A House or Amenity Land?

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Someone wants to build a house between Stratton Way and Withington Court on amenity land. This area is privately owned but has been used by the public for 50 years.

The part on Stratton Way has a bench and flower bed maintained by the council.

It is separated by a wall from the other part that was wild and green. The owner has cleared this area already, but the picture shows what it was like.

The Vale of White Horse District Council will decide and are open to public comments. Web comments can be made until 20th January 2024. See https://data.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/java/support/Main.jsp?MODULE=ApplicationDetails&REF=P23/V2848/O#exactline.

The festivities are over for most Christmas Trees

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Brown bin subscribers have been ending the festivities by putting out their real Christmas trees. Some of the trees look majestic and could have been kept on until the end of January. However, after fulfilling their festive duties, the trees will be collected, composted and sold to local farmers.

Outside, temperatures dipped, and in the late afternoon, fine snowflakes flew about. One Christmas Tree still shone at Annie’s Tearoom, next to the palm trees.

Flood Waters Begin to Recede

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This picture shows Rye Farm Carpark at sunrise today, where one car is stranded.

The water level at the Tesco Carpark was receding with the setting sun, but half of the area was underwater.

Water levels are going down in the rivers and surrounding fields. Abingdon’s roads are clear of flood water, but St Helen’s Wharf remains closed, waiting somebody official to remove the barriers.

The Margaret Brown Gardens also remained closed. The Geese were settling down this evening without passers-by to disturb them.

The road to recovery will be more challenging for residents whose homes were hit by the flooding. Stuck vehicles and waterlogged boats pose difficulties for others.

High Tide in Abingdon

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River Ock

The River Ock continued to rise overnight and peaked at 6:30 am, by which time Chaunterell Way was flooded. Neighbours helped each other to move things upstairs. The fire service was in attendance during the night.

When I looked in soon after 8 am, I spoke to Tom Greenaway, a town councillor for the ward. He had spoken to the owner of one property that had flooded and there were probably others. He said the County Council sent and distributed two flatback lorries with sandbags. A private company were delivering further sandbags while I was there,

There were also signs of near flooding from the River Ock at Meadowside where some of the fire fighters live. I did hear they were also sent to Abingdon Road in Oxford which is badly flooded.

The Ock Valley Walk is closed by flood water.

Water from Mill Stream Court had flooded Caldecott Road even more overnight. The Iron Bridge and St Helens Wharf was closed to traffic.

River Thames

The Margaret Brown Gardens were partly underwater and were closed during the morning. I can’t remember the River Thames covering so much of this small park.

There was flooding from drains along Wilsham Road, Townsend, Baker Road, and the bottom of Preston Road.

Geese and swans seemed reduced to eating grass where they could find it with so much grass underwater.

Thames Street had road flooding.

The view from Abingdon Bridge showed only a small triangle of land surrounded by water.

Large areas of the Abbey Meadows were underwater. The run off from the Mill Stream, near the weir, means that people can no longer access Abingdon Lock.

Thanks to Valonia for this final picture, from yesterday, of Rob, the morris dancer, setting out for supplies from Abingdon Marina where they live.  The Abingdon Marina carpark was fully underwater and the water was getting as close to the electricity supply as Valonia has seen it. The electricity might be off by now.