The Vale of White Horse District Council (VWHDC) will close the Cattle Market car park to vehicles and pedestrians from November 11th, 2024.

The closure, lasting up to twenty weeks, will allow for an archaeological survey, followed by improvements to the car park, including:
* Layout
* Resurfacing
* Lighting

* Creation of a garden to soak away rainwater and improve biodiversity.

There are alternative VWHDC car parks, including:
* Civic car park
* Audlett Drive car park
* Abbey Close car park
* Rye Farm car park
* Charter multi-story car park (limited access)
* West St Helen Street (long queue to get out if traffic is bad in West St Helen Street).

See https://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/cattle-market

Car Parking charges in Abingdon go up from 4th April. The big change is that only one hour will now be free in public car parks. It uses to be two hours free parking. You can check the Vale website for the full charges, but two hours will now cost £1.50.

There were also tariff changes for street parking, which are now slightly cheaper for two hours.

There was a free for all before November 1st. Since then residents, and visitors, are getting caught out by the stricter Civil Parking enforcement. The new company running the scheme, on behalf of Oxfordshire County Council, is giving no leeway. I spotted these 3 penalty charge notices (PCNs), yesterday, walking up East St Helen Street.

1. Waiting a permit.

2. Wheels behind the line and the bumper in front.

3. Not showing the blue badge arrival clock in the disabled space? The ID alone may not work.

Fines have increased from £40, last time I got one, to £70 (or half that if you pay within the shorter time shown on the PCN.)

Cars parked on the double yellow lines in Lombard Street and St Helen’s Court have been getting leaflets ‘Observe the lines, avoid the fines’.

From November 1st, Oxfordshire County Council are taking on responsibility, from the police, for parking enforcement.

The County  Council have appointed a contractor to employ the existing residents traffic wardens and new wardens. They will get a full training course and will be looking for vehicles wrongly parked in the following situations:
* Residents parking
* On-street pay and display parking
* Double and single yellow lines
* Limited waiting bays
* Loading bays
* Zig-zag markings at schools (if restrictions apply)
* Pedestrian crossings
* Double parking (parking too far from the kerb)
* Blue Badge bays
* Taxi ranks
* Parking in bus lanes and stops
* Parking across dropped kerbs where there’s a crossing point, with or without tactile paving

The full details are at
https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/roads-and-transport/parking/new-parking-enforcement-areas

Last Friday a lorry was left for five hours blocking the pavement on the double yellow line next to the Vineyard Almshouses. Jenny sent me an email at the time saying it was ‘… severely restricting access on the pavement. Two properties are not able to gain full access out onto the pavement from their own front doors. Children on their way to school and people with pushchairs and shopping trolleys have to either cross the road or walk into the traffic to get round it. The police say it is a council responsibility, and the council says it is a police responsibility.’

It was the police, who often had higher priorities. From November 1st it will be a council responsibility.

People will be waking up after Halloween to a Halloween parking ticket. I say that because I have been twice caught out by parking changes on October 31st. I hope it won’t be a 3rd.