Category: Thame news

ON the day when a public meeting is being hosted by the campaign group objecting to The Elms in Thame High Street being built on, Thame Town Council has defended allegations made about the council’s involvement, in a statement.

After criticising media coverage about the inclusion of The Elms site in Thame’s Neighbourhood Plan, descibing it as ‘provocative’ and designed to ‘raise the hype and produce sensational stories rather than factual articles’, the statement goes on to say that it is seeking legal advice about what it calls ‘defamatory statements’.

Despite stating that it will ‘resist taking part in the media circus’ the town council’s statement goes on to feed into the discussion by criticising the Save the Elms group and to defend how and why land at The Elms was included in the Thame Neighbourhood Plan.

Part of the statement reads: “Previous experience of communicating with the instigators of the Elms petition group have resulted in being talked at rather than listened to. Instead the Town Council will produce a fact sheet that will be issued and made available to members of the public before the Town Council meets to consider the planning application.

The rationale for The Elms to be included in the NP was:

· It was known the owner of the Elms had an intention to develop the site

· By including the site in the NP it would be part of Thame’s 775 allocation rather than an additional windfall site.

· Exactly the same consideration was given to the single site school and Park Meadow View allocations.

· Reserve sites were identified in the NP should the allocation not be achieved. The other strategic sites in the NP do not have reserve sites because they were known to be deliverable and secure development sites.

Being in the NP does not automatically mean that the site will be developed nor how many units will be built. This will all be decided through the planning process.”

Later the statement reads: “The whole neighbourhood plan process and consultation was scrutinised by the District Council and the Plan was tested again when the District Council did an independent six week consultation at the beginning of 2013. It was reviewed again by the independent examiner and subsequently by the police fraud office after claims were made by instigators of the petition group. The result was that the Plan and the process by which it was developed, met all the legal requirements of producing a neighbourhood plan including conformity with the District Council’s Local Plan and was fit to proceed to referendum.

At referendum there was opportunity again for the residents of Thame to reject the Plan if the majority of those who voted decided that the inclusion of The Elms should be rejected.

3634 people voted, close to a 40 per cent turnout, of whom 2779 (76.5%) voted in favour of adopting the Neighbourhood Plan. The reality is that everyone had some aspect of the NP they found difficult to accept or did not agree with, but the democratic vote was taken based on open and accountable information that required an understanding and an appreciation of the effect of the 775 units on all the residents of Thame.”

The full statement can be read on Thame Town Council’s website:   http://www.thametowncouncil.gov.uk

The meeting being held by the ‘Save the Elms’ group is at The Barn Centre, this evening (August 14) at 7pm for a 7.30pm start.

THE Headteacher of Lord Williams’s school in Thame has praised the school’s year 13 pupils who this morning received their A level results.

David Wybron said: “Maintaining high standards is a challenge but our A level students have done just that again this year. A record number of 239 students sat A level examinations. Out of 675 entries the pass rate remained high at 98% with 44% of grades at A*, A or B level.

“It has been a great pleasure to watch them mature into such fine people over their school careers. Their successful results are borne out of their hard work and ability and the support of their teachers and support staff. I know there will be many well deserved family celebrations this week and I am sure these results will be a foundation for future achievements, in whatever areas they choose to venture.”

The following students achieved A* or A grades in 3 or more subjects: Frances Ballaster Harriss, Annabel Basford, Lette Batten-Turner, Jamie Blundell, Roos Bruggink, Joe Gedge, Katy Groves, Jo Haxworth, Caelan House, Chloe Hykin, Sadie Kempner, Eleanor MacDougall, Alex McKeand, James McManus, Michael Oatway, Christopher Stewart and Maja Wilkins.

Two students, James McManus and Frances Ballaster Harriss, are taking up their places at Cambridge University and Chloe Hykin takes up her place at Oxford University.

Kate Sheehan, Head of Sixth Form was also full of praise for the students, “It is time to celebrate the tremendous amount of hard work that has gone in to these results by students, their parents and staff at Lord Williams’s School. Our students feel relieved and happy to finally receive their results; they have made us immensely proud and I would like to wish them all the very best of luck with whatever they now go on to do.”

According to Oxfordshire County Council, the local education authority, early indications appear to show that county-wide results will be of a similar level to 2013, with around 93 per cent of students receiving two or more A-Levels at the pass rate – grades A* to E. Provisional data also suggests that around 43 per cent have achieved two or more A-Levels at grade A*-B. However, these estimates are based only on school and academy results and do not include results from colleges. Confirmed results are always published later in the year.

Nationally, 26% of pupils taking A levels received grade A or A* – down 0.3 percentage points
Overall pass rate 98% – down 0.1% from last year
A* passes 8.2% – up 0.6%
Boys achieving A*  – 8.5%, compared with 7.9% of girls

There were nationally, marginal falls in the proportion of entries in the A* to B grades. But the very highest A* grade has risen from 7.6% to 8.2%.

According to the BBC, it is 32 years since the pass rate last fell.

ENGLISH Heritage, the leading, national advisory organisation concerned with preserving and protecting the country’s historic places, has said that it cannot support published plans to build houses on land at The Elms in Thame.

The planning application for development at The Elms, is opposed by many in the town and is the subject of a petition to have it removed from the Thame Neighbourhood Plan. This latest criticism from English Heritage will be a further blow to the ambitions of the owner of The Elms, Simon Vickers, whose company, Rectory Homes Ltd, has applied for planning permission to build 45 new homes (including 18 ‘affordable’ homes) on the park land around his Listed house, the creation of new public open space; provision of new vehicle access from Elms Road and a new pedestrian/cycle link on to Upper High Street with associated infrastructure works and landscaping.

An English Heritage spokesman said: “We became involved with The Elms two years ago when the site was proposed for development as part of the Thame Neighbourhood Plan. We raised concerns at the time that housing on this site could be harmful to the grade II listed villa and the surrounding conservation area. However, further investigations suggested that the eastern part of the site is not as closely linked with the main listed building as we thought, so we accepted limited housing there. The Plan did state though that the area to the south of The Elms should remain undeveloped.

“Recently, the site’s owners produced new proposals which involve housing on the land to the south of The Elms. We are not able to support these plans as they currently stand as they would contravene the agreed Neighbourhood Plan and be harmful to the setting of this important historic listed building.”

A spokesman for Barton Willmore, planning consultants on behalf of developer Rectory Homes, has defended the application, and said: “We have worked closely with Thame Town Council and South Oxfordshire District Council to create a scheme that will be of the highest quality and sensitive to its surroundings. It includes a total of 18 affordable homes and will open up a brand new park for local people to enjoy on land that has never before been accessible to the public.

“In addition, a further planning application has been submitted for a series of improvements to Elms Park, which will be funded through the development of the Elms.”

In a previous interview with Thame.Net, Simon Vickers insisted that Rectory Homes would “respect all of the ecological, all of the archaeological, all of the aesthetic [concerns] and satisfy all of the statuatory authorities.”

The application will be considered by the Town Council in early September. The council will then send its comments to South Oxfordshire District Council which, as the planning authority will decide the outcome, taking into consideration its own Local Plan and the legally adopted Thame Neighbourhood Plan. Public Consultation on the plans for The Elms will close on September 4, 2014.

SEE previous reports on this subject: LINK  https://www.thame.net/?s=The+Elms. The report headed ‘Parking the issue – Elms parties have their say‘,  may be particularly helpful in clarifying the position of all the antagonists in this battle.

AN inquest into the death of a Thame man who was killed on the M40, has been opened and adjourned until January, 22, 2015.

Ivan Elford, 40, of Pearce Way, Thame, who was a civil engineer, died between junctions 8a at Thame and 9 for Bicester, on August 4.

Oxfordshire Coroner, Darren Salter, reading from the police report of the incident at the Coroner’s Court yesterday, said that Mr Elford stepped in front of an approaching lorry.

The initial cause of death is thought to be multiple injuries.

SOURCE: Oxford Mail

A THAME man who challenged himself to a cross-continental swimming race in memory of his late mother, beat Pippa Middleton – but almost missed the finishing line.

Mike Bishop from Thame successfully completed the Samsung Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swimming Race to raise money for research into pancreatic cancer, the disease that killed his mother, swimming with 1,600 swimmers – including Pippa and James Middleton, on July 20.

The 6.5km swim along the Bosphorus strait in Turkey – the busy shipping lane that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia – is a gruelling race against the clock because the Turkish authorities close the Bosphorus for two hours only to allow the race to go ahead. Mike described the highs and the lows of the day:

“A single boat took all 1600 entrants from the finish line to the start point on the Asia side of the Bosphorus. At a little after 10am we started with everyone jumping in to the sea in rapid succession, basically a mass of bodies at the start. It took me 200m or so to fully relax into my stroke and breathing, but after that I really enjoyed the swim. It’s a beautiful place to swim – sunny, warm and great scenery. I was really enjoying it, that is until the last 1/2 km or so…

“The day before the race we had an orientation boat trip when the organisors highlighted the best route to take to get the current without hitting the reverse currents along the way. Throughout the swim everything was going well until the last marker (a man made island) which we were told to be around 150m away from before turning in to the finish line. As I arrived at this point I could see that I was way too far away from it, a good 400 or 500m away from the Island. I tried to turn in but then realised that on my current path I was going to overshoot the finish line and be disqualified. Whilst trying not to panic with the thought of failing at the end, I swam as hard as I could directly across the current to the finish line, probably the hardest swimming I’ve ever done. I was helped a little with the reverse current and then finally made it to the finish line in 1hr5m. As I climbed out of the water I felt fantastic!

“For my family waiting at the finish…. It took me a while to find Sue and the boys when I first got out so after 1.5hrs they were getting nervous and worried. Then they saw my name pop up on the screen and so knew that I’d made it. They’re all really proud of my achievement and I got a great reception, not to mention the banner and fake medals my boys had made for me .

“I didn’t get to see Pippa Middleton but looking at the race results we did it in pretty much the same time; I was just 40 seconds ahead!

“Would I do it again? Right now I really want to do it again next year but I’ve also been looking for alternatives, so we’ll see!”

DID you know that part of Lord Williams’s school in Thame was used as a hospital during WW1, that there was a rifle range in Park Street and that Special Constables were drilled every Thursday at the Spread Eagle Thame?

Leafing through my copy of an excellent history book of Thame written by two Lord Williams’s teachers in the 1930s, I came across some facinating facts about Thame and the Great War, which, as we commemorate 100 years since its outbreak, I thought Thame.Net readers would be interested to learn.

Commonly referred to as ‘Brown and Guest’, the book attempted to cover the entire history of Thame up to 1935, and the following is an extract from Chapter X11 – The War Begins.

“On the Tuesday following the declaration of war came the order of mobilisation, and the next day 41 territorials paraded in the Market Place under Sgt Arnold, and proceeded to Oxford by Train. There they were accommodated in Keble College, and subsequently went into camp at Writtle, two miles from Chelmsford. Those in the Yeomanry, to the number of 80 NCOs and men, were ordered to Henley, and from there to Churn.

“A meeting held early in August decided on the establishment of a VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) hospital, and the Old Grammar School (then derelict) was adapted for the purpose, being opened in October, when the necessary alterations in drainage, water supply etc had been completed, by which time £272 had been raised in subscriptions. The reality of war was brlought home by the news of the first casuality, Pte W R Loosley of the Grenadier Guards, who was killed on October 13th; and by the arrival of the first batch of wounded on November 24th, eight British and three Belgiun, all fairly convalescent.

“Recruting proceeded briskly, and by the end of September, 177 local men had joined the colours; but it was still thought that the war would be a short affair, concerning mainly professional soldiers; and that nothing beyond these efforts would be required.

“But the war dragged on. By November 1915, just before attestation under the Derby Scheme began (Ed. The Derby Scheme was a voluntary recruitment policy in Britain created in 1915 by Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby. The intention was that men who voluntarily registered their name would be called upon for service only when necessary. Married men had an added incentive in that they were advised they would be called up only once the supply of single men was exhausted), there were 302 local men serving in the Army and Navy; and the Military Service Act of January 1916 added all able-bodied men as conscripts unless exempted by the local tribunal. In the end there enlisted at Thame 587 officers, NCOs and men (out of a population of 2,957), chiefly in the QOOH (Ed. The Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars), O & BLI (Ed. Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry) and the 63rd Royal Naval Division; of these, 87 were killed and 200 wounded. At the VAD hospital the number of patients averaged 12 in the early days, but soon increased to 20 or more, the maximum of 36 being reached in January 1918; in all, 612 individual men passed through.

“Those under or over military age, the physically unfit, and the exemptions, found opportunity for service in the Volunteers, who enlisted ‘for the duration’. Of these, S Fairbairn, of Thame Park was the first OC (Ed. Officer Commanding) and Charles Simmons, CSM (Company Sgt Major); drills were held on one night a week and a half-day on Sunday throughout the whole period. The corps was taken over by the War Office in 1917, and issued with uniforms and rifles; some members were drafted to the East Coast for defence work. The rifle range in Park Street (opposite the Fire Staion) was much in use at this time, as also the open range at Bicester.

“In addition, Special Constables, some 30 in number, were sworn in at the beginning of the war, and these have not yet been disbanded. They met for drill weekly on Thursday evenings at the Spread Eagle Assembly Rooms; and their duty was to relieve the regular police by patrolling the streets at night, particularly during air raids, when it was specially importand that people should be warned about their lights.”

From: History of Thame, By J Howard Brown & W Guest: Published in 1935 by F.H. Castle and Co. Ltd of Thame.

Thame Museum currently has an exhibition all about World War One – see website for details.
Also, lots more information about WW1 on the Thame Remembers website