THAME Valley Police has released CCTV images after two incidents of shoplifting in Thame.
The incidents took place at about 2pm on Friday, January 16, and at about 2pm on Saturday, January 24, in Boots, in the High Street. The offender stole cosmetic gift sets during both incidents.
Officers would like to speak to the man in the CCTV images about both incidents because he might have vital information that can help their investigation.
Anyone with information about these incidents should contact investigating officer PC Lucie Roberts, of Thame police station, via the 24-hour enquiry line 101.
If you do not want to speak directly to the police you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers https://crimestoppers-uk.org/ (opens new window) anonymously on 0800 555 111. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.
THAME’S Oxfam Book Shop’s window has gone a little risque this week, in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Among the many books featured are the inevitable ’50 Sheds of Grey – A book for men’, and a book of ‘Sex Tips for Wives’, from 1896. Shop Manager, Dick Jennens, said: ” Yes, we are being a little risque; But can we tame the passions of Thame?”
Is this beautiful toad found at Cuttlebrook, about to turn into a handsome prince? Image courtesy of cuttlebrook.org.uk
COUNCIL members of Thame Town Council’s Community, Leisure and Recreation committee, made it known publically at their meeting on Tuesday (Feb 10), that they wished to acknowledge ‘the magnificent job’ that the Cuttlebrook volunteers have done, and are doing, to maintain the town’s nature reserve and particularly to improving public access. “It’s an assett to the town, “said Cllr Nigel Champken Woods, and “under appreciated” said Cllr Peter Lambert.
THAME Rotary club, in partnership with the town council, is to pilot a ‘surplus foreign currency collection point’ in the Information Centre, to raise funding for local charities. A container will be provided for anyone to put in their surplus foreign currency, in a similar way that they do for the Food Bank. It will then be converted into sterling and distributed to chosen local charities. If the fund raising scheme is successful in Thame, the pilot scheme may be rolled out to other Rotary Groups. The idea came from Rotarian, Linda Emery, who is also a town councillor.
THE ninth Thame, public access defibrillator was opened last Friday, February 7, at Sprinz and Nash Vets in Wellington Street. There is evidence to show that if someone is suffering from a cardiac arrest then the earlier the defibrillation, the greater chance of survival and the better quality of life post-survival. Funding for these defibrillators is being raised by the community group, Staying Alive.
THE 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain will be commemorated in The Memorial Gardens, Thame, this year in flowers. Red white and blue flowers will bloom in raised planters, forming the dates 1940 – 2015.
SINAIA, in Romania, which is one half of the Thame-Sinaia Friendship Association, recently asked Thame to submit something of interest from Thame that it could display during the ‘Sinaia Forever’ festival during September 25-27. In response, Thame Museum has commissioned a framed montage of photographs of Thame which will be taken over to Sinaia in September by a group of Thame friends of Sinaia and other residents who may wish to visit this beautiful, historic town in the mountains. Anyone who would like to find out more about Sinaia and the visit in September, can do so by going to the facebook page or by contacting Marius Ciortan via marius.ciortan@btinternet.com
AN idea to extend the changing rooms building at the Southern Road recreation ground, to include public toilets and a refreshments kiosk, has been agreed in principle by Thame Town Council. The proposal has come from Soha, housing association who want the local Air Cadets to use the new building so that Soha can provide more social housing in the existing Cadets’ accommodation.
THE town council is to look into making improvements and additions to Thame’s new Christmas lights, which shone for the first time in December 2014. This follows criticisms from the public and town councillors that the Market House looked ‘sad’ without the ‘dripping lights’, that the town hall looked ‘bare’ and there were problems with timers so that not all the lights were on at the same time after the ‘big switch on’ event.
PROFESSIONAL squash player, Will John, who is based at Racquets Fitness Centre in Thame, has made the last 32 of the British Closed Squash Championships this week.
Will John – Image courtesy of SquashSite
Will was scheduled to play Adrian Waller who is world top 20, and an England international, in the next round on Wednesday but unfortunately lost. The match was however, the first time Will had played on the legendary perspex court at Manchester Sports City Stadium – a boyhood dream of his.
Will is 22 years-old and trains and is coached at Racquets by Simon Martin. Simon said: “We’re very proud of Will’s achievement and look forward to him being back at the club where he will start coaching more as well as continuing to play for Wales and on the pro tour.
“Will has worked hard on becoming more attacking on court working with several shot-playing coaches such as Dave Evans who is the Welsh national coach, and with myself. The quality of squash at the level of the British Closed is so high that players have to be inch perfect with amazing movement and fitness. We’ve been working on developing a greater array of shot making and deception, and working with the Personal Trainers at Racquets, improving Will’s explosive speed. I believe Will has what it takes to win at the high level of these tournaments but just needs results like the ones he has already achieved this week to really start believing in himself.
“Will is very talented and we all enjoy working with him because he is also a nice person – possibly a little too nice on court sometimes. Hopefully some of the British Closed will be shown on TV at some point this week and we hope that Will will be looking back at us there !”
When the Elms Petition group informed the public that Thame Town Council had employed, as Planning Consultant, Mr Collinge, a person with close links to Rectory Homes – his previous employer, major client and landlord, the group member who publicised that fact was threatened with legal action by Rectory Homes, despite the fact that his complaint was against the Council, not Rectory.
Now, the Royal Town Planning Institute, has considered evidence that Mr Collinge had been involved in discussions regarding building on Elms Field, contrary to his denials. We understand that The Institute’s Conduct and Disciplinary Committee has found Mr Collinge to be in breach of their code of professional conduct and that a warning is being issued to Mr Collinge, though he has the right to appeal against the Committee’s findings. Meanwhile, the town council’s website shows that he continues to be paid by them as Planning Adviser.
The public should also be made aware of the fact that the recently resigned Thame Town Clerk seems to have suffered a ‘memory loss’ when asked about a meeting with me. This meeting was organised at the request of Cllr Donald Butler, who wanted the Clerk to understand the petition group’s objections to development in Elms Field. She brought Mr Collinge to that meeting and introduced him as the Council’s Planning Consultant. Mr Collinge later claimed to the RTPI that the meeting was held to educate this writer on matters of the Localism Act, and the Clerk supported this erroneous statement. Her ‘memory loss’ is curious since Cllr Butler is bound to confirm the true purpose of the meeting and we understand that the RTPI has also judged that the meeting was held to discuss Elms Field, and nothing else.
The Council must therefore say what they are going to do about this situation. They should remember also that the petition group has already shown clear evidence that an important letter from English Heritage, which concluded that development on the Elms field would be “deeply damaging”, was withheld from the Councillors on, what the Elms Petitition group believes to have been, plainly false grounds. This meeting is where Councillors approved the Thame Neighbourhood Plan for referendum, and included in our opinion, other false information designed, we believe, to ‘guide’ them. The Council has not admitted what we believe to be clear falsehoods, nor said who was responsible.
The Council must also admit to the fact that, under the deed the Council signed in connection with the gift of land for Elms Park, it is contracted to protect The Elms, which is clearly shown on the Conveyance plan to include the field. Further, the same contract prevents the opening up of any access between Elms Park and Elms field, other than for the use of the owners of The Elms. Cllr. Dyer has denied this but remained silent since being shown the Conveyance. Are the rest of the Council equally stubborn, and if so why?
The Council needs to correct the situation and admit that the inclusion of this Conservation area pasture in the Thame Neighbourhood Plan as a development site was an error, committed in, what we feel to be, suspect circumstances. They already are obliged to re-allocate some of the original 45 houses to more suitable sites; they should take out and re-allocate the lot.
Readers can learn more by visiting elmspetition.org.uk, where they can also see the petition and sign it if they agree with what it says. They might like also to write to their Councillors reminding them that they should represent the opinions of the voters, who are clearly against this proposed development. Peter Webb, Thames on behalf of the elmspetition Group
THAME Carnival 2015 is taking place on Saturday, June 13, and the Co-ordinator, Sue Martin Downhill, is looking for a crack, core team to help organise this iconic Thame event, with the theme ‘The Movies’.
Anyone who can spare some time and/or expertise or brawn even, between now and the day itself, or would be happy to manage a particular activity on the day, is invited to join Sue and the existing small team for the first get-together on Friday, February 27, at Racquets Fitness Centre, from 5.45pm, to help get another great Thame Carnival off the ground.
Some of the organisation has already been done including running a competition for local school children to chose the theme, the selection of this year’s chosen charities – the Skate park Rennovation fund and Rosie’s Rainbow Fund, booking form for stalls, parade and the arena published on www.facebook.com/ThameCarnival2015 – two stalls already booked, booking of the recreation ground for the Carnival fete, the initial liaison with the Thame ATC and Army Cadets, booking of marquees and other equipment with Thame Equipment Bank and the appointment of a bar manager.
Some ideas to get you thinking about how you could contribute before the meeting; Is there a celebrity you know who could open the event ? Is there a ‘big splash’ that you can arrange eg the Fly past of the Lancaster Bomber last year ?
Anyone who would like to go along to the meeting on February 27, or who would like any more information about the carnival organisation, can contact Sue Martin Downhill via: sue@racquets-fitness-centre.com
With the recent revelation that The Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) has found Mr Jake Collinge in breach of their code of conduct in relation to his work on the Thame Neighbourhood Plan, we write to request that you formally review the Neighbourhood Plan and specifically propose a motion to remove The Elms from it.
It is public knowledge that Mr Collinge undertook a substantial amount of work on the Neighbourhood Plan despite his ex-employer, on-going major client and landlord Rectory Homes being owner of one of the sites allocated for housing, The Elms. Although you and your council have always insisted he had no input when it came to The Elms, the RTPI have clearly found this claim to be incorrect.
Evidence provided to the RTPI in relation to this investigation includes details about the meeting between Thame Resident Peter Webb, the Town Clerk Helen Stewart and Mr Collinge. Whilst Mr Collinge, you, your council and the Town Clerk have always maintained this meeting did not relate to The Elms, Mr Webb has been entirely vindicated with the verdict. Mr Webb has always maintained the sole purpose of the meeting was to discuss The Elms and Mr Collinge clearly participated in it. We request that you acknowledge this in its entirety and rectify the untruths spoken about the content of this meeting, in particular by Ms Stewart, the Town Clerk who has corroborated, what appears to be, this false statement.
The fact that Mr Collinge was even remotely connected to the construction of a plan which paved the way for his ex-employer and on-going client, Rectory Homes, to receive what is tantamount to a windfall by including a substantial piece of conservation area in approved sites for housing development, is deplorable.
What is even worse though, is that your council and Rectory Homes have issued legal threats to residents of Thame who have dared to raise this issue in public. To these people, we request that you make a full and unreserved public apology for your part in this.
Furthermore, we have analysed the recent financial payments as released on the Town Council website and noted that Mr Collinge was paid at least £12,000 in Q4 of 2014 for his work on the Thame Neighbourhood Plan. We request that a full disclosure of the amount paid to Mr Collinge for his entire work on the Plan is made and request that you do everything in your powers to recoup much of the money paid out, based on the fact that his work has been proven not to be impartial.
When you analyse the ruling of the RTPI declaring Mr Collinge in breach of his professional code, along with other factors including, what appeared to us to be, the withholding from the public and councillors the letter from English Heritage which described any development as “deeply damaging,” we are sure that you cannot continue to have confidence in the inclusion of The Elms in the Plan.
Whilst we do not suggest the Plan should be entirely scrapped, the area of concern is clearly The Elms. With recent amendments to the planning application for development on The Elms a minimum of eight houses already have to be reallocated as per the provision in the Plan. We request that you reallocate all 45 houses across other suitable sites and remove The Elms from the Plan with immediate effect.
We look forward to your immediate action on this issue.
A new report by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), backed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales (ICAEW), urges Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to change to the way they offer business support, to better help drive small business growth.
David Knowles Leak
The report recognises the role played by LEPs in facilitating well-targeted business support, and its importance to the national economy in delivering future growth. However, it also highlighted areas of weakness that LEPs should address in order to strengthen the system.
FRAGMENTED AND UNCO-ORDINATED
The FSB has said in a statement today that, based on evidence provided by the respected Enterprise Research Centre (ERC), the report reveals that current support is often ineffective, holding back the growth prospects of businesses in the English regions. A number of significant issues are cited as causing problems, notably the fragmented nature of the offer, with too many schemes in place without enough critical mass to make an effective contribution, and lack of co-ordination between various schemes.
The report argues that Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), working alongside newly formed ‘Growth Hubs’, are ideally placed to make improvements to the business support in their areas, and thereby boost growth. Their unique strategic position allows them to understand their local economies and the needs of their business communities.
MORE FOCUS AND MONITORING
The FSB is therefore calling on LEPs to provide much needed co-ordination and leadership, and provide much greater focus to the offer in their area, including regular monitoring of the effectiveness of schemes. As part of their upcoming reviews of business support, LEPs should therefore seek to follow the recommendations set out in the report, each of which is based on a sound evidence base and the expert insights of the ERC as to what works best.
David Hawes, Thames Valley regional Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “This report highlights the great potential of LEPs to energise small firms in England – but only if the right steps are taken to improve the design and delivery of business support. This could be achieved by cutting duplication, better co-ordination of support at the local level, and robustly evaluating schemes on their effectiveness. The FSB therefore calls for LEPs to work with newly formed ‘Growth Hubs’, and make improvements to local business support an absolute priority.
“Ninety nine per cent of all UK firms are small businesses, so growing those firms through better business support can make a real difference to the Thames Valley economy, helping in the rebalancing of growth outside London and the South East. Growth currently compares well with other G7 countries, but the economy lags noticeably in key areas such as our exporting performance and labour productivity.
“There is no ‘magic bullet’ solution that will work across the country, because every locality including the Thames Valley has unique needs that individual LEPs must satisfy. But a long-term approach based on proper evaluation of initiatives, co-ordinating plans nationally and focusing on fewer, more targeted initiatives will all work to raise business performance.”
Thame skate park has been declared unsafe by Thame Town Councillors tonight, and closed with immediate effect.
The decision to close the facility, just days before the half-term holidays, a peak period for skate park use, was made by Thame Town Council’s Community, Leisure and Recreation committee, after it agreed to fund the £3,000 necessary to make the skate park safe temporarily.
Work to completely renovate the skate park and replace much of the equipment, cannot begin until the outcome of a Sport England, Inspired Facilities Fund application decision is known in April, and the finalising of a Capital Grant Award agreement between Thame Town Council and South Oxfordshire District Council.
Thame’s Mayor, Jeannette Matelot Green, who has the skate park as one of her chosen charities, posted on the Thame Skate park Facebook page tonight, that the council hoped to have the repairs done in time for half-term.
Some councillors expressed concern that the skate park funding campagne was struggling to engage the skaters’ parents and the wider community. Cllr Jeannette Matelot Green was optimistic however, that the Sport England grant would be given, as she had understood that the previous application had only been turned down because Sport England were not made aware of a contribution agreed by SODC. She said that the Skate Park working group were currently working to collect the contact details of skaters’ parents to involve them in a series of planned fund-raising event.
Cllr Linda Emery had earlier in the meeting reported that the skate park was to be one of the local charities chosen to be a beneficiary of this year’s Thame Carnival.
The progress of the Thame Skate Park group can be followed via its Facebook page LINK – VIDEO LINK – You can read about the back story to Thame Skate Park HERE
THAME TOWN COUNCILLORS will decide this evening how to proceed with the refurbishment and replacement work at Thame Skate Park facilities.
Image courtesy of Aidan North
Members of the Culture, Leisure and Recreation committee will consider the options open to it regarding the condition of the current skate park and the financial implications of progressing the redevelopment. The committee will also look at agreeing the terms of a Capital Grant Award Agreement from South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC).
The council will consider three options:
Option 1 – Undertake repairs at a cost of £3,000 to equipment to keep the Skate Park in use until the funds have been raised for the new installation
Option 2 – Close the Skate Park immediately and wait for the Inspired Facilities Fund decision in April( though a successful application is not guaranteed
Option 3 – The Council has committed £65,000 towards the project, to consider underwriting an additional amount of up to £80,397 which would be released from Council Investments
The meeting is at the town hall, and begins at 6.30pm.
AROUND 6,500 additional homes and businesses across Oxfordshire will be able to receive high-speed fibre broadband following additional £5.1 million funding announced today.
Image courtesy of itpro.co.uk
The project will extend the Better Broadband for Oxfordshire partnership roll-out, which began connecting the first homes and businesses to faster fibre broadband just over a year ago. Since then it has enabled more than 30,000 premises to have access to high-speed fibre broadband.
The partnership is part of the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme, which today announced two million homes and businesses around the country are now able to connect to superfast broadband as a result of BDUK.
The new deal injects further funding into the County Council’s contract with BT, adding £1 million from South Oxfordshire District Council, £500,000 from Cherwell District Council, £250,000 from the Vale of the White Horse District Council, £200,000 from Oxfordshire County Council, £1.2m from BT, and a further £1.95m from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Superfast Extension Programme (SEP).
When complete, it will increase the percentage of homes and businesses able to access high-speed fibre broadband in Oxfordshire to around 95 per cent, when combined with the first phase of the Better Broadband for Oxfordshire roll-out already underway and the private sector investments.
More details about the communities to benefit from this new funding will be announced later this Spring and local people will be able to follow its progress via the Better Broadband for Oxfordshire website: www.betterbroadbandoxfordshire.org.uk You can find out about the coverage in YOUR area here: LINK
If you do not want to speak directly to the police you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers https://crimestoppers-uk.org/ (opens new window) anonymously on 0800 555 111. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.
