Monthly Archives: April 2018

The Vale Way walking trail

Thankyou to Peter Skuse of the Vale of White Horse Ramblers for this piece …
Vale of White Horse Ramblers
The Vale Way walking trail was launched on 3rd July 2015 by the mayor, Helen Pighills. Since then the local Ramblers group have waymarked the route by adding small blue decals with the words ‘The Vale Way  Ramblers’ to existing way mark signs along the way. Last year the route was accepted for inclusion on Ordnance Survey mapping. Currently available on online maps, we await being able to purchase paper maps with the route shown.
Vale of White Horse Ramblers
This year the Ramblers have funded two metal finger post signs to mark the two ends of the trail. The sign at the eastern end of the trail was installed on the post at the junction with the Thames path adjacent to the bridge over the millstream near Abingdon weir on Tuesday 24th April 2018. The sign was officially unveiled by the Mayor of Abingdon on Thames, Cllr Jan Morter.

A sign at the western end of the route will be installed and unveiled in late May.
Vale of White Horse Ramblers
The Vale Way team left to right are Stuart Hughes, John Gordon, Peter Skuse, Jim Parke.

Details of the 27.25 mile route from Abingdon to Longcot via Wantage and Faringdon can be found at:www.ramblers-oxon.org.uk/thevaleway/valeway.htm

The route is divided into 5 shorter sections with instructions given for each section. Generally start and finish points can be accessed by buses. Please enjoy our wonderful Vale countryside and historic market towns and villages.

Abingdon Town Council – 25th April 2018

There was a Town Council Meeting this evening in Abingdon-on-Thames. It could be the last one that Councillor Jan Morter will chair as Mayor. Her successor Councillor Margaret Crick will become Mayor at a ceremony on May 9th.

The meeting began with prayers mentioning St Mark (as it is the Feast of St Mark today), then some statements from town people.
Plastic
Levy payers to the BID (Business Improvement District) came again with their worries about the BID. Their spokesman, was stuck in traffic after a major holdup on the A34 and so others spoke instead. Some businesses are refusing to pay the BID levy this time and have been told there are court proceedings against them from the BID company.

An audit has appeared on the BID website, carried out by VWHDC. The audit is procedural rather than financial, and shows that after resignations by members of the board nobody is clear who is on the BID board anymore. The audit says some meetings were not quorate as a result, and meetings have also not been properly minuted. It also appears that accounts have not been properly signed off by meetings.

102 member companies have petitioned for the BID to be closed down. So despite the sterling efforts of an interim team to turn it round the BID is likely to be closed.

The Abingdon Carbon Cutters gave a statement about cutting down on plastic, and ended the presentation with the suggestion that the Town Council could help by reducing waste in two events it is responsible for: Abingdon Market and The Michaelmas Fair.
Plastic
Later in the meeting the council chose to support a motion proposed by Councillor Sam Bowring to sign up to the national refill scheme and provide a place for refilling of water bottles, and not provide single use plastics in the Guildhall. This was unanimously agreed.

There was then a presentation by Thames Water about their future plan for providing enough water for the growing population of London and the South East. They are currently consulting on the plan which includes Abingdon Reservoir mk 3 or 4. This time they appear to have made more of an effort to screen the high 20 meter mounds that will enclose the reservoir. If allowed, the reservoir could provide water from the 2040s.

County Councillor Emily Smith presented a comprehensive report on what is happening at the County Council but drew attention to three things. Each County Councillor now has £15K for their division and groups can apply at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/councillorpriorityfund. People can now become super users on www.fixmystreet.com to actually monitor and book in repairs in their area. The third was a consultation about Dunmore Road is happening.

Then we got into the main body of the council meeting and looked at the minutes from the last Town Council. The meeting discussed the BID again and how it could be wound up, and the wisdom of doing this. Mike Badcock, the leader of the council, said he had been assured that letters demanding payment of the levy will not be pursued through the court.

The Ock Bridge has re-opened.

A new town bus service financed by the Town Council is on its way from December.

There was a question from Monica Lovatt asking why 5 of the last 10 grant applications had been declined. Was it because the committee was running out of money for the year, or did the grants not meet the criteria. It was the latter.

On the museum committee we hear that, sadly, Matt, the museum manager, has left. So he will be a great loss to the council.

Building work continues in the Guildhall and is scheduled for completion from 1st September.

Then back to the BID and we heard the VWHDC is reviewing legislation into winding up a BID.
Plastic
It was agreed filming of council meetings could happen.

St Nicolas Clock, for which the Town Council is responsible, is working again. The Town Council will also take on responsibility for St Nicolas’ closed churchyard.

The council then came to the decision whether to agree to the cinema operating in the Guildhall, and the town council leader proposed an amendment which seemed to move the decision back to the finance and general purposes committee, subject to certain things being agreed between the parties beforehand. Everybody agreed with the amendment. The discussion was very difficult to follow and so I may have missed the final outcome.

The feedback from the Community Led Plan discussions was given and it appears to have generated various other volunteers taking on actions to keep Abingdon litter free etc. So well done to them.

There followed a proposal to have a Mobiloo at Fun in the Parks at a cost of £490. This will allow some people to attend who could not otherwise, and shows that the council will go the extra mile to make its events accessible to all.

Then came the discussion on plastics and how they are ruining the planet. All were agreed that it was a big problem and we could do our little bit.

Real Time Education Cuts

Real Time Education Cuts
There is a banner outside Carswell School in Abingdon letting us know that schools in Oxfordshire face over £10M in real time cuts. That is compared with the budget in 2015/16 according to schoolcuts.org.uk. The vast majority of schools in Abingdon will be worse off according to their figures.
Real Time Education Cuts
This has something to do with The National Funding Formula which tries to base funding on latest pupil data, rather than what the population looked like 10 years ago, and tries to take into account the levels of deprivation and challenge that schools are facing. So looking at the map on schoolcuts.org.uk nine of the state schools in Abingdon do worse in funding terms. Only St Edmunds, St Nics, and Thameside could do better.

Ock Street hole not fixed yet

7th Abingdon Cycle Festival
The long running saga of the Ock Street hole continues. Colin, The Abingdon Taxi driver, wrote about the hole in his column in the Herald, and how after some time it was dug up and filled in again without any fix. In deed, matters were made worse as tar got splashed on the taxis waiting nearby.
7th Abingdon Cycle Festival
The same thing happened again this weekend. A hole was dug. It was filled back in again as the water continued to gush in.

So this morning the cones were back and the pool of water in the road was still there.