Work is underway to install Park and Charge EV Charging hubs in 3 car parks in Abingdon. West St Helen Street will have 12 charge points,

Audlett Drive 16, and Cattle Market 12.

The cost of the installation is not from local council budgets but from grant funding from the Office for Zero Emissions Vehicles. The primary aim is charging hubs for residents without off-street parking as parking is free overnight. These new EV chargers will be bookable overnight, and can be used during the day. Initially this will mean less parking for other vehicles, until more vehicles are electric and the charge points are needed more.

EV=Electric Vehicle

Councillor Cheryl Briggs, the Mayor of Abingdon-on-Thames, was among those planting trees in Rye Farm Meadow, near Abingdon Lock.

Local residents came along to plant the 420 trees, and that included young families and children. The Woodland Trust donated all the trees, the tree guards were recycled from Besselsleigh Woods, and Oxford Wood Recycling and CAG Oxfordshire funded tree stakes. The event was co-ordinated by the Abingdon Carbon Cutters and Abingdon Rotary. Permission was given by VWHDC (Vale of White Horse District Council) on their land.

The footpaths around Reynolds Way, and a lot of the roads in Caldecott, have been given a fresh coat of tarmac and the grass and weeds have been cut back.

Some of the shop shutters have blown down, and others are damaged.

The garages and the wall with the art murals has been demolished.

We went for a walk along the Thames Path beside Barton Fields. Some trees were down after last week’s storms. There was also the sound of chain saws from the Abingdon Science Park.

The Thames Path has a new board walk over what was once the most muddy place. New sign posts indicate the way.

A bit further on, at the place where lots of trees were cut two years ago, lots of baby trees have been planted. Maybe the new trees are better in some way.

Inside each tree shelter is a baby tree about half the size of the shelter.

A community mass tree planting will take place on Rye Farm Meadow this Saturday. The Vale of White Horse District Council have given permission for the planting of  420 baby ‘wild wood’ trees, given by the Woodland Trust. They include: pussy willow, downy birch, hawthorn, crab apple and hazel. The Abingdon Carbon Cutters have organised the event and want people to sign up and plant trees. For more information see https://abingdoncarboncutters.org.uk/event/tree-planting-at-rye-farm-meadow/.