Abingdon traders set up new body as rival to Chamber of Commerce (From Herald Series)

Mrs Boswells claim that the Abingdon Chamber of Commerce was a "founder member" of the Choose Abingdon Partnership is just not true!
In 2008 the Town Council commissioned a report on how to improve town centre vitality. The report, costing £15k in total and carried out by consultants Iain Nicholson, highlighted a number of weeknesses in the town, one of them JEF (joint economic forum) a body consisting of the town and district council, with a delegate from the Chamber of commerce, was singled out as being in effective and un representable, it was his recomendation that JEF should be abandoned and replaced by a "partnership" consisting of all three councils, with a delegate from the Chamber and other, representitive body's/people, the report also went on to state quite clearly that the Chamber of Commerce, in its present form was weak!! Please read his report.
The critisim being leveled at the Partnership, by the Chamber, is totally uncalled for, they are trying to get a clearer picture of what the business community of Abingdon needs, which can only be achieved by communicating with them. Mrs Boswells figure above suggests they only have 4 members! hardley a representitive body is it?
I've every faith that the Partnership will perform and produce, if it doesn't then the "new body" will be there to shake the stick!

Unfortunately Mr King has not quite got all his facts correct as he has not gone back far enough! He is correct that Iain Nicholson was brought in - but the introduction was from the Chamber!

The Abingdon Chamber of Commerce is very proud to have been a major player in the setting up of the ‘Choose Abingdon Partnership’.

The original idea was born at a meeting early in 2007 between Chamber representatives and Terry Stock (of the VoWH DC) when discussing the proposed expansion of Tesco’s. Tesco’s did suggest that they would fund a Town Centre Manager for a short period of time, but the remainder of their proposals were unacceptable to the Chamber as they would have greatly impacted on the Town Centre shops to their detriment.

Subsequently, the Chamber - as one of the three members of the ‘Joint Economic Forum’ - took their idea forward. The plan consisted of these three members (the Chamber, the Town Council and the District Council), together with Oxfordshire County Council, becoming one ‘group’ formed with the main purpose of revitalising the Town Centre. Their vision included the appointment of a Town Centre Manager – the actual title was subsequently changed to the 'Choose Abingdon Partnership Manager' when the constitution of the Partnership Board was officially agreed.

I do not believe that Mr King was ever a member of the Forum to know what happened.

And in response to his comments about there only being 4 members in the Chamber, he could not be further from the truth. We currently have more members than the 40 that attended the town traders meeting last week!

In the recent front page article that appeared in the Herald, there are a number off inaccuracies.

Matt Thomas, from Orange Frog Mortgages is quoted as saying that there is a lack of communication amongst Chamber members. Unfortunately he has not been a member for over a year during which time the Chamber has harnessed the latest technology and introduced an email chat list. This has been mentioned on the Chamber web site - if he or anyone else cares to read this and check the facts.

Mrs Brown is quoted as saying that the Chamber only represents 'a handful of the town's 600 traders and businesses ....' when we actually represent more than the 40 that attended the meeting.

The final comment from the Vale's spokesman about the council 'recognising the new organisation as a legitimate body' is a bit of a red herring as it has NOT been agreed that the Partnership Board would do so.

At the end of the day, the group have yet to become fully formed and constitutional, raise funds to obtain a place on the Board and generally prove that they have the time and commitment to achieve what is required.

However, an alternative solution was offered. An open invitation was made to everyone present at the meeting last week for anyone that wished to become an officer of the Chamber and to make it into the new organisation they appeared to be seeking to create. The Chamber is already constituted, has funds in the bank and the current officers would appreciate the opportunity to step down at the forthcoming AGM if there are new volunteers willing to take over the duties and responsibilities. A new executive would be free to change the name, and generally make the existing Chamber into the group they are looking to create – and also have a guaranteed place on the Partnership Board!

Unfortunately no one seems prepared to even consider this alternative as a solution to the perceived lack of representation for the town traders. Why not?

No one seems prepared to say what is wrong with the CURRENT Chamber of Commerce. There are a lot of gripes about past events, but the problem is that they are past and the whole executive of the Chamber has since changed. Maybe, if people realised this, they may actually appreciate that time passes and situations change.

Mrs Boswell, you are so wrong, I was a member of the original partnership panel formed by Iain Nicholson and it was at one of those meetings that I directly asked the manager of Tesco if they would fund, without strings, a town centre manager, similar to that of Eon at Didcot. He offered, without any preconditions, to fund up to £50k per year for three years, sadly the Chamber of Commerce delegate present, voted against the idea? isn't it a contradiction of position that the Chamber not only continued its "anti Tesco" stance on the grounds of effecting town centre vitality, yet the same protaganist of the Chamber supported the recent planning application by Fairacres Retail estate to further expand their operation? That aside it's track records that judge whether any organisation is successful or not. Did the chamber support the Independent traffic report paid for by the very business community it purports to represent? NO, Did the Chamber make representation at the Vales meeting regarding their proposal to increase car parking charges? No, Did the chamber make any representation to the Vales planners regarding Scotish Widows proposal to stop up the walk way between Bath St and the precinct? No, and so it goes on.

The continued need to turn minuted facts into personal views that differ from Mr King's recollections are just not worth a lot of time.

As just one example of this, I will say that the supposed 'support' for the expansion of Fairacres does not exist.
The Chamber was not willing to protest about that particular application because the chain involved would never have come into the town centre - but it might have drawn people to Abingdon IF their store had been somewhere in the area (ie Fairacres).
The idea that the Chamber would just 'support' something without considering all the facts is just laughable - and 'not protesting' is not the same as supporting.

And because Mr King does not attend meetings between the local councillors and the Chamber, he has aboslutely no idea what representation has or has not been made. Unfortunately, it takes time for actions to happen as a result of any representation. Mr King, of all people, should know and understand that.

I really can not continue this dialogue with Mr King as it will only turn into a slanging match.

Oh, so the meeting between two committee members of the Chamber (one the protaganist)and Fairacres didn't exist then? And the press release made by fairacres, stating it had the support of the chamber was also untrue? and the fact that a committee member of the Chamber wrote to to the organiser of a petition against the develpoement demanding he withdrew it, was also not true?
Do Wake up !

Mrs Boswell claims 'The idea that the Chamber would just support something without considering the facts is just laughable and not protesting is not the same as supporting'

Well when I went to every independent business in town and obtained over 80 signatures of support to my petition for Aldi not to move in to Fairacres I can honestly say at least 6 of those were Chamber members!! I then received an email from a Mr Tyrer asking me to withdraw my petition. That in itself speaks volumes, why would someone from the Chamber ask for this to be done if the Chamber was neither supporting or protesting. My disgust with the Chamber was they publically announced that they were neither supporting or protesting without ever asking the members, how can an organisation that has been formed for the benefit of it's members make such a public statement without asking its members first. I think its a little to late for Mrs Boswell to start saying 'the Chamber has harnessed the latest technology and introduced an email chat list', why wasnt this done ages ago? I am not going to get in to a political nightmare here. The previous comments mention facts, here are a few facts:
Abingdon WILL be getting a new group to help support the businesses of the town and surrounding areas.
The Chamber WILL not accept this - The new group has great support from the majority of businesses in and around town. - The Chamber has very bad reputation. - Alistair Warburton from Vale of White Horse District Council has stated that the Council will recognise the new organisation as a legitimate body. - The new group WILL be the leading business organisation for bussineses in Abingdon. - The Chamber WILL not.
The time has come to forget the past and everyone needs to concentrate on the future and move forward for the good of the town. I will not be posting another comment on here The Chamber, in my opinion, has had it's day and should disband at the next AGM, if it decides to stay I think it will just become even more insignificant than it already is. People can carry on commenting on this, I've had my say. I am looking to the future and not going to be discussing the past anymore. People need to understand and recognise when to do the right thing for the good of the town and its traders - FACT!

Here endeth the lesson !

Crikey, not surprising not much was achieved. Were there not enough of 'good' chamber members to force the others to resign, rather than set up another group?

Security word is next-base !

We set up a new company in the summer of 2009. We joined the chamber in or around October 2009, and started to look forward to growing our company and expanding within Abingdon and relished the chance of becoming an active member of the chamber and actually making a difference to what I believed was a town on a slippery slope down. All I needed was the information and I would be away!! Gosh how wrong was I!!!!!! If I managed my business in the same manner the Chamber seems to be run, I would expect to not be successful. After joining, I eagerly awaited my welcome letter/pack/town information sheet/phone call/introduction/co
mpany name on the web site/a hello email from the president...........
....... I could go on, but you know what I’m saying I expected the type of information you would normally receive after joining (£50 for 3 months) any organisation. The first information I received was a receipt for my £50, but also adding that “Unfortunately, we are not like a magazine subscription with a rolling year of membership but have to use our limited resources wisely and have just one renewal date of 1 February each year) basically costing me £16.6 per month for my membership! I then received an email inviting me to a breakfast meeting on the 1st Nov 2009, it’s a shame the email was sent on the 2nd! This was duly corrected and the meeting was held on the 5th November. Unfortunately I could not attend. I then received a mail saying that there were no breakfast meetings in December. The next mail I received, let’s not forget I’m still eagerly waiting for my welcome letter/phone call from the chamber, was to invite me to a social get together, this was then cancelled. I then sent an email and 1 phone call asking what my £50 was being used for and what benefits I have by being a member of a Chamber that had not even added me to the website as a member after 8 week! I received no reply. The next mail I received was about a meeting, but there was so much confusion and bickering within the mails, and not being privy at the time to the POLITICS involved I had no idea what was going on. A statement from the Chamber was given at The Choose Abingdon meeting, however I, as a paying member had no communication regarding this. My point is, I have now located my business in Witney, I still have a registered office in Abingdon but as a start up, time and funds are stretched to say the least, and I needed a local business community that could and would support me. I think that the new Choose Abingdon partnership is a fantastic idea and the welcome and upbeat atmosphere I experienced tells me it’s going to be a success. I witnessed a lot of passion, not only for the Abingdon Business Community but for Abingdon town its self, ahhhhhhhh at long last!! My only suggestion is that you have one or two representatives from the local community that have no business interest in Abingdon, helping to keep a clear and objective view on what happens. I can’t wait to open the Abingdon Office again and help in any way possible and see Abingdon grow and prosper.

Forgive me, but last time I was in Abingdon, August '08, it looked as if it were an abandoned town, with hardly any shops, apart from charity shops, and a lot of not-too-exciting pubs.

The town was grubby, full of vehicles at a standstill in a perpetual traffic jam, and the whole place exuded a general air of 'broken'.

(Pleased to see the Kings Head and Balls are going again though).

So, I have no idea who is responsible, but surely the council planners have some responsibility there, as well as an un-dynamic chamber of 'commerce', and a not-too-enlivened population?

The town centre is a dismal place, a result of poor decisions years ago when the Bury St mess went in and started to undermine the main shopping area.

TESCO is an abomination, but hardly unique to Abingdon.

Why don't you capitalise better on the MG heritage, and the well known King Dick company, with its famous AKD motorbike made by Coxeters years ago?

Or highlight the Roman history, or how the townsfolk ripped the monestry apart almost overnight, and built all those fine houses in East-West St. Helens Sts, when Henry ended the Vatican's hegemonic grip on England?

Why not capitalise on the new surge of interest in cycling and turn Abingdon into a genuine 'cycle friendly' town, and organise rides and tours from there?

I'd be inclined to have the chamber retained as the single voice of traders myself, and work together to create an indentifiable character to the place, beyond looking and feeling like a bombed out disaster zone.

Abberdon has hit the nail on the head. Compared with Didcot, Abingdon has become an embarrassment. When I walked along High Street and Bury Street a few months ago, I counted sixteen closed and empty shops. OK, so things have improved a bit now that W H Smiths has finally opened, and Woolworths' old shop has become Cargo, but it still looks more dead than alive. The Post Office has moved out of its grand building and is now a scutty little counter in a local supermarket. The town is crippled by a stupidly-designed one-way system that clogs up with traffic. The old system was much better as it did not require traffic lights at both ends of Stratton Way to regulate the conflicting streams of traffic that now exist. Unlike Didcot, Abingdon has very little free car-parking (I always try to park in Bath Street if I can get a place). Abingdon needs an equivalent of the Orchard Centre, with good shops, free parking and free-flowing traffic, to encourage people to visit it. Otherwise they'll do what I've started to do and go to Didcot instead.

The chamber of commerce and its new rival need to stop fighting with each other, trying to score points off each other, and get down to some serious work in trying to breathe some life back into the town.

Mortimer, the new busines organisation is not meant to rival the present chamber, what's needed is a more pro active organisation, which we hope this will be.We want our town to propsper like those around us, but in order to do so every "body" needs to get their heads out of the sand and start making a difference !

Steve King... so just what might be a 'solution' to the dismal state of Abingdon?

How to reverse the growth retail industry of charity shops?

How to bring an end to the perpetual traffic-jam that Abingdon is now famous for?

How to bring a whole new perspective to the town?

And is there room in this new body for people beyond the small group of local traders?

Abberdon, lots of Q's?, here goes, Scottish Widow, new keeper of the precinct are aware of the problem, they've got 3 new shops in already, plans are a foot to knock 3 present shops into one bigger one, most of the problem in attracting new business in there is the units are too small,, I agree on the traffic issue, and so does everyone else, the problem is the county council, as keeper of the highways, only delivered what our town and district council asked for! and that was to reduce the amount of traffic in the town centre, untill these two councils ask the county to do something then nothing will happen, however, scottish Widow traffic concultants are looking at the problem and it may well be that can put enough pressure on all three councils to sort the mess out before they go ahead with any redevelopement.
New perspective will hopefully come from the new partnership panel and the bew business organisation, but both will need a forward thinking town council, which we have'nt got!
Yes of course the "bigger" businesses will be more than welcome to join, the more the merrier.

Abberdon - I think you were asking whether people other than local traders could contribute to the efforts to help revitalise the town. The answer is yes of course. The Choose Abingdon partnership is looking for ways to involve local community members - suggest you contact them via Heather Brown heather.brown@choose
abingdon.co.uk to see what you can do.

Good luck with the reviews and much needed traffic changes.

The problem of 'traffic' will not abate until cars become too expensive to drive on very short trips, and people stop expecting to be able to a) park for free anywhere, and b) be able to park outside the shops/businesses they want to walk into.

But that should also help to persuade people not to drive to close by towns to do their shopping, as with the person above who prefers to go to Didcot.

It's a worry when the retail shop owners are being relied on to undertake traffic planning. They will only feed their properties with benefits to lift their rents and profits. Far better that the council takes charge of the job.

Train travel is far too expensive throughout the UK, making car travel reasonable, and the local buses might benefit from more coordination, from my experience with it...and maybe even cheaper?

Perhaps paying shop workers more than the low minimum they seem to get might go some way to lifting the standard of service they feel inclined to deliver, but that goes to far more UK employees than just retail workers of course.

I am sure everyone feels just a bit fed up with 'captains of industry' feeding, no, shovelling, wages into their tax protected accounts, especially the off-shore ones, while demanding that 'others' keep their expectations low and their demands silent.

One has to look no further than the political elite, in Westminster, to see greed and stupidity at work at the highest levels.... this feeds into a bad view of local politicians too.

As for the councils, that is always a problem where-ever one lives, unless for some reason the area has attracted a large number of imaginative people who are open to new ideas, and have brought a kitbag full of their own to the area. ..and who then decided to run for office.

That is very much in the hands of electors, of course, and 'being a candidate' is a pretty open offer to most people in the town.

As for the new town perspective, although it is a danger to put all your energy into one area of expertise, the tourism potential of the town seems to be handled on a fairly ad hoc basis, and that is not a criticism of anyone today- as a local, I never had a feeling that tourism in Abingdon was anything but a minor spin-off to the town, just happening to be where it is, an accident rather than a planned-for industry.

I did mention before the rising interest in cycling, and not just in England. The Sustrans routes would form a good basis for expanding Abingdon into a cycle centre, although they could be upgraded to a much higher standard, with Abingdon being on the Thames, close to Oxford, not far from London, just where it has been for the last few hundred years, of course.

If Abingdon elected to 'go cycling' that would have a major influence on the traffic planning, and make fundamental changes far easier to understand and accept.

Cycle tourists spend money, lots of it, and the benefits would extend to a much friendlier local environment, feeding back into the attraction of the town and area.

Cycling is not 'the' solution, but it does feed into many areas that, overall, would help to bring a new vitality to the town, and healthier individuals.