At the recent meeting of the Town Council planning committee it was recommended that the town council lead the development of a Neighbourhood Plan for the town.

Thame has a very good neighbourhood plan that gives a framework for decisions about future development – all agreed in a referendum of the town. Wantage will soon have one too.

People in South Abingdon have already been through consultations towards developing a Resident’s Plan (called SARP). A lot of work was put in by volunteers gathering information, working with people who had already developed successful Residents Plans. As a result a questionnaire was put together to go to every house in the area. That was sent to the Vale of White Horse District Council for approval, and was never heard of again. Perhaps, instead, the Town Council can bring back that good work into the town’s neighbourhood plan.

At the meeting, Hester, representing The Friends of Abingdon, said The Friends are very much in favour of such a plan as it will allow more local control of CIL Money (Community Infrastructure Levy paid by developers to build in the area), and help control development. The Friends hope to see a wide variety of people involved to ensure the process is inclusive.

So the next stage is for the town council to put money in the budget for next year, to hire a consultant with the expertise to lead such a process, and get all sorts of people involved. Then in a couple of years we can all vote on it.