At the end of 2013, there appears to have been no progress in finding a solution to the bins at the bottom of Bridge Street. At one time they were hidden away behind the Old Police Station, but once development started they lost their home, and have been in full view for about three years.

The barriers at the upper end of Stert Street have been there for two years now. Some partial work was done on stabilising the underground River Stert in 2012, at the lower end, but there has been no further progress since, and so that bus stop is still not in use.

A boat has been in a field next to the River Thames for about a year – since it got beached in last winter’s floods.

They may not be high priorities but they are all very noticeable.

Last Monday Greg Barker, the Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, came to look at community energy projects in the constituency of Nicola Blackwood MP, and was pictured at Abingdon Weir – where a grass roots Abingdon group have got Environment Agency and planning permission to harness the water power of the Thames.

The toilet in West St Helen Street Car Park has been replaced by a big pink box for recycling small electricals. There are regulations to try to reduce the tonnes of broken and outmoded electricals going to landfill. So this pink box must be doing some good. Better still would be toasters

and cameras made to last.

The mini version of Abingdon Hydro has been on the road for about three years now.

The aspiration is to generate electricity from the water flowing over Abingdon Weir.

In the last year some major hurdles have been cleared. The environment agency has granted the scheme a license, with conditions. Last week Councillors, on the district council planning committee, gave it unanimous support, with conditions. There has also been the need to ensure, for anglers, that fish spawning grounds are protected and fish passes are provided, and, for canoeists, that white water is still available as before.

So a simple aspiration to do something locally for the environment has become quite a major project.

Undaunted, Richard Riggs, and other people backing the scheme, with their money and time, have overcome many obstacles. They still have work to do. But given their determination so far they look a good bet to make the project happen.

Finally a co-operative will be set up into which we all can invest. See Abingdon Hydro for more details.