeting this evening. The only thing to be discussed on the agenda was a confidential property matter. The town council say on their website ‘Abingdon Town Council has been negotiating with the Abbey Cinema regarding a new lease for the cinema for some time.

The Council meeting on Thursday 25 August has been called so we can give matters our speedy consideration.’

On the other hand, the Abbey Cinema has said

‘The current situation is that both we and the council appointed our own professional negotiators to agree terms and to commission jointly financed reports on the state of the building prior to lease. This identified that considerable investment is required (c.£345k on roof and regulatory compliance and a further c.£280k over the next 5 years). We have offered to take on £400k of this investment.

We thought things were going well, if very slowly. Or we did until we received from the council’s solicitors on 4 August an unexpected communication containing notice that if we did not sign by the end of August, they anticipated instructions to give us notice of termination. The lease provided for signature was in draft form and bears no relation to preceding negotiations. We cannot understand this.’

The Vale of White Horse and South Oxfordshire District Councils have terminated the lease of the office building in Milton Park. They say in a press release.

‘At the end of September, to significantly reduce unnecessary costs, we will be moving to some temporary office space in the Vale’s Abbey House building in the centre of Abingdon where we plan to stay for a couple of years while South Oxfordshire District Council completes the development of a new office building at Didcot Gateway.

Most of the building in Abingdon is being leased by Oxfordshire County Council, but there is a small amount of available office space on the ground floor.’

The press release then explains why the move to Abingdon is temporary:

While Abbey House will be a suitable office location for the short term, over the longer term, the councils will need more collaboration and non-desk based space, in a more energy efficient building. This will help us meet our targets to become carbon neutral councils and will also help both councils to continue to improve our financial sustainability and offer the flexibility we need to recruit and retain staff in an increasingly challenging jobs market.

Here are pictures from the spectacular floral displays in Abingdon on the 7th of July 2022, the day that Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned after a series of resignations by government ministers.

Boris Johnson’s time in office was the most eventful of any recent Prime Minister. It began with getting Brexit Done. There followed a Pandemic that forced people to stay at home.

The real danger came when he sacked his Brexit ally, Dominic Cummings, appointed as the  Prime Minister’s special adviser. Dominic Cummings blogged about parties at 10 Downing Street when the rest of the country was in lockdown.

Russia invaded Ukraine, and Boris Johnson became a friend of Ukraine.

Spectacular displays do not go on forever.