The Vale of White Horse District Council’s Abbey Meadows Consultation ends at Midnight.
Only option A, and not B or C, sees a future for the Outdoor Pool. The result won’t be known until after the election as we are now into election Purdah – meaning veil or curtain – which prevents councils from making revealing pronouncements.
It was the lead officer, David Buckle, rather than a politician, who came out to receive a petition of over 2300+ signatures, organised by Naomi, to Save the Pool.
The Oxford Mail / Abingdon Herald were there to take pictures of the campaigners and the petition.
As the 38 Degrees Petition already contains over 500 signatures, David Buckle said, it will be discussed by the next Vale District Council, whatever it colour.
They look like schoolchildren
Well, some do… and if they are users, then why not?
Well last time someone said we were either geriatrics or yuppies. Ageism is unattractive in all its forms.
Why not rejoice that a hefty sector of the population has said they like the pool and – if you work your way through the comments section you will see that – they said the pool has been very poorly maintained for years, some said it was wilfully run down by the council, so it needs a lot of TLC to put it to rights. If that happens maybe one day BBC Oxford will be interviewing swimmers in the Abingdon Pool on a beautiful day like today, instead of carrying out the interviews at Hinksey Pool, which is open today and was being enjoyed by many, including me, from 7 this morning.
Going to the Abbey Meadow Outdoor Pool is like being on Holiday. Remember we are 90 miles from Bournemouth-On-The- Sea.
Great to see the community are behind the pool. Just hope the council keep to their word and the cash pledged for the Abbey Meadow doesn’t evaporate after the Election
How good it is to see Abbey Meadow being used so much since Easter. Of course the fine weather is the main reason but how much better it would be if the outdoor pool was in use, too, at this time of year; perhaps one day this might happen; in the meantime we have to fight tooth and nail even to keep it open.
Great to see so many people supporting the campaign.
It’s sad that the interpretation of Purdah leads politicians to claim they are unable to receive a petition from members of the public, responding to a consultation that said politicians instigated. The campaigners sweated blood to show for the third time in my memory that Abingdonians care for their pool and wish for it to continue to be maintained properly and available to all.
Well I hope the politicians will read through the comments on the 38degrees website at
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-abbey-meadows-outdoor-pool-abingdon# because they tell the politicians a powerful story. Here are the first three comments, the most recent ones. But notice that the list ends with the link “Read more” and on the website above, that leads to more comments and more again, epitomising the strength of feeling about the pool.
Nigel F. about 11 hours ago
Because the pool should stay, it’s a great facility to have and it should be kept.
Sue H. about 12 hours ago
Abingdon should be proud of the Abbey Pool it is a fantastic resource. Where are the voices of those Councillors that are elected year on year why are they not defending the pool and preserving it for the people of the town?
Hugh b. a day ago
Increasingly, government is taking away the means for children to experience freely the outdoor pursuits they encourage us all to participate in. Instead they replace them with organised, group activities. Are they trying to build an easily militarised society? Brave New World?
Read more
I disagree with you about the purdah rules, Peter.
I for one would think it quite unfair if the strong negative reaction to the Conservative Cabinet’s decision to propose closing the pool led to their happy smiling faces appearing all over the local media a few weeks later.
I agree with you that everyone standing in the local elections should read through the comments and take note of the number of signatories.
Neil – thats rather an unfair comment.
There has been no conservative proposal to close the pool, so apart from rather cheap electoral politics I dont know why you’d make that comment.
the conservative view is that there have been several options for the meadow put forward and they would go with the public view, which as I understand it is firmly behind retaining the pool.
If you want to get party political the only party to have proposed closure of the pool was your party back in 2006.
A bit cheap i’m afraid neil – i thought you were a little better than that.
I have to side with Neil on this one. The consultation presents as wanting to close the pool because option C has been made to look the most attractive. With option A presented in a negative light that really, nothing will be improved because the pool will suck up all the budget.
Hi Iain – ‘there have been several options for the meadow put forward’ – yes there have – there have been two proposals put forward to close the pool by the Conservative run Vale and one option that doesn’t.
My main point, though, was that it would be unfair if they got positive media coverage in response to such a large negative response to their proposals.
Seems an odd perspective to take on a long overdue investment in the Abbey Meadow area. Maybe you can remind me and other readers how much was invested in this area under the Liberal administration.
About £1.2 million on the Abbey Grounds Restoration project plus the investment in the water play area and the new playground.