Nice views of Abingdon. However, views around Abingdon are going to change drastically. I have just watched a television program about the proposed 3500 new houses to be built in Culham. This is together with the 1500 to be built in North Abingdon. The program exposed the lie about ‘affordable homes’ that the developers boast that they will build. Most are from £350,000 upwards. They interviewed a young couple who would be first time buyers and they said in their salaries the most they could afford or get a mortgage for would be £250,000. There is a long waiting list for social housing so no hope there. The buyers for the new homes are targeted as London overspill who they think will commute. It has been hinted that one head of a council involved in planning is a developer, although how true this is I do not know. What we should know is how the estimated extra 10,000 people are going to get into the A34. At the moment it looks as if they will have to come through Abingdon.
Janet
We have been following this proposal for about a year now and you are absolutely right that as always the infrastructure issues are key: because this proposal comes from South Oxfordshire they act as if there is nothing of any relevance on this side of the Thames!
I thought the programme was very well done, but one point which was not made was that the full proposal is contingent on the creation of a new road bridge, somewhere near the railway line to take traffic to Didcot and the A34 and “only” 700 houses can be built until that is in place. That is still a lot, but not quite so bad.
I think you may have misunderstood the bit about a Councillor being a developer, I certainly didn’t hear that. The man who was speaking on behalf of the landlord/developers was the legal representative of one landowner and the husband of the other, but not, as far as I could tell, a Councillor. The Council Leader who we saw quite a lot of, lives in Burcot, just down the road, but there was no suggestion that he stood to benefit from the proposal (quite the opposite I would have thought as there will be a lot more traffic past his front door!)
And you are right too about the “affordability” – I have little sympathy for developers, but when they have to pay £1m per acre for land previously worth £10k you can see part of the problem!
For those who didn’t see it, watch it on catch-up – and part 2 is next Wednesday.
Another month begins and still the pink Range Rover has parked all day on double yellow lines in West Saint Helens st. It just makes a complete mockery of resident parking and those who use the pay & display bays!
Get a picture of it and ask Backstreeter to put it on the blog – it might persuade the owner to be a little less anti-social or to explain his/her exemption from the rules!
Honestly,
if you drive a antibiotic pink range rover, with a rather naff doctored numberplate, and park it unsocially all the time, then getting featured here really isnt going to bother you…
Good idea PPJS but as Lyle said the owner just doesn’t care, the real issue is the town is just not being policed!
Example- all weekend and most evenings two blue & white vans park in the 30 minute bays outside Barclays Bank (by the war memorial) are they ticketed? No, each day a G4S security van parks on the war memorial (well upon the paving next to it) while the driver makes his pickup? Sunday (between the two vans) a black Mercedes with a For Sale sign was parked for several hours outside Barclays Bank! Wednesday there was another car with a for sale sign in it parked in the same place for several hours! The guy who owns the Lebanese cafe in Bath st parks his new Range Rover opposite half on the double lines and half on the pavement, then in the evening he returns and parks on yellow lines outside his Lebanese restaurant, most week days the owners of two hairdressers in Stert street use the loading bays as their personal parking spot! Who cares ?
The towns roads are third world with massive pot holes everywhere, the road at the far end of East Saint Helens is about to collapse! The temporary paving repair outside ASK is now 8 months old, and so it goes on- and on!
Meanwhile the Upper Reaches is still boarded up, ditto Old AbbeybHouse and I dare not mention the Guild Hall,
Parking in town is at a premium but yet another office block has gained planning to conversion to flats, but with no parking? CH say they have no takers for their restaurant and can’t pay their bills yet a national company “the Lounges” are will to pay £85k a year rent to be in the precinct of all places.
What has happened to Abingdon?
When I was a teenager, in the 60’s, Abingdon was the place to be and Didcot was seen as a joke. What a turnaround. OK, I’ve never actively supported the town as an elected councillor but I have always voted for people to represent me for the good of the town. I was in Abingdon this morning and The Specials 1981 song did spring to mind. Deedee’s last sentence is a very worrying question.
Many thanks – another great slideshow, with the much enjoyed musical accompaniment.
Nice views of Abingdon. However, views around Abingdon are going to change drastically. I have just watched a television program about the proposed 3500 new houses to be built in Culham. This is together with the 1500 to be built in North Abingdon. The program exposed the lie about ‘affordable homes’ that the developers boast that they will build. Most are from £350,000 upwards. They interviewed a young couple who would be first time buyers and they said in their salaries the most they could afford or get a mortgage for would be £250,000. There is a long waiting list for social housing so no hope there. The buyers for the new homes are targeted as London overspill who they think will commute. It has been hinted that one head of a council involved in planning is a developer, although how true this is I do not know. What we should know is how the estimated extra 10,000 people are going to get into the A34. At the moment it looks as if they will have to come through Abingdon.
Janet
We have been following this proposal for about a year now and you are absolutely right that as always the infrastructure issues are key: because this proposal comes from South Oxfordshire they act as if there is nothing of any relevance on this side of the Thames!
I thought the programme was very well done, but one point which was not made was that the full proposal is contingent on the creation of a new road bridge, somewhere near the railway line to take traffic to Didcot and the A34 and “only” 700 houses can be built until that is in place. That is still a lot, but not quite so bad.
I think you may have misunderstood the bit about a Councillor being a developer, I certainly didn’t hear that. The man who was speaking on behalf of the landlord/developers was the legal representative of one landowner and the husband of the other, but not, as far as I could tell, a Councillor. The Council Leader who we saw quite a lot of, lives in Burcot, just down the road, but there was no suggestion that he stood to benefit from the proposal (quite the opposite I would have thought as there will be a lot more traffic past his front door!)
And you are right too about the “affordability” – I have little sympathy for developers, but when they have to pay £1m per acre for land previously worth £10k you can see part of the problem!
For those who didn’t see it, watch it on catch-up – and part 2 is next Wednesday.
PS I also don’t think the main target market is London overspill – it is aimed at Oxford and Science Vale.
Another month begins and still the pink Range Rover has parked all day on double yellow lines in West Saint Helens st. It just makes a complete mockery of resident parking and those who use the pay & display bays!
Deedee:
Get a picture of it and ask Backstreeter to put it on the blog – it might persuade the owner to be a little less anti-social or to explain his/her exemption from the rules!
Honestly,
if you drive a antibiotic pink range rover, with a rather naff doctored numberplate, and park it unsocially all the time, then getting featured here really isnt going to bother you…
just sayin… 🙂
Good idea PPJS but as Lyle said the owner just doesn’t care, the real issue is the town is just not being policed!
Example- all weekend and most evenings two blue & white vans park in the 30 minute bays outside Barclays Bank (by the war memorial) are they ticketed? No, each day a G4S security van parks on the war memorial (well upon the paving next to it) while the driver makes his pickup? Sunday (between the two vans) a black Mercedes with a For Sale sign was parked for several hours outside Barclays Bank! Wednesday there was another car with a for sale sign in it parked in the same place for several hours! The guy who owns the Lebanese cafe in Bath st parks his new Range Rover opposite half on the double lines and half on the pavement, then in the evening he returns and parks on yellow lines outside his Lebanese restaurant, most week days the owners of two hairdressers in Stert street use the loading bays as their personal parking spot! Who cares ?
The towns roads are third world with massive pot holes everywhere, the road at the far end of East Saint Helens is about to collapse! The temporary paving repair outside ASK is now 8 months old, and so it goes on- and on!
Meanwhile the Upper Reaches is still boarded up, ditto Old AbbeybHouse and I dare not mention the Guild Hall,
Parking in town is at a premium but yet another office block has gained planning to conversion to flats, but with no parking? CH say they have no takers for their restaurant and can’t pay their bills yet a national company “the Lounges” are will to pay £85k a year rent to be in the precinct of all places.
What has happened to Abingdon?
When I was a teenager, in the 60’s, Abingdon was the place to be and Didcot was seen as a joke. What a turnaround. OK, I’ve never actively supported the town as an elected councillor but I have always voted for people to represent me for the good of the town. I was in Abingdon this morning and The Specials 1981 song did spring to mind. Deedee’s last sentence is a very worrying question.
Re – Parking . Read Julie Maberly’s TheWag&Pen column in this weeks Abingdon Herald.