One result of bringing youth services together at the NET in Abingdon is that office space has been freed up elsewhere. Connexions, the agency charged with helping to find young people work, are to move into the NET, and so have moved out of Publishing House in Stert Street.
Publishing House could well be redeveloped as part of the plans for the Charter Area. It is the first sight people get of the centre of Abingdon, and so needs to be made to look more welcoming.
The probation service have also moved from 1-3 Ock Street and so there is Grade II Office space vacated there too. I have no idea where they went.
Let’s hope their “customers” do though!
the Charter Area – i think deserves as much attention as the Oxford Road Tesco. To have a huge supermarket there seems crazy!
The next round of consultation on the Shopping Centre/Charter development is now under way so we have a chance to feed thoughts in direct. It is on the front page of the Vale website http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/ but on this coming Thursday and Friday there will be a manned exhibition of the proposals in Unit 33 of the Shopping centre (near the fish and chip shop!) so it may be worth looking at that first.
people say an out of town superstore takes people away from town centre shops – well now you can have a town centre superstore too – maybe that will attract people to the shops.
This is ridiculous…what message does it send to have the seek “our opinion” when the consultation is on a Thursday and Friday…when people are working, or indeed, just for 2 measly days…when half the country is away on holiday. If anyone really wanted our thoughts (I really can’t see that we can sway any decisions made anyway. Sorry…but I just can’t see it)…then the Exhibition should bridge 2 if not 3 weekends. At least there then might be a reasonable to fair chance of people having the chance to see and say what they think. I know it is open until 7pm. But it isn’t good enough. It is “lip service” and I find it insulting that the residents of this great Town are thought of in such low esteem and their opinions so uneagerly sought on an issue that affects so many.
Personally, this, to me, sends a message: the biggest development this town is ever going to get…and they are barely interested in what we have to say. I wonder why that is?
I have already tried to make contact with Tibbalds…but apparently, if I want any dialogue with them..i have to direct my queries to the council. Well…(as I’ll tell Tibbalds in my reply), I don’t want to ask the council. The council will just be {miss}guided by their ‘expert’ and £25k report. I want to know why a company with a pedigree such as Tibbalds sees the very best for Abingdon hinging round…a supermarket.
As has been mentioned elswhere….is retail the best that the thinkers can come up with? And…if retail is the way forward…a supermarket? No shop will please everybody….but a supermarket, of all things, is likely to cause the biggest problems and upset the most.
Just think…of all the expertise, the degrees, the insight and the experience that these town planners have (and our councillors seem hell bent on pandering to)…the best, the absolute pinnacle of what they can come up with…is a supermarket. £25,000 it cost US for them to come up with that!
Shame on them.
in recent months my thoughts have been turned slightly…I think I am now thinking that the very thing that Abingdon has to offer (except the river and the history and the open spaces etc), from a retail POV is exactly what other peole have been banging on about. It is the individual, the non-chain, independants that make this town special. It is exactly these businesses that will suffer.
A supermarket. A bloomin supermarket. The best “choice” we have? a big one…or a not so big one.
If anyone wants to know what Tibbalds have to say, let me know.
Doesn’t a supermarket in the centre of town bring people in, some of these shoppers will then shop in town. As opposed to an out of town supermarket where none of the shoppers then shop in town.
James, I would agree…in theory. I am in the process of looking at the report in more detail…and hope to have dialogue with Tibbalds.
You never know, I may even learn something and change my mind. I’m not so old that I can’t!
Why would the shoppers necessarily shop in town – If you can get everything the town offers all under one roof?
In essence, I am just a nobody who is interested in how the decision was made. I’m keen to know what comes second best to a supermarket. Regardless of what we, me or anyone else thinks – we’ll get a supermarket, and then time will tell.
doozer – you are NOT a nobody – you are one of the many people who care and have strong feelings about our town but you also take the time to look into things in detail and to try to talk directly to decision-makers rather than just sounding off. the town needs more of you – keep it up!
Re your original point, as I understand it the display will still be available (in the shop window) till the 23 Sept it is just that there will only be staff there on the Thurs/Fri mentioned). For those who can’t get into town the display boards are all on the Vale website and of course the facility to comment remains open till 23/9. I am not trying to defend the Vale but wouldn’t want my original brief post to give a misleading impression – however I agree that they should open it up on at least one Saturday – perhaps we can persuade them to do it later in the period.
If you want to know what the powers that be think of your thoughts re abingdon redevelopment, look at the care they have taken in displaying the information boards in the precinct shop front.
If thats the best that can be managed, dont expect to much.