The 41 Abingdon Town bus was withdrawn when the County Council withdrew funding for a lot of the subsidised bus routes, but has been re-introduced with a year’s funding of £30,000 thanks to Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council.
In addition to the old route of the Town Centre and Fairacres and South Abingdon the bus now also connects with the Leisure Centre and Hadland Road Community Centre.
The bus stops on Stratton Way
instead of the war memorial, which means there are not a lot of buses stopping at the war memorial anymore – just the S8 to Wantage.
Alll be it this route is via Stratton way (and not the town centre) it appears it’s main objective is to take shoppers to and from Fairacres which town traders are already saying is not only encouraging out of town shopping but actually funding it?
I think hprsesmouth, that The Veil (or whoever) has given up on the town or such things.
I think that the new tactic; if no one says anything, is to assume everything is ok.
Has anyone noticed how the traffic now queues down Blacknall Road – trying to get out of Caldecott Road, trying to get on to the Drayton Road?
If my memory serves me correct, the proviso for Moorland Gardens being built was that the traffic queues from South Abingdon (at the double round about specifically) was to be sorted out.
Well…Moorland Gardens is nearly complete, yet the traffic is getting worse…
There’s a queue on Drayton Road down to Preston Road and beyond most weekends as well.
Does anyone know the name of the consultants that advised on the traffic at the double round abouts?
The double roundabouts need removing and a box junction added with crossing points and do away with teh two crossings either side which are the main cause of the traffic stopping.
Consultants: Burke and Twitt
Just collecting our bikes for on the rack by the library and two PC’s have apprehended a woman for shoplifting, going toward Bath st and I spotted their police car outside Bella Napoli, the thought then occurred to me while cycling along Bath Street if any of the illegally parked cars there would be given a ticket by the two PC’s on their way back? The Audi completely on the pavement outside Masons, the guy who owns the cafe had his rang rover across the path, the two fast food take away’s had their delivery cars across the paving as did Papa John’s pizza, in all there must have been at leat 10 cars illegality parked along that road, we keep hearing how strapped for cash our police forces are but issuing fixed penalty notices is surely an easy cash cow ?
…my “pop-in-ability” parking scheme would keep teh place just as clogged horsesmouth; but the centre would thrive far more.
For a fraction of the cost, I am able to offer the same guarantee as any consultant that this would save the town centre and totally rejuvenate Abingdon.
Talking of traffic Daniel I wonder if the extra traffic at the Ock st/Drayton rd junction is the cause of 90 cars/vans each day going over the iron bridge the wrong way! I offered to photograph every offender and supply TVP with the evidence but apparently I would be running the risk of being classed a voyeur!
The lunatics really have taken over the asylum!
I agree that parking should be properly enforced, but I don’t think that money raised from fines goes to the police.
Is there anyone who knows about this?
Yes horsesmouth, it probably is.
West Street Helens is snarled up. And more so then usual. So everyone heads to Drayton Rd.
Thankfully we, as a community, have allowed our councils and council officers spend a lot of money on consultants to not remedy this situation.
But never fear. Pretty flowers should distract us just long enough for people not to notice.
So many threads on this blog refer to ” the councils”, so remember it is us who elect the councils, so is it us to blame? Maybe it is time to elect new people next year, people who are not driven by party politics.
Good plan Paul. However it isn’t the ‘councillors’ that make the decisions. It is the unelected and entirely unaccountable council officers (and consultants that guide them) that guide the town’s future.
Correct Daniel, But it is the councillors who give them direction, maybe it’s time for a change of direction?
I’d like to see independent councillors who genuinely care about Abingdon, rather than party politics.
Is it? I thought it was the other way round?
But ether way…what can we do? We can provide a list of for both teams of their presiding over ill decision. Blue or yellow…it’s a blur.
I know we got a yellow mp last time round…other than more houses and worse traffic…what’s happening? However, when we had a blue mp we got more houses and worse traffic. And, before that we had a yellow mp and we got more houses and worse traffic.
What should we go for this time?
Maybe, as no one can deliver on what they promise…we should start a party that promises more houses and worse traffic? We could always hire a consultant. Remember…that although consultancy may not be part of the solution there’s good money to be made by prolonging the problem.
Is there a confusion happening here between local and national government?
In national terms almost everything is on the backburner apart from Brexit. I don’t think a change of government would make much difference to the Brexit outcome simply because the way the EU has evolved makes leaving a very complicated business and because nearly always negotiations go to the wire and beyond.
I met a guy from ACAS who told me that in his experience everything was negotiable – including the deadline. If he is right, this will not be resolved “on schedule”.
Meanwhile, local government (of all stripes) is cash-starved. If we think we have problems here – and we do – the pattern is repeated across the UK.
At local level who says it has to be Blue or Yellow, why can it not be 19 local people not affiliated to any party?
Unfortunately, most Independents (not all) are single-issue candidates and that is no way to run a town. I imagine that even Blue and Yellow (and Red) don’t have lots of likely candidates. And these are the enthusiasts. Where would 19 independents (all winning) come from?