By this afternoon most of the snow had melted from the roads and pavements in Abingdon .
There was a last chance for some pictures of snow before it all thawed this morning. I walked along the road by Rye Farm Carpark, and passed the temporary encampment.
The fields on one side have a few sheep and on the other side have regular patterns left by farm vehicles, accentuated by snow.
The path towards Swift Ditch is a farm path that is far more picturesque with tracks showing through snow.
Down at the weir, that cascades to join swift ditch (the old navigation channel), frozen spume was clinging to branches.
A kingfisher flew down the opposite bank and perched on a tree branch, too fast and too distant to find with my camera.
People living by the river probably see kingfishers regularly but to me it is a rare privilege.
Then I returned back along the River Thames path to Abingdon Lock where Richard, the lock keeper, was out working.
Later in the day I saw Frank (Lock Assistant) who said the Oxfordshire Home Guard have an event at the lock on April 8th. They will also be meeting the public in Abingdon Community Shop (Free Space) from 20th-24th March.
Have just seen this on the new planning application from Abingdon’s favoured builders:-
“The applicant would therefore like to remedy the
situation and fit out a section of the restaurant space
and run a cafe/ wine bar operation themselves.
The costs in connection with undertaking such a pro-
posal are not insignicant and the space available
for restaurant/ wine bar usage is too large for the ap-
plicant’s own needs.
The intention is therefore to convert a section of this
excess space to residential usage and create 3No.
ground floor apartments.”
Pay what you owe first CH!
Full applications can be found on Abingdfirst website (2nd link).
I’ve just walked through our precinct and was shocked to see a sign in the empty Thomas Cook shop stating they’d relocated to Wantage ( of all places ) and a peering through the window of the old Wildwood premises it looks as though all work has stopped inside, despite a sign on the window proclaiming its opening Wednesday!
Sad eh ?
My understanding is that one way of prising open a situation like the Old Goal to public scrutiny is to get in touch with Private Eye with sufficient documentation and background to pique their interest … more information than I have.
PE have an exemplary record of keeping their sources confidential.
Once a National outlet like PE start publishing a story, in Rotten Boroughs, say, then this might give others confidence to come forward as the story will ‘have legs’ in a medium that’s not as lacking in enthusiasm as our local rag. Plus, it would be far more confidential.
For information PE’s editorial number is 020-7437-4017.
Once the ball starts rolling I’m sure there are others who’d help give it momentum..
To add to this newcomer if you search companies house and the builders concerned you will find ( in the public domain) they have “charges” against several properties in the old Gaol complex which suggests they’ve remortgaged ( and rented out) properties in the Old Gaol they haven’t even paid for?
So to recap vale “sells” old Gaol to local company who then says they can’t pay, vale gives builder deeds, builder rents out properties and then remortgages properties they haven’t paid for?
Can we have some of that please?
During the ‘crash’, weren’t they given a refund using our money?
They were Peter D…but, don’t forget we are allowed to make use of their beautiful river frontage on the fifth Tuesday of every month between 10 and 10:15 am during leap years when there’s snow….so, really, we shouldn’t grumble as it really isn’t productive. Especially but when the flowers look lovely and for most of the 24hrs in a day the traffic is fine and there’s loads of space in the car parks. And we have flags.
Reading the above comments reminds me of something and although a complete misreference the term ‘rotten borough’ seems apt, so many things seem broken here, if the financial goings on are correct I suggest turning the unused restaurant spaces back into a Gaol to incarcerate those guilty.