A big thank you to everyone who managed to attend last week's meeting of the town council. There was a very good attendance which clearly helped make the point to the councillors. Susan Williams eloquently presented the petitition, and the Friends of Abingdon and Dr Jim Halliday also made strong statements on the Guildhall. There is now significant support for the points raised in the petition on the Council, and there was some movement made which is outlined in the (long awaited) public statement from the Council, which can be read by clicking on the following link http://www.abingdon.gov.uk/abingdon-news/guildhall/major-developments-announced-relation-guildhall-and-abbey-hall So the great news is that they have agreed to take some independent expert advise on the stairway (although it doesn't say what constitutes an expert and describes the demolition of the staircase and its replacement with a replica as remodelling) and are investigating how they can quickly reopen the Abbey Hall. They have also clarified that they now have no intention of redeveloping the Abbey Hall for housing (in contradiction to Councillor Mike Badcock's statement in the Abingdon Herald on 27th January 2017). http://www.heraldseries.co.uk/news/15052419.Council_admits_defeat_after_pulling_major_improvement_plans_for__dingy__building/ This is to be warmly welcomed but we must keep up the pressure, as all they have committed to is investigations, and they are clearly looking for reasons to dismiss the strength of public feeling on this based on their rather strange comments about the legitimacy of our petition. A formal request has also been made to the Council to hold a proper public meeting to discuss the future of the Guildhall. I will publish details of this when we know more. It will be important to have a big turnout to ensure the Council doesn't use it as an excuse for any backsliding.