There has been quite a transformation at the car park entrance to St Helen and St Katharine School from 2011 to 2016.
First there was the building of new science centre, and this year a new sports centre has grown up.
Abingdon School, further along the Faringdon Road in Abingdon, has seen a similar transformation with the addition of a sports centre, and a new science centre.
Let’s hope the new head at Abingdon School is more interested in working with the town and with the school’s neighbours than the previous holder of the post.
I doubt that PPJS , more like scrap’s to the pesents eh?
Abingdon School has appointed a new science outreach person who is making really good initial progress at engaging the state schools which is a very encouraging step forward.
We haven’t yet heard much from SHSK but they also have a new(ish) head so we’re keeping our fingers crossed.
Dare I prompt a few other topics for discussion?
1, why are the powers that be obsessed with the building of a multi million pound diamond interchange at lodge hill when the town continues to be grid locked ? That won’t make a scrap of difference to the daily queues along the Culham & Drayton roads or shift traffic out of high st, the Coxeter junction is the biggest problem, sort that first please ?
2, why did we “give” Tylsey park to Abingdon school? If we couldn’t afford to run it then given its a prime site in the middle of a new housing development shouldn’t it have been sold for housing and give our depleting pot a boost instead of signing it away for umpteen years to the towns already biggest land owners?
3, had a lovely coffee in the new Costa, but why is access to the river still denied?
4, Parking? Surely someone, somewhere can put a stop to the towns roads free for ileagal parking? The pavement along Bath st is now a permensnt parking lane despite the yellow lines, ditto Lombard st too, Taxis have taken over all the lay-bys and completely wrecked the paving around the square?
5, today, while sat in stationary traffic on Ock bridge I spotted members of the Green Gym deep in the undergrowth of the Ock Valley litter picking, however, my thoughts turned to the monstrous weeds growing out of the pavement along the bridge and how good it would be if they turned their attention on to more noticeable projects?
6, why doesn’t someone do something to stop drivers using the iron bridge as a rat run by going over the bridge the wrong way before a pedestrian looking the opposite way gets killed ?
7, I presume from pound lands planning application for new signage means they’re staying out for the forseable future? No chance of redevelopment then?
All of that said the flowers are amazing, the town is clean and new businesses are coming and that’s a very positive sign,
Ps, can the belly dancers turn the music down?
Iain, my kids have a/some afternoon sessions at “the big school”. We are looking forward to it. If nothing else we’ll see…”this is what you could have won”…
It will be inspiring, all being well we’ll get the lines on the playground re painted.
Some interesting points Captain. Personally, the FIRST step to save the town will be to implement 45 min free parking on every centre road – The Helens, Stert St, Central Bath St, etc…
It is already here in Bath Street, and a right mess it has caused. Bath street must be a candidate for the worst in the town, with its pavement parking and scruffy appearance.
Have the votes been counted yet for the Top Market town?
A diamond interchange at Lodge Hill would do much to alleviate jams on the Ock Street side of town.
Anyone wishing to drive from North Abingdon/Radley to Didcot/Harwell/Newbury can either take an extended, scenic route, or must choose between the northern perimeter road, osmosing through the side-roads of the town, or heading into the centre and round Stratton Way.
Colwell Drive – Copenhagen Drive is a traffic jam during rush-hour and the Statton Way two-way option, as far as I can make out, was mainly the help people from the North and East of town escape, via the Marcham interchange, toward Newbury, etc.
This tide of traffic filtering though town to get South then meets up with those flooding in along the Culham Road and from Drayton. All the way from the town centre to the Marcham interchange has become one long pinch-point achieved via piece-meal traffic planning.
Giving those in the North and East of the town the option to turn South provided by a Larkhill diamond interchange would relieve pressure throughout the town. Traffic, like water, follows the route of least resistance and a leak in the upstairs bathroom will eventually flood the ground floor (well, that analogy works for me).
However, what chance that hundreds of localised traffic problems like Abingdon has being solved compared with blowing the money on a train-set that can get expense-account businessmen up to Birmingham five minutes earlier?
Parking in “main Bath St” is too far out for my reasons. The town needs “pop-in-ability”. That means Stert St, St Helens’, even the car parking behind Weatherspoons and Superdrug. ; but mainly street parking. It would the single biggest, and cheapest, and easiest way to ‘open up the town for business’.
Every successful high street I can think of has on street parking exactly where it is needed.
To then further even things out, and overcome the inevitable excuse of funding those new painted lines, is Waitrose and Tesco need a £1 parking fee applied.
Captainkaios. There are plans to build 1100 houses in North Abingdon and the other day proposals were being put forward to built another 1000 in addition. When these houses are built all the traffic will have to come though Abingdon to get on the A34 Southbound. I doubt whether they will actually build the diamond interchange before the houses are built leading to gridlock in Abingdon As for weeds on paths and pavements. South Abingdon is dreadful now. My son who came to visit said the whole area looks run down. When I moved in council employees used to come around and spray it all with weedkiller. The council said that because of cuts it no longer manages weeds. The only thing that they will do is see to growth that is a danger to traffic etc.
To clarify my comment (6) above, I refer to Bath Street, from the War memorial square to the back entrance of Poundland.
With parking at such a premium, when is the promised upgrade to the multistory car park going to be started, heaven knows it needs it.
Not so Janet, they could access the A34 via the peripheral road, granted not an ideal route and a diamond would serve its purpose well, but it won’t sort the south/town centre log jam.
When Abits was first introduced and traffic was regularly queued back to JET I pursuaded Ian Hudspeth ( then in charge of traffic at occ) to turn the newly installed lights outside fab flowers off, he did for 3 weeks and the queues along Culham rd all by disappeared, they were only turned back on again because the company who designed the scheme insisted so.
I’ve just driven in from Culham only to face the red light at fab flowers, there was no traffic in high st or Stert st but still I sat there for no reason and this is what causes the Culham rd daily jam, these lights need switching off, they serve no purpose.
Secondly, every morning and evening traffic backs up from high st, down west St. Helens along the wharf often to Saxton rd, this is caused entirely by the high st/ Ock st right turn into Stratton way which backs up along high st, thus blocking west St. Helens exit. A foaming would have no bearing on either of these jams,
The fab flowers lights need turning off, there needs to be a box junction on high st at west St. Helens junction and the Coxeter junction needs to revert back to a two stage crossing. I.e the old layout you crossed to the island, then again to the other side, then there was always one lane of traffic moving, but now both roads, coming up Ock st to turn left and leaving high to turn right are stopped by activating the crossing.
Another thing Janet is the waitrose/abbey close/ vineyard junction, there is only one operating system here, if you walk up from town on the right and want to cross over the abbey close junction when you activate the lights the entire junction, including traffic leaving the town, is stopped( try it, it’s a joke) if that crossing was moved further along into abbey close with its own system traffic would not be stopped!
There are so many easy tweets that can be done that would hugely improve town centre traffic, if someone had the will to see it through !
Can we assume that The Veil (or OCC) are pursuing that company who implemented this disaster in an effort to get our money back? Or is this the council happily spending money up the wall, for good or bad, with no one being held to account for such ill decision. I’d get the sack if I ballsed up in my job as much as these ex-sperts do. Yet we happily pay them. It’s as if there’s plenty of money to go around.
As no one seems to be able to spend our council tax appropriately, perhaps we should with-hold an appropriate amount. That way, although they won’t have that money to spend, it’ll be a good thing as every time they DO spend it, it makes things worse.
Thanks for clarifying Dave. That’s the bit of Bath Street that I’d like to see have 45min bays – aswell as outside Smarts/Barclay’s, but also outside Hodsons. Needs to be street parking, not taxi rank.
But still, St least Abingdon School has a nice new science block, so all is ok. And the flowers in town look lovely. Who said we aren’t grateful for our crumbs.
Captain K…just wait until Neil gets his Abingdon(??) Parkway built at Culham(!!!) ..and see the queues then on the Culham road each rush hour! It also needs a police officer to stand at the European school and spot fine those that hold up all the traffic every morning to let all of their cronies turn into and out of the school! It seems that the european school has an unwritten (or maybe written) rule that says they MUST allow as many cars in or out as possible to the detriment of anyone else using the Culham rd!
Far better than Culham parkway would be to build an ABINGDON station just off Audlett drive..that MIGHT alleviate some of Abingdons traffic woes.
And as to allowing 1,000 (or will it be 2,000 UNaffordable (tob1st time buyers) homes in North Abingdon..well some idiotbthat rubberstamps that with no infrastructure in an already groaning, bursting at the seams town, needs their a**e kicked out of office so hard that they can never sit down again! A two year old would have more sense!
Captainkaos the peripheral road comes out by the Police Station roundabout. If this gets heavy traffic it causes a log jam through the town and down the Drayton Road so still effects traffic through the town.
I have just noticed something, and it is a little curious, but do not know yet if it is normal, as I’m usually at work…
At 8:05 this morning Marcham Rd to double roundabout was clear. Ock St to double roundabout was clear. Spring Rd on to dRA was clear. Drayton Rd to double roundabout was queued back to Saxton Rd and beyond. Caldecott Rd was queued back to Blacknall Rd.
Perhaps those moved crossings have yon fact helped after all, only not where it was needed.
What is to become of 111 Ock Street, Belingers Vauxhall site, now that they are closing on October 7th ?
…I think we all know the answer to that one Byker…
111 Ock Street is preposed to become a Churchill Retirement Home, I have seen the Site plan/Floor Plans/Elevations for it.
Architecturally it should fit in and will be ideal for retirees and I should know as I am one who lives on Ock Street.
Correction – preposed should read ‘proposed’.