The VWHDC (Vale of White Horse District Council) planning committee unanimously approved the application for an Aldi store on the Wootton Road.
Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council supported the application as did local councillors speaking at the meeting. 290 people wrote in supporting the application. 13 were against.
The main advantage to locals is a large store nearer north Abingdon and Whitecross and Wootton, which should cut down on the need to travel, and could cut down on traffic round Abingdon.
The main concerns were cycling and access. The current cycle path is used by school children coming from Wootton, and area, and will not be expanded to the recommended width for such a development. The cycle path will also be impeded by the new store junctions. The right turn out of the store could also cause queues.
Councillor Jenny Hannaby said this development does mean a change of policy for VWHDC who in recent years have ensured new supermarkets were built in town centres, not out of town, for reasons of town centre vitality. The empty Peacock store in Abingdon town centre could be expanded to 929 sq.m (currently 738 sq.m). The new Aldi is 1,315 sq.m.
I just don’t understand why a few hundred pounds cannot be found in a budget of millions to make a proper cycle path. Cyclists have already been killed and injured on this stretch of road, it seems that profitability is more important than lives.
Hi Tim,
The reason given for not widening the cycle path was that it involved removing a hedge. Planning officers wanted to keep the hedge to keep the rural look of the area. But when we see how the developers cut down all the trees opposite it is inconsistent.
The officer’s report says “ However it is critical that this application for a retail store does not preclude or is detrimental to the future delivery of residential development of the remainder of the allocation site.” So, unless the committee decided otherwise we can expect yet more houses squeezed in to the remainder of the site.
Hi Hester,
On that point the VWHDC officers thought that corner near the A34 would be too noisy for houses. But if you look at the shape of the field, and the adjoining field, a lot of it is too noisy for a lot of the other houses if that is the case.
You can watch it on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb6qIP26GJ0.
Interesting comment by the rep from Oxfordshire County Council on the YouTube video of the meeting that the planning application for the Lodge hill slip roads is to be submitted in the New Year….so hopefully that will start construction in the 2nd half of 2022.
It is certainly all change in that part of Abingdon with Aldi, Kings Gate, Abbey Fields and (probably) the slip roads all being built/constructed at similar times.
Lets just hope that disruption doesn’t cause too much chaos for local road users!
It baffles me that cycling isn’t factored in from the start of these things. We have the perfect size town for getting about by bike, yet the lack of infrastructure puts all but the most determined off. (Try getting to Fairacres by bike from the town centre)
Just by looking at the picture you can see how car-centric this is. It’s very American in encouraging people to drive away from their houses instead of shopping locally, and it will put a dangerous gap in the middle of the already too-narrow cycle path.
I thought this was meant to be an environment-friendly council, but they’ve failed on this one.
Yes, cycle lane … I’ve been asking for years, I don’t think those with the purse strings are really interested in encouraging cycling.
And yes there have been many people knocked off bikes on this road, I’ve witnessed a couple of unfortunate cyclists lying on the road in pain (being looked after by the amazing ambulance crews) … that could be your brother, sister, son, daughter, etc …
Oh and I forgot to say, I hope they don’t close the Wootton road off for another 3 weeks!
Why has it been closed again after being close in August for a few weeks and traffic light in place for many more weeks?
Despite being a B road its a busy main route from west Oxford to Abingdon.
Does anyone know what they are doing an why it could not have been done during the August closure?
Resurfacing the road apparently.
Surly resurfacing 200m of road wouldn’t take 3 weeks, I suspect either its a case of not being joined up and one major job with road closed in August and another group realising the also need to close the road as they didn’t do the work at the same time? Or I suppose something unexpected has come up which needs sorting out …
I see on one.network that there is now a description:
S278 – Road widening, footway construction and carriageway resurfacing.
but also
GAS TRANSPORTATION CO LTD … one.network has automatically assigned a category of Mains Renewal to this Works based on the information available.
So gas works that could have been done the same time as the water work????