A new Town Council have been voted in during May 2015. As happened four years ago the plans for the Guildhall have changed after the election.

In 2011 the outgoing council had proposed some quick wins to make the modern part of the Guildhall – the Abbey Hall – more usable:

• Install a bar at the back of the Abbey Hall
• Improve disability access and toilets
• soften the look of the hall with designer drapes round the sides
• modernise the kitchen
• improve the problematic sound system.

After those quick wins they wanted to take time to consider how to invest the bulk of the £1.2m that had come with the Guildhall.

The incoming 2011 council hired new consultants. The first thing they did was spend money on refurbishing the old part of the building – the part where you might reasonably expect to get grants.

They then developed a new scheme for the Guildhall. It’s main points were:

• Add a one screen cinema, as a new box construction, at the back
• Install retractable seating for the Abbey Hall, so that it too could serve as a cinema or theatre, or as a dining or dance floor
• A stylish new front to the building
• Better access throughout.

The project was modular so that one part could be developed ahead of the others. However the full scheme failed to win lottery funding, and so the town council looked for investment from cinema operators to try to make the cinema part happen. The tenders came in just before the 2015 election.


Yesterday’s press release by the incoming 2015 council has gone for a less ambitious plan.

The three cinema companies that tendered to run the cinema, have not come up with enough money, and the new council does not want to take out a large loan. The tenders would also lead to loss of community space. I gather they thought the scheme was only viable with two screens. And so all three tenders were rejected.

Regarding the cinema, the Town Council will now ask the Leader of the Vale of White Horse to try to attract cinema operators to Abingdon. Hopefully they will ask for this to be into the town centre, and not out of town.

The new 2015 cut down plan, to be designed and built when the Guildhall closes at the end of August, is:

• Abbey Hall improvements, including installing cinema projector equipment and screen, retractable seating and soundproofing
• Creation of entry to the modern part of the Guildhall at street level
• Access improvements across the whole building
• Improve toilets
• Replace boiler / heating system and relocate boiler room

The Abbey Hall could then be used as a pop-up cinema, but might also attract the likes of the Abingdon Operatic Society, and Abingdon Drama Club.

The council have also added into the project for a phase 2:

• Kitchen Improvments
• Install Wi-Fi and hearing loop in historic rooms
• New carpeting

• Removal of access ramp to the rear so long as satisfactory disabled access and fire stategy agreed

There was a meeting of Abingdon Town Council this evening.

During the first half hour of the meeting everybody flicked through a book of committee papers with very little discussion. Then, in the second half hour, of the short meeting, the public and press were excluded in order for the council to discuss the “commercially sensitive” Guildhall redevelopment. Press Release tomorrow.

Reading the book of committee papers afterwards, I see the 2015 hanging baskets and flower containers have been planted.

There has been a request for an extra dog bin on the Tithe Farm and Ladygrove Estate which the council are keeping under review in case dog poo does become a problem.

100 trees have been ordered for the Spring Gardens Cemetery to replace trees which were diseased and chopped down.

A request for pre-WWI names on the Abingdon War memorial has been denied.

Names for the new roads in the Drayton Road development will be from some of the first fatalities from the WWI Abingdon Roll of Honour. The first one mentioned is King Street.

When the Guildhall closes, the Abingdon Visitor and Information Centre is to move, on 1st September, underneath the County Hall Museum.

Work is to be done on the cemetery chapels, and a tender for that work has been accepted.

The Mayor’s robe dating from 1956 is getting tatty, and a new one will be commissioned.

I did see on the Town Council Information board that there is a consultation on the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme tomorrow at the Guildhall.

P.S On the subject of Dog Poo the Daily Telegraph reports … “An east London council says it is poised to become the first in the UK to use DNA testing to track down owners who fail to clear up their dog’s mess … (read on here)