The new District Council boundaries for The Vale of White Horse District Council were recently decided. Instead of 7 wards Abingdon will now have 5 and each ward will get two district councillors from the 2015 elections.

There are currently 21 town councillors and they need to be divided among those 5 wards and their future is still to be decided.

The proposal put out for consultation is:

To rename Fitzharris North parish ward as Fitzharris Wildmoor
To rename Fitzharris South parish ward as Fitzharris Ock
To reduce the number of councillors for Abingdon-on-Thames town council
from 21 to 19 and to allocate them by parish ward as follows:
Abbey 2
Caldecott 4
Dunmore 4
Fitzharris Ock 2
Fitzharris Wildmoor 1
Northcourt 2
Peachcroft 4

If you do have any comments on the proposal send replies on or before 31 May 2014 by email to cgr@southandvale.gov.uk

or write to the Vale of White Horse District Council at:
CGR
Vale of White Horse District Council
Legal and Democratic Services
Benson Lane
Crowmarsh Gifford
Wallingford
OX10 8ED

Since the last Full Town Council Meeting on 25th September there have been two Special Meetings of the Town Council that have decided to apply to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for a Grant of just under £2 million for a project to redevelop the Guildhall where the maximum cost is now £4,450,000. The cost has gone up to incorporate some extra features required by the HLF bid.

This January 29th 2014 meeting agreed next year’s budget, which involves a 2.2% increase to the Town Council’s part of the council tax.

I was asked to leave the room, together with three councillors who had a personal interest, while a decision was made on leasing the Old Magistrate’s Court (part of the Guildhall). There was a recommendation that the lease be awarded to organisation A as listed in the confidential agenda. Currently it is leased to the Abingdon Music Centre.

I hope that A stands for Abingdon Music Centre. As well as all their usual music tuition, they have created a very popular Community Orchestra and a big Community Choir.

7 Councillors left the room when the Town Council’s grant towards the Open Air Pool was decided. The District Council runs the pool and so has a financial interest and the 7 were also District Councillors. The grant was agreed by those that remained.

In Town Council planning committee meetings since September, many plans have been discussed. A lot of space in the council papers was given to objections to two plans in particular: the demolition of 55-59 and Abbey Court to build new flats, and the plan to move the Marcham Road lights and install a new set of lights at the top of Ock Street – near the mini roundabouts.

The work on the offices in Roysse Court is complete. The Town Council staff will start moving in at the start of March. There are just some telecoms need installing and carpets to fit.

There was a discussion about the 5 new Abingdon District Council wards, and how 21 Town Councillors could equably be divided among them. The council would like to keep 21 councillors as they all work so hard.

One suggestion was 4,4,4,4,5.

As for less weighty matters The solar powered Christmas trees did not work well in 2012/13 and were fitted with batteries in 2013/14 and worked much better.

The new retirement flats in Wootton Road have been called Fleur de Lis, and the Town Council expressed concern that no reference was made to Thomas Skurray (of Morlands). This was quite possibly a Town Council naming suggestion which the District Council ignored.

The cost of dog bin emptying will increase from 68p to  £4.63 per bin per week. The District Council’s real cost is £5.63 per week so they are still subsidising each bin by £1 per week.

The Cabinet of the Vale of White Horse District Council have decided in principle to “the letting of part of the ground floor and the whole of the first and second floors of The Abbey House in Abingdon to Oxfordshire County Council … “

Although at an early stage of negotiations they have also agreed, to the “letting of part of the ground floor to the Citizens Advice Bureau ” who are currently next door in Old Abbey House.

Once both Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council and Citizens Advice have moved out of Old Abbey House the report by district council officers says “it could then be considered for disposal.”

The plan will involve moving the majority of the District Council Staff from Abingdon to Crowmarsh Gifford to share the South Oxfordshire District Councils offices – a 24 minute drive away, or a 47 minute bus ride.

The front desk people who answer questions at the District Council would remain in Abingdon, so the town would not be completely abandoned. They could potentially be joined by similar people from the County Council to create an enhanced front desk.

The leader of the district council Cllr Matthew Barber says “This is an ideal solution to the problem of vacant office space. We are able to join forces with the County Council who are looking for office space in Abingdon.”

Currently the County Council are at Abingdon Business Park and the lease is up in 2014.

The cabinet report on vale accommodation says (paragraph 4) about the vacant office space “ finding occupiers of that space would not be easy and potential savings would not be easy to come by.”

The report concludes “This is a Fantastic Opportunity for the Council.”

Since the Mayor’s Chaplain, David Fleming, (seen above with wife Beth at their leaving do) has gone to Luton, other people are being asked to lead the start of council prayers. This time it was the turn of the Abingdon Muslims.

At the start of the Town Council meeting three former mayors, who are also Freemen, had the new freedom bar added to their past Mayor’s Badge in a small ceremony. This new accolade was given to the most recent Freeman Janet Morgan and is being backdated.

The Mayor announced some upcoming events:
6th Oct – Fair Service 8pm by the galloping horses
31st Oct – Freedom Parade with the army
8th Nov – Mayor’s Charity Quiz with meal and Paul Mayhew Archer taking the quiz. Always fun even in a loosing team.
6th Dec – Mayor’s Over 70s Party

Then it was down into the first real discussion of the evening. The Vale of White Horse District Council have reduced the number of district councillors and redrawn their ward boundaries, and so have asked the town council about the terms of reference for a new consultation on whether similar changes are needed for the town council.

This led to a discussion about whether Abingdon would be better off without the district council. Put to the vote, 8 town councillors wanted to investigate removing a third tier of local government so Abingdon could govern itself better, 7 didn’t want to pursue this option, and the others abstained – not quite what the district council were asking but a radical thought.

More from the agenda another day.