Abingdon: ‘Strong support’ for town centre ‘improvements’

An active travel scheme for Abingdon East St Helen Street was proposed last year in a bid to use some of Oxfordshire County Council‘s £1.5million funding pot for transport initiatives.

Oxfordshire County Councillor Nathan Ley for Abingdon North has said locals showed ‘strong overall support for the proposals when asked for their views.

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Plans include introducing a two-way cycle contraflow along East St Helen Street, giving pedestrians priority by putting in continuous footways at side roads, and installing ‘new and improved’ crossing at the High Street, Bridge Street and Stert Street junction.

The aim is to ‘make it safer and easier to walk, wheel, and cycle through the town centre’ and to add a missing link in the National Cycle Network Route 5 which connects the town to Oxford and Didcot.

Proposed safety improvements for cyclists in Abingdon (Image: Oxfordshire County Council)

A consultation was held between September 30 and October 28 last year, which councillor Ley saw strong engagement with the proposals and 345 survey responses submitted.

Of these, 81 per cent expressed support for the main town centre crossing improvements, 77 per cent supported new crossings on East and West St Helen Street, and 76 per cent were in support of improvements at the Lombard Street junction.

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For the cycle lanes contraflow on West and East St Helen Streets, 70 and 69 per cent supported the proposals, respectively.

Cllr Ley said: “Importantly, most respondents said they would be more likely to walk, wheel or cycle if the scheme goes ahead

Dr Nathan Ley, Liberal Democrat County Councillor for Abingdon North

“There was also strong recognition that these changes would make it easier for older residents, people with disabilities, and parents with pushchairs to get around town.”

The councillor said the consultation was held to gather feedback to improve the proposal, and welcomed the “broad support for making Abingdon town centre safer, more accessible and better for active travel”.

Although plans are progressing, he added that the timeline has ‘slipped’, with the final design stage currently ongoing and expected to continue through 2026.

The Market Place in Abingdon (Image: Andy Ffrench)

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Construction is likely to take place from autumn this year until spring next year, and the county council said the ‘close out period’ would be from spring 2027 until spring 2028.

Oxfordshire County Council has been allocated £1,473,679 from the government’s Active Travel Fund, intended to support specific projects to improve walking and cycling infrastructure int he county.

The Abingdon scheme, which is including in the Abingdon Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan, was one of the projects that received funding for ‘full project delivery’ from design to consultation and delivery.