At the start of the council meeting there were a group of 13-16 year olds in the spectator seats. They were there with the youth leader from the Abingdon Damascus Youth Project to receive a cheque for £2,684. There was also somebody to receive a £7,000 grant for South & Vale Young Carers. After they left the meeting we heard shouts of delight outside.
There followed a presentation to the council by the groups: Host Abingdon, and by Abingdon More in Common.
After that a report was presented by County Councillor, Alison Rooke. This gave details of the On-Street parking consulation that was on the blog yesterday. You can respond here by 10 Feb 2017.
As Oxfordshire received less than 5% of the £400m+ applied for from the Local Growth Fund it does mean that developing the four way interchange at Lodge Hill will be more challenging to achieve. Council officers are to meet with developers.
Because the two Children’s Centres were built with Sure Start finance of several hundreds of pounds it means future use should be for children – or the funds would be clawed back by central government.
The Mayor presented a list of all her engagements since the last council meeting, and named some upcoming events for all councillors including the annual bowls match against Oxford to be played at Oxford for the first time.
Then the council went through all the committee papers since the last Town Council meeting …
There have been two meetings of the committee considering a Community Led Plan for Abingdon but no details were given.
The museum is considering charging visitors who are not resident in Abingdon.
The Town Crier magazine, usually sent to all houses in Abingdon 3 or 4 times a year, will not be published this year. People can visit the town council web site instead to find what is happening.
Nothing to report on the new cemetery.
Tenders had been considered for the Guildhall development and a recommendation made. So that could have been accepted in confidential session at this meeting.
There was then a discussion of the budget for the coming year. The Lib-Dem group proposed putting some money aside to show support for the South Abingdon Children’s Centre – should a sustainable project plan be produced. They noted that successful projects agreed to by the County have had support from their town councils. This led to an adjournment by the Conservative group to discuss the proposed amendment.
I left at this point for haggis and neeps. For it is Burns Night …
For information the Museum will not be charging for admission.
The Council agreed to put aside £30,000 for three years for the Abingdon Children’s Centre providing that the Council sees a business plan and is kept informed of progress each quarter. A lot of work has been going on behind the scenes by the town’s County Councillors’.
By the way, the time my email was sent was an hour earlier than stated!
I hope it was a traditional Haggis not the curried or chilli ones I saw in Glasgow at the weekend.
Since it was Burn’s Night……
I lang hae thought, in Abingdon Toon,
The Gildhall wa’ an eyesoor
Neglekt and serving nae useful end
An’ upkeep was unco poor.
Tho’ the Vale did pass it to the toon council’s care
Wi’ a hefty cash sum to appease
There’s now nae money to do it up
It’s all gone on Consultancy fees.
So th’ toon is now left wi’ nuthin tae show
Nae dancehall, nae cinema screen
An’ th’ Council’s admitted an’ signal’d defeat
Abingdon’s left with nary a bean.