Sir, The news that a deal has been struck to start revitalising Abingdon’s Bury Street precinct — now to be known as the Abbey shopping centre — should be welcomed, but cautiously.
Whilst the precinct is in dire need of investment and has been for some time, there is still no clear plan for the whole town. Abingdon, along with all the other towns in the Vale, needs an aspirational vision for at least the next decade.
So far, the district council has failed to develop such a strategy.
Taking Abingdon as the example, there are many things that the district council can do to help the vitality of the town. The shopping centre, the Old Gaol, the proposals for large housing developments and, of course, the roads (both in the town centre and further out), all of these issues and many others should be pulled together into one clear vision.
We must credit the public with the intelligence of realising that not everything can be done at once, and the council and potential investors are all struggling to find the necessary cash at the moment.
We need to show, however, that there is a clear vision for the future, something to strive for and a plan of how to achieve it over the long term.
What cannot be tolerated are plans for projects such as the Abbey shopping centre risking being turned into short-term fixes which do not get to the core of Abingdon’s problems.
Matthew Barber Leader Vale Conservatives