Category: Thame news

THAMES Valley Police is appealing for witnesses following burglaries on Wednesday (16/1) in Thame, Lewknor, Crowell, and Cuxham, in South Oxfordshire.

Thame
Between 2pm and 2.43pm, a property in Garden City, Chinnor Road, was burgled. Offender(s) forced entry and carried out an untidy search. Jewellery, cash and a Sat Nav were stolen.

Lewknor
Between 10.30am and 1.30pm, a property in Hill Road, was burgled. A side window was smashed to gain entry. It is believed the offender(s) may have been disturbed as nothing appears to be stolen.

Crowell, Chinnor
Between 8.30am and 3.45pm, a property in Crowell, was burgled. Offender(s) forced open a window to gain entry and stole jewellery.

Cuxham
Overnight between (16/1) and (17/1), an outbuilding at a property in Cuxham, was broken into. A blue Toyota Previa GX Estate vehicle was stolen. It is also believed the offender(s) attempted to steal a second vehicle and a digger from the same location.

Residents are advised to check their home security and property mark any valuable items. Please click on the link below to obtain details on property marking and simple and cost-effective steps to improve your home security:

http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/crprev/crprev-home.htm

Please be extra vigilant. If you have seen any suspicious looking people or vehicles in the area or have any information relating to this message, please call the police on the non-emergency telephone number 101 and state you are responding to a Thames Valley Alert message.

Alternatively if you have information but wish to remain anonymous, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online @ crimestoppers-uk.org. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.

THE debacle between Thame Post Office’s landlord, Martins McColl and post office parcel collection staff, has today been resolved.

For the past week, the public were being asked to take their parcels across the road to the parcels office/sorting office themselves, because postal collection staff have been forbidden to collect sacks of parcels from the rear of the building which they have done for the past 10 years or so.

The Counter Manager at the Thame Post Office was officially unable to talk to the press but apparently postal collection staff had said that it was not possible to push their large trolleys through the store from the front entrance to collect sacks of parcels from the post office section at the rear of the shop, as had been suggested.

A Post Office spokesperson said: ?The Post Office apologises to customers for any inconvenience caused by the changes to Royal Mail collections at Thame Post Office. The issue has now been resolved and a normal service will resume.”

THE Police are appealing for witnesses after a compound in Chinnor Road, Thame, was broken into.

Between Friday (11/1) and Monday (14/1) offender(s) broke in and stole lorry wheels and tyres valued at

THAME Post Office, based in Martin’s in the High Street, is currently refusing to take parcels – because post office staff can no longer collect them from the rear of the building.

After weighing parcels, Post Office staff are asking customers to stick their own stamps on and to take them over the road to the sorting office.

A member of staff at the Post Office depot in Thame, told ThameNews.Net this afternoon: “Martin’s suddenly told us that, after 11 years, we can no longer go to the rear of the building to collect parcels. It seems they don’t trust us.

“They have suggested that we park our vans outside the front in the street and walk through the length of the shop with our sacks full of parcels. It’s just not practical and our staff won’t do it.”

The parcels depot was not open this afternoon to ask whether the situation was permanent or not.

Image: Courtesy of The Local Data Company

THE recently announced budget cut in the money to pay retained fire fighters in Oxfordshire, will not mean a reduction in officer numbers at Thame fire station.

Oxfordshire County Council has emphasised that the cut has been made possible by a 15% fall in the number of emergency call-outs, partly as a result of prevention work, and that it intends to cut its

THE second Councillor to resign in two months leaves a vacancy on Thame Town Council in the North Ward. Marius Ciortan has stepped down and the vacancy will be filled by election if any ten local government electors submit a written request for an election, to be held to fill the vacancy, to the Returning Officer within 14 days. MORE DETAILS HERE……..

Marius was instrumental in organising the The Thame Swimathon and for setting up a petition against a Superstore being build on the Cattlemarket. He is an active member of the Thame Rotary Club.

Volunteers needed for Music in the Park 2013

MUSIC in the Park 2012 was a huge success and built on the achievements of the inaugural event in 2011. It consolidated the event’s position as a fantastic day out for the whole community, with a wide range of music and other great attractions. The Music in the Park team aim to keep improving the event year-on-year. A large part of Music in the Park’s success is down to a small band of enthusiastic volunteers working behind the scenes in the months leading up to the event.

The team now needs some additional volunteers for 2013, and is keen to hear from anyone interested in joining them. In particular they need people to help in areas such as stall holder coordination and advance ticket sales. If you are interested in volunteering, drop an email to Nigel Champken-Woods, who, in addition to being Thame’s Mayor, is the Chair of the Management Team, at ngcw@btinternet.com

Reaching peaks for Alex

ENTRY forms are now available for Nigel Pattinson?s ?Reaching Peaks for Alex? fund raiser, for Alex Wood, who was severely disabled in a rugby accident. Details about the challenge and how to sign up can be found HERE Read more about Alex HERE

Schools ? last chance to sign up for sign2sing Guiness record breaker

THAME schools are this month being offered the last chance to sign up for a charity record breaker for the most young people signing and singing a song simultaneously.

Teachers, parents and children from the town are being invited to register for SignHealth?s sign2sing world record breaking attempt on February 6, by Wednesday, January 23. More than 900 schools, including St Joseph?s Catholic Primary School in Thame, have so far signed up for sign2sing but the organisers are hoping around 1,200 schools will participate to ensure that the current world record of 114,277 is broken. LINK HERE

Community Loan scheme

SOUTH Oxfordshire District Council has

THAMES Valley Police has released an image of a man they would like to speak to in connection with a shoplifting incident in Thame.

Between 12.30pm and 12.45pm on Friday, December 28, a man entered the Steamer Trading Cook Shop in the High Street. He walked around the shop then picked up a box of Le Creuset saucepans and left the shop without paying for them.

The man police would like to speak to is white, approximately 6ft, medium build and has receding black hair. He was wearing a green padded jacket, long blue scarf, white shirt, blue jeans and dark shoes.

PC Andrew Smith, from Thame police station, said: ?I would like to hear from anyone who can help identify the man in the image.?

Anyone with information should call the 24-hour Police Enquiry Centre on 101 and ask to speak to PC Smith.

If you don’t want to speak directly to the police you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.

No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.

Join us on /www.thamesvalleyalert.co.uk/ to receive local crime and safety messages.

SOUTH Oxfordshire District Council formally adopted its Core Strategy 2027 Development Plan Document just before Christmas, on December 13, 2012, and includes some big ideas for Thame. The policy’s publication comes finally after extensive public consultations, hearings, re-draftings and an independent assessment by the planning inspectorate.

The introduction to the Thame section declares: “The strategy for Thame, in accordance with the vision and objectives, seeks to enhance the economic role of the town and make sure it continues its key role of providing employment opportunities and services.”

The issues the policy seeks to address relating to Thame include:

 Whilst the retail function of Thame is currently performing quite well, our Retail and Leisure Needs Assessment highlights the real risk that the continued expansion of competing centres such as High Wycombe, Aylesbury and Oxford will put pressure on Thame to maintain its market share. Thame needs to make sure it continues to perform well.

 Parking is a problem in the town centre, particularly on market days.

 Residents often raise the lack of leisure and community facilities as an issue.

 Some of the employment areas need upgrading. The Employment Land Review 101 noted that there was some deterioration and poor upkeep at Thame Industrial Estate, the depot and works on Rycote Lane, Station Yard and at the industrial site on Aylesbury Road.

 The need to identify the new services and facilities required to support development and when these should be in place. A number of the town?s facilities need improvement, for example health facilities and the fire station. Some of the services such as the secondary school are at or close to capacity and there may be an opportunity to explore alternative sites for some facilities. Opportunities for this can be explored in relation to the sites for housing development in line with community aspirations.

 The Open Space, Sport and Recreation Facility Assessment 102 showed there were areas for improvement and a striking deficiency of 13.4 hectares for parks and gardens.

 There is a need for more affordable housing. The Housing Needs Assessment indicated in 2008 that 317 households in need of affordable housing would like accommodation in Thame in the next three years. The main reasons for choosing Thame were the quality of the neighbourhood, to be nearer family and for employment purposes.

The full document and associated documents, maps etc can be found on SODC’s website at: http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/services-and-advice/planning-and-building/planning-policy/core-strategy/adopted-core-strategy The section relevant to Thame specifically are pages 80- 85. (South Oxfordshire Core Strategy – second document down)

WITH no reports of road traffic collisions over Monday night (07/01), the reason for a road closure just outside Thame earlier in the evening, became the object of speculation.

The Kingsey Road, between the Haddenham turn and Longwick on the A4129, was closed from around 8.30pm, and traffic diverted. Following enquiries, the police have this evening been able to explain that they were called at 8.30pm on Monday to the Thame Road, Kingsey to reports that an elderly man was having breathing difficulties in his car.

When the police arrived, the man was being treated by paramedics and the road was temporarily closed while they transported him from his car to the ambulance (as it?s a fast road and they wanted to be safe). Officers then checked the road to see if any other car had been involved in the incident. It was then established there had been no other vehicle involved. The man was taken to Stoke Mandeville hospital and the road was fully open again by 10.30pm.

THE official launch of an innovative community project has had to be delayed due to the overwhelming popularity of its services. The Thame Equipment Bank, a project being delivered by 21st Century Thame, had only been running for a matter of weeks, when community groups in and around Thame had hired out all the equipment leaving the project team without anything to show off at their planned launch event at the end of July.

Far from being disappointed, 21st Century Thame are delighted that the equipment is in such high demand. The organisation, which undertakes a wide range of projects designed to improve and promote Thame, has been working on this project for over two years. After initial funding was withdrawn, the group had to search again for the