Traffic was heavy at 8 am over St Helen’s Wharf yesterday morning. Pavements were slippery with black ice.
Late afternoon and early evening, there was a consultation exercise at the Guildhall. One part called ‘Air Your Views’ concentrated on air quality in the town centre. Narrow roads with tall buildings don’t allow traffic fumes to disperse easily.
There was another consultation called ‘Your Vale, Your Future’ concerning the new local area plan looking forward to 2026. This is where one controversial idea is to put new houses in South Abingdon, where congestion is currently already bad, in the hope it will lead to a new road, and maybe even a new river bridge.
There followed an evening round-table discussion. Still time to respond to Air your Views, and Your Vale, Your Future.
The Vale consultation evening was pretty lively – really good to see lots of different faces there. There was a strong consensus that the strategy needed to focus on the needs of community – and that this did not just mean housing, shops and roads. Lots of good ideas put forward but it is really important that others contribute as well – online or in writing.