Plan for land adjacent to Aldi

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A developer has put in a new planning application for the land adjacent to the new Aldi on what was previously called the Circus Field in North Abingdon. This area had been marked for development in the Vale of White Horses District Council’s Local Plan to 2031, and it’s the last big chunk of Abingdon land on the plan that hasn’t already started being built on.

The plan is to build up to 40 houses, a day nursery, and a care home. The houses won’t be decided on yet, but there will be a mix of sizes, and some will be affordable. (This is an outline plan, and the details will follow). The day nursery will be two stories and have a garden. The care home will be three stories and also have a garden. (The nursey and care home plans are full plans). There will be new parking and a new road into the site from Copenhagen Drive. Three trees will be removed to make way for the road.

The plans can be seen and commented on at: https://data.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/java/support/Main.jsp?MODULE=ApplicationDetails&REF=P23/V2861/O.

Abibinit Heroes help clear the Litter

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The Abibinit litter pickers were in action this morning on the Ock Valley Walk, clearing away all the rubbish the floods left behind. They must have filled at least 20 bags! A big thanks to them, especially so soon after all the water chaos.

There are still some signs of the flooding, though. The river has some logs and fallen trees floating around. But the good news is there is now very little litter.

Museum Exhibition showcases Abingdon Women

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Abingdon Museum has started 2024 with an exhibition called “Celebrating Abingdon Women in the Arts and Sciences.” It showcases some of the incredible women who lived in Abingdon

Art and crafts: Pat Russell and Janet Boulton opened their own paper-making studio, while Charlotte Hardcastle created accurate drawings of plants.
History: Agnes Baker brought history to life through books, plays, and historical processions. Gabrielle Lambrick explored the secrets of Abingdon Abbey. Mieneke Cox helped tell the town’s story through museum exhibits and books. Marion Wenzel took care of the Abbey buildings and produced artwork.
Science: Mary Buckland made detailed drawings of fossils.
Writing: Dorothy Richardson wrote some of the first stream-of-consciousness novels.

There are information boards, artwork, and a video slideshow showing these and other women, and groups of women, some you may know.

The museum is run by Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council and you can see more at https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/event/exhibition-celebrating-abingdon-women-in-the-arts-and-sciences

Some of the women also appear on the Abingdon People website:
Agnes Baker: https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon_people/agnes-baker
Mary Buckland: https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon_people/mary-buckland-nee-morland
Mieneke Cox: https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon_people/mieneke-cox
Gabrielle Lambrick: https://www.abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon_people/gabrielle-lambrick

Flooding in Abingdon and the EA’s withdrawn plans to protect you

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Good news for walkers in Abingdon! The Ock Valley Walk is dry enough to explore today (except maybe around Tesco).

The water looks calmer at St Helen’s Wharf. This morning, you could see a clear space between the water and the bridge’s iron arch.

At high tide on Saturday, part of the word ‘Bristol’, and houses in Abingdon were underwater.

The Abingdon Herald had a front-page article, on Wednesday, about the call for action by the environment agency (EA) on improving the town’s flood defences. Regarding this, I have two pieces on information in my inbox. Two schemes were being explored: a flood storage area west of the A34, and temporary flood barriers. An email from the EA from December 2018 said, ‘Since our last newsletter we have been continuing to develop the design for a flood storage area. Based on our more detailed design information we now know the cost of the flood storage area to be much greater than our earlier estimate. To justify continuing work to develop plans for a flood storage area our partnership would need to secure a large amount of additional funding from other partners and businesses. The partnership do not think we will realistically be able to find the required funding. This means that we are not able to continue developing plans for the flood storage area at this time.’ Partners included local councils and businesses.

They said,‘We are continuing our work to investigate options for Natural Flood Management which could help to reduce flooding in Abingdon. We have also identified where Temporary Flood Barriers could help reduce the impact of flooding for specific areas in Abingdon.’

There was a more recent update from the EA to the Tithe Farm and Ladygrove Newsletter in August 2023. It said, ‘We reviewed this plan following problems experienced with barriers in the Midlands. The result of the review was that we would be unable to erect it in time to prevent flooding. As a consequence, we withdrew the plan. This means that there won’t be any permanent structures or temporary barriers to protect you from the River Ock.’