"Abingdon can go from strength to strength" Businesses in Abingdon have voted in favour of the town centre becoming a Business Improvement District. This means businesses in the area covered by the improvement district will pay money into a pot, which will be spent on improving the town centre with the aim of making it a better place for people to come and shop. The amount of money a business contributes depends on its size, and some types of business don’t have to pay. In total it will create almost £800,000 over the course of five years, all of which will be invested directly back into the town centre. Cllr Matthew Barber, leader of the Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “This is really good news for Abingdon – at the council we’ll continue to invest and work to promote the town as a great place for businesses to locate, but now they’ve got the extra benefit of the local businesses investing in the town. We’ve just released figures that show the number of empty shops in the town has halved in the past year, so with the Business Improvement District, Abingdon can go from strength to strength” Click here for the full results of the vote.