Behind the kiosk of the open air swimming pool there is a small area of edible plants.
It is amazing to see how many different edible plants the Abingdon Carbon Cutters have managed to grow in such a small area. Lettuces are in season, and you can pick your own.
The wild flower meadow nearby is also blooming.
That is another project of Abingdon Carbon Cutters – with their “local response to climate change.”
….just look what innovative, forward thinking, progressive, interested and supportive councils can let their communities achieve…
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/todmordens-good-life-introducing-britains-greenest-town-1830666.html
I wonder what The Veil computer (or the Commodore 64 at the TC) would likely say…
How I envy people who live in villages. I planted some daffodils opposite my house on a green area and Sovereign Vale contractors mowed them all down. We are not encouraged to grow anything on estates. I walked down Gainsborough Green Road today and most front gardens have been paved or graveled over to accommodated cars.
Ah Janet you are referring to the hard pressed planning office that anyone who wants to pave over their front garden should apply for permission to do so, just like the owner of the house at the lower end of Preston Road should have done BEFORE converting his garden shed into a cabin accommodating 8 foriegn workers, some of whom work in Costa !
Daniel, Nick Green, mentioned in the article, used to run Mr Grumpy’s Morris Minors on Hinksey Hill in the 80s and 90s. I know he wouldn’t give a fig what the council thought, guerilla gardener in a literal sense. Google him or his organisation, they’ll be happy to talk to you I’m sure.
Our house off Audlett Drive is the only one in our close which has plants in the front garden. It has taken 15 years for everything to grow to the size it is now and I think a lot of people just can’t be bothered to plant very small plants cheaply then watch and wait because they want ‘instant’ results.
Indeed Rachel, indeed, sadly we now live in a throw away society which has its roots in local authorities who believe people can do without the “nice” things in life because they can pay less tax, I,e they cut council tax, or stop it rising, in return they reduce spending on the things that make us feel good about our society and environment, however, the vhhdc still advertise jobs with final salary pensions !
Incidentally the council are considering closing the household refuse dumps at Drayton and Redbridge. This would be a disaster for the countryside as the increase in fly tipping would be phenomenal. We give millions to the E U and in foreign aid but councils are told that they have to make millions of savings in this country.
Yet another nice article on the good work done by a voluntary group in Abingdon turned into a rant against councils, the eu and foreign aid.
Maybe Backstreeter could do one of his You Tibe summaries to show a selection of the community-organised events that go on each year – the list is very extensive and includes many of the town’s highlights.
Ian we would all like to live in a fluffy world but some of us care about fly tipping and keeping the resources to prevent this sort of thing happening.
So Janet – in my ‘fluffy’ world i suspect the billion people earning less than a dollar a day who are the usual beneficiaries if feoreign aid are deeply unconcerned with flytipping in Oxfordshire
Yes, Iain; but whenever offered an “either/or” choice, it is worth considering the “neither/both” options. Of course, we have to make choices, but I don’t think that keeping ourselves environmentally responsible rules out being internationally compassionate – or vice versa!
Spot on ppjs
Amount of community charge that goes to fund eu or overseas aid = zero
Therefore connection between flytipping and these factors = zero
I’ve no more desire to see our tips closed than anyone else – i just hate to hear things blamed on factors that are totally unrelated
Not strictly accurate Ian, as long as central government continue to reduce its funding to local council while at the same time continues to increase its overseas aid budget then in a round about way the council tax payers are contributing to the O,A, budget by way of increases in council tax,
i agree with your general point CaptainK but be careful about casual references to “increases in Council Tax”. In reality the increase was very small (less than 2% if I remember right) which is pretty much a standstill position. There is a serious debate to be had about what we want our Councils (at all levels) to do and how much we are willing to pay for it.
PS sorry if this seems to contribute to deviation from original topic – but would everyone be willing to pay more CT for wildflower meadows and veg. plots by the swimming pool – if not, let’s celebrate those voluntary groups who make this and other good things happen!
Taxation provides the wherewithal to make our community, nation and world civilised. It’s the financial cost of citizenship; volunteering is the recognition that money is not the only answer.
I’m with Iain -comment 8.
This was a lovely article about Abingdon Carbon-cutters’ achievements hijacked by complainers.
I am really surprised Angela. Are you saying that Abingdon Carbon Cutters are not interested in the proposal to close local refuse tips and the inevitable rise in fly tipping? It is a really strange outlook in that we must not mention these things.
Why would you think that,s what I’m saying, Janet?
The article is about the latest of the many good things that Carbon Cutters have been doing. All volunteers with a guiding principle and doing something about it.
I’m sure they are as popposed as any of us to decisions that might result in an increase in fly-tipping but what has that got to do with this story?
Janet blames every problem on imigration and foreigners – look at her previous posts – very depressing
…it’s a blog. It is supposed to stimulate discussion and opinion. And thank goodness it does, else people may think Abingdon is all good, sweetness, and light.
There is a thread of dissatisfaction and disappointment that weaves its way through the fabric of Abingdon…and it is that that links all these ‘good’ stories. It is not the fault of the story. Or the fault of from where the story originated. But if people ‘see it’, then we are entitled to their opinion, and I for one am happy to hear it – even if it makes me sad (or angry). I don’t always agree. But just because I don’t, I don’t want it stiffled either. It intrigues me why people would.
Equally…shout it from the roof tops about how good the flowers are, if you want balance.
There’s an article a few up from this one about the sorry, shameful, disheartening, disappointing, situation regarding Tilsley Park. An example (ANOTHER one) of how the community has been thoroughly screwed over, again, it seems, by The Veil…perhaps that negative article deserves a hijacking by something lovely and fluffy? We wouldnt want eveyone to read THAT article and think everything here was bad, the Veil are evil, and the residents are powerless. It’s allowed?!
But that’s exactly my point, Daniel. A negative story, like Tilsley Park stays negative and “on message” and despite the fact that there are probably positives no one rushes to point them out.
When we get a positive story either there is no comment at all or, when there is, it gets hijacked by negative comments that are not relevant.
Abingdon has a lot going for it, and a lot of residents who do an awful lot for the town, and that includes councillors.
Discussion and criticism is healthy but does every single story have to turn into a council bashing?
….but Angela, that is MY point. You (or whoever) is as welcome to mention positive things in a negative story, as I am (or whoever) to mention negative things in a positive one.
I think we agree though, it is interesting, and very telling that the ‘bad stories’, the negative ones(?), the ones where common sense doesn’t preVEIL but The Veil does clearly generate a huge amount of passion and energy. Why is that? I have my thoughts on why; what are yours?
The District council is remote. This is exactly what I knew would happen when the decision was made. -which I opposed- to share the Chief Executive with South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC).
It was a decision that the council felt forced into as the only way to make the budget balance.
Since then all senior officers are now shared with SODC, the majority of them former SODC staff, with a whole different ethos, and the final blow was moving all but a few staff to the SODC offices in Wallingford.
What had been a local council with staff who knew the district.
It was a friendly and open environment where cllrs could pop in and talk over casework or issues coming up.
I stood down from the Vale this time since I no longer felt I had any influence whatsoever.
Partly that was due to my becoming independent , much of it was the Cabinet style of Governance imposed on councils by the Blair Giovrnment, making Independents, and minority parties almost disenfanchised, but a lot of it was due to the feeling of remoteness of what had been a friendly local council wihere cllrs at all levels had a good working relationship with the staff and felt they had some say. In the governance of the area they were elected to represent.
Good point Angela but if the council didn’t deserve a bashing they wouldn’t get one ( or several ) and negative jottings come from negative happenings, imagine if the old gaol had been paid for ? No bashing and several million pounds better off the Abingdon community would be? Ditto Tylsey park, cars well school. 100 meters fr Abinhdon school has no playing field at all, so where is the logic that s community asset is better off being given away to an organisation that is probably the biggest land owner in town? The same nonsense is about to happen at the upper reaches, the public are clambering for information yet the D,C and its councillors are refusing to comment? The Guildhall, how a people’s asset public ally branded a white elephant be transferred from one council to another? We’re being best served !
Frankly the wildflower circle on Abbey Meadow is nothing more than a weed patch. Created without any public consultation its reprehensible that the Parks Officer allowed it to happen.
Carbon Cutters are of course behind Abingdon Hydro and thought nothing of chopping down trees and destroying wildlife habitat in pursuit of their vanity project. They also ignore the fact that a similar scheme at Osney has been a failure and that the carbon cost of the installation will be massive not to mention driving a road across Abbey Meadow for heavy trucks.
It’s worrying that such a small group can wreak such destruction and get away with it.