Category: Thame news

A councillor is to ask South Oxfordshire District Council to use money underspent last year to help the district’s unemployed young people, whose numbers have doubled in the past year, by creating apprenticeships.

The following Motion will be presented to the Council when it meets on Thursday, December 15.

To consider the following motion submitted by Mrs J (Jennifer) Wood under Council procedure
rule 12.2:

?Council notes that the latest statistics show that in the UK there are over one million young people between the ages of 16 – 24 who are not in work – some of whom have NEVER been in work. Unemployment in South Oxfordshire has doubled over the past year. During the audit process Council was informed there had been an under spend in the fiscal year to end March 2011 of

RESIDENTS in South Oxfordshire are set to be the first in the country to see their council tax go down, under proposals put forward by its Leader.

Cllr Ann Ducker, today became the first council leader to announce that her council intends to reduce its council tax in 2012/13, a move, she says, which would be a welcome boost to many residents throughout the district.

Cllr Ducker is proposing a 2.5 per cent reduction. This would reduce the amount that a Band D taxpayer pays for the services provided by South Oxfordshire District Council from

THAME Swimming Club, which has a training session at Headington Girls School, Oxford on a Tuesday evening (December 6), desperately needs a lifeguard!

A spokesman for the club told ThameNews.Net: “Since September our lifeguards have proved very unreliable with several sessions having to be cancelled. We need to find some reliable lifeguards so that our swimmers can get the training they deserve and continue to excel in competition.”

What the club needs is a local NPLQ trained lifeguard. In return they would get regular two hours work on a Tuesday evening at

HERE is the latest Thame neighbourhood update from Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) Chris Hollis, Richard Howard, Lucy Thorne and Diane Jackson.

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) Information

We have received reports of ASB in the Cuttlebrook, where young people are gathering creating noise nuisance. This area is on our patrol plan and will be monitored regularly.

The most common way we can deal with incidents of ASB is by issuing ASB warning letters, acceptable behaviour contracts (ABCs), anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs), Section 27 orders ? direction to leave locality, and Section 59 orders – contracts issued for using a vehicle in an anti-social manner.

One Section 59 order has been issued this month for using a vehicle in an anti-social manner.

Two young people under the age of 16 were issued a warning letter from the ASB team following an incident where they were smoking in a park.

Four Youth Restorative Disposals (YRDs) have been issued this month by PCSO Richard Howard. Two young boys were issued a YRD each for theft, and two were also issued to two young girls who had committed criminal damage.

PCSO Richard Howard identified two offenders that had caused criminal damage to a bench in the Cuttlebrook. Two YRDs have been issued and the graffiti has been removed from the bench.

Priorities

Our Local Priority for Thame is ASB. To prevent ASB, we conduct high visibility patrols in and around the town, engaging with members of the public, listening to local people?s community concerns/issues. Where problems are brought to our attention, we conduct home visits with parents present, issue warning letters and work with offenders to encourage them to move forward.

Offenders brought to justice

In November eight offenders have been brought to justice for the following;

Driving with no insurance, no MOT, no tax and displaying false plates
Two illegal immigrants were caught after exiting a lorry in Thame
Three x thefts
Two x criminal damage
Crime Mapping

The Home Office national crime mapping website gives the public access to street-level crime information as well as information on their Neighbourhood Policing Teams, Neighbourhood Priorities and Events – details of Have Your Say and other neighbourhood activities. Log on to www.police.uk, type in your local postcode or neighbourhood name and then click on ?Find out more?.

Community Messaging

This free service provides information to subscribers about crime and police activity in their area via phone or email. It also includes information on what we and our partner services are doing to bring offenders to justice or combat anti-social behaviour, and information on opportunities for local residents to raise concerns with their local policing teams. More information can be obtained via our website, and you can sign up here too: http://www.tvpcommunitymessaging.org/rmwebportal/startup.aspx.

Partnership Activity

We continue to work with our partners, ensuring that we liaise on a regular basis with the schools on our sector to maintain the good rapport we have built up.

PCSO Lucy Thorne has been working closely with the schools over the past month promoting Education Watch and Caretaker Watch; these have been passed to the Watch office to be implemented.

The Neighbourhood Policing Team has worked with the local community to target a persistent nuisance neighbour. Numerous reports of loud music were received relating to an address in Thame so we worked together with Environmental Health to issue a noise abatement order to prevent such ASB.

We conduct monthly site inspections with Soha, South Vale Housing and Sovereign Housing, tackling low level neighbourhood disputes.

We continue to engage regularly with the local Town Council, picking up any local concerns people raise and events which are taking place over coming months.

Pubwatch meetings continue to be held every two months and Country Watch meetings are held quarterly.

Non-partnership Activity

PCSO Richard Howard has been working with local businesses on the industrial estates in Thame in an effort to set up a Business Watch. This would better inform local businesses of crime in the area and has been received well in the areas he has approached so far.

Planned Activity

We have participated in the following operations during November:

Maginot – this operation continues to run, tackling travelling criminals entering and leaving our area. Due to an increase in thefts from vehicles in the Thame area and surrounding villages, we have been deploying the Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) device at dedicated times and providing a highly visible police presence aimed at deterring and preventing offences taking place, offering reassurance and assisting in the capture and prosecution of offenders.

ANPR is a powerful tool that can help prevent crime by identifying flagged vehicles.

Benefits of ANPR

ANPR identifies suspect vehicles that may not normally attract police attention.
Unlicensed or uninsured vehicles are likely to be seized on the spot by ANPR equipped officers.
It can be used to gather intelligence on known criminals and for running pro-active operations using dedicated Roads Policing intercept teams.
ANPR cameras are not safety cameras – they are not used by Thames Valley Police to catch speeding or otherwise law abiding motorists. ANPR cameras are not used to generate money for the Government or other agencies.

Magpie – This operation involves checking parked vehicles in local car parks for valuables left on display.

Mangrove – this was set up as a result of fuel thefts from heavy goods vehicles in our local area. This operation involves us carrying out static patrols in key areas at key times in marked vehicles.

Moonlight – this operation will be running continuously and is working to protect the night time economy of Thame Town centre by preventing and detecting ASB/violent assaults and managing licensed premises. PCSOs are working with police officers to conduct high visibility patrols in the town centre and liaising with the pubs, carrying out licence checks.

Thames Valley Police goes live with 101

Thames Valley Police went live with 101, the new national single non-emergency number on 14 November 2011. 101 will replace the 0845 8 505 505 number and both numbers will run side by side until the end of March, but if demand for the 0845 8 505 505 number drops it may be discontinued earlier.

Have Your Say online

You can now send non-emergency messages to us using the online form that is available on the Thames Valley Police website. A number of people have already sent their concerns using this method. For you to do that please follow the link: http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/yournh/yournh-about-nh-pol/yournh-tvp-pol-area-n153-hys. Please allow some time for us to get back to you as we do check our mail box only at certain times of the day.

There is also the opportunity to attend Have Your Say meetings in person. Upcoming Have Your Say meetings are:-

Saturday 12 December 2011 from 3:30pm ? 5:30pm at the Co-Op Caf

THIS is a Community Message from Thames Valley Police. Rogue Traders ? South Oxfordshire and Vale area; We have received reports of a company offering to do work on driveways and patios in the South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse area. The company is reported to post a card through your door and when asked to do some work they turn up, provide no paperwork, will possibly ask for cash and the work carried out is not of an acceptable standard. When challenged, some of these traders can become very abusive.

The advice from Trading Standards is NOT to deal with cold callers and to be very careful who you ask to carry out any work.

Please be extra vigilant and keep a look out for any elderly or vulnerable neighbours. Report any sightings of suspected rogue traders to the police on the non-emergency number 101 or Trading Standards on 0845 051 0845, option 2. Try to obtain vehicle details, including make/model, registration number and description of occupants if possible.

If you have any information in relation to this message, please call the police on the non-emergency number 101. Alternatively if you have information but wish to remain anonymous, please call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Please call 999 for crime in progress.

Message Ends.

SOUTH Oxfordshire District Council has welcomed a key change proposed by the Planning Inspector examining its Core Strategy, that Thame should be allowed to take full advantage of the new freedoms presented by the Government?s planning reforms.

Under the Government?s Localism reforms, responsibility for planning is shared between the District Council and those towns and parishes which produce a Neighbourhood Plan. The Neighbourhood Plan allows local residents a greater say in helping shape their communities and gives them greater freedom to decide for example on where additional development should go. Thame has been awarded frontrunner status by the Government, meaning that it is one of the early pioneers in the country in putting together a Neighbourhood Plan.

Thame?s Neighbourhood Plan will itself have an examination, mainly to make sure it is in general conformity with the Core Strategy. After that, once approved by a referendum of the town, the Thame Plan will be adopted by the District Council and form a part of the development plan. Future planning applications will be determined against the provisions both of the District Council?s Core Strategy and the Thame Neighbourhood Plan.

Angie Paterson, Cabinet Member for Planning said ?I am absolutely delighted that we are now seeing the benefits of the Government?s planning reforms coming through to the benefit of local communities. It is also extremely helpful to the District Council as it signals freeing the Council from some of the centrally imposed planning to which we have been subjected until now. In delegating the responsibility for finding sites for the new housing to the community, the Inspector has signalled the way forward. This is a positive step towards new ways of working and helps provide certainty for all as to how planning will work in a more localised and simple way for the future.”

SOURCE: Press release

A rare first edition of Enid Blyton’s The Castle of Adventure, has been sold by the Oxfam Bookshop in Thame, after being found by volunteers at the bottom of a box of donated books.

The 1946 Children’s book was the second in Enid Blyton’s Adventure series and still had on it the original dust cover illustrated by Stuart Tresilian.

The hardback book has been sold for

IT appears that the Planning Inspector who will decide how future housing will be allocated within Thame and the rest of South Oxfordshire, is moving towards allowing the people of Thame to decide for themselves where most of the new homes will go.

The latest draft conclusions by the Inspector, largely dealing with the Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of the draft Core Strategy for future development, are available to be read on South Oxfordshire District Council’s website:LINK

Particularly relevant to Thame, is: INSPECTOR?S DRAFT CONCLUSIONS FOR TESTING THROUGH SA – Topic area 5, in the document ID/34 which states:

“Topic area 5 Thame
5.1 Policy CSTHA2 Reword as follows:- ?New allocations at Thame

The Neighbourhood Plan for Thame will allocate land for 775 new homes on land selected through that process as the most appropriate and sustainable.?

5.2 Paras 11.14 to 11.16 Reword as follows:-

11.14 Provision of additional housing will help to support the town centre?s attraction in relation to nearby centres and maintain Thame?s services and facilities.

The overall strategy is to provide 775 additional houses to 2027 on sites selected by a neighbourhood plan.

11.15 The selected sites will need to have a form and character which meet identified needs and be planned comprehensively in accordance with agreed design
briefs reflecting policies CSQ1-4 and other relevant policies in the Local Development Framework. The developments should avoid building on areas of land
within flood zones 2 and 3, provide safe pedestrian and cycle links to the town centre, and make provision (or provide contributions towards) such necessary supporting infrastructure as is set out in the infrastructure delivery plan.’

“Skeleton reasoning – topic area 5

The proposed allocated site (F) has many favourable sustainability credentials.
However, it is unclear that it has the scope to accommodate 600 new homes together with sensitively planned structural planting on a sufficiently generous scale to avoid excessive damage to the attractive sloping landscape on this side of the town as
appreciated, for example, from the Thame Valley Walk.

“An allocation on this scale has therefore not been shown to be justified.

A number of other potential sites around the town have been found to have their particular advantages and disadvantages and their own supporters and opponents at various times in the evolution of the CS (Core Strategy). Moreover, the post-submission changes to
the CS acknowledge that Thame?s housing growth cannot all be accommodated on one site, and it is evident that there is considerable local support for directing it to a number of different locations.

An important new factor is that the Town Council has recently been awarded frontrunner status in neighbourhood planning and has commenced that process with the assistance of a planning consultancy specialising in master-planning and urban design. This process offers an opportunity to build a community-based approach to the identification of the CS housing provision, together with consideration of the
implications of any school relocation that may be shown to be necessary. The current estimated timescale for this work may be over-optimistic and, to judge by the
evolution of the CS proposals for Thame, the process will not necessarily be straightforward or without considerable contention. However, the process has already commenced and has the potentia to result in a full set of allocations in a shorter timescale than would be required if the Site Allocations DPD were dealing with the balance of the outstanding 175 sites.

“It would be premature and unsound to make a
substantial allocation at site F merely because the Council is ?on the cusp? of the 5-year land supply. This change would therefore make theCS justified and effective in its approach to allocations in Thame.”

SOUTH Oxfordshire District Council has reacted with dismay to a key change to its Core Strategy proposed by a Government appointed planning inspector.

The Core Strategy sets out how many new homes should be built and jobs created in South Oxfordshire by 2027. For the towns of Didcot, Thame and Wallingford it also identifies the sites for development.

The core strategy has been developed over a four-year period with extensive community involvement and technical assessments of the proposed sites.

Recently the core strategy underwent a public examination where the planning inspector heard evidence from local councils, residents and other interested groups and individuals.

The change proposed which causes concern to the council is set out in the inspector?s statement in which he advises that homes at Wallingford should be built to the south, Site E at Winterbrook, rather than to the west, Site B toward Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, the option favoured by the council.

In contrast, the inspector has recognised the importance of community views as far as Thame is concerned. He states that the housing location for Thame should be decided through the new neighbourhood planning process which will involve the town council and local community.

Councillor Angie Paterson, Cabinet member for planning, said: ?It is very difficult to understand how the inspector can say that decisions can be made locally for Thame but not Wallingford.

?I welcome the inspector?s proposal to embrace localism and delegate to Thame the responsibility for finding sites for the new housing and we will be pleased to work closely with local residents and the town council on plans for housing in their area.

?However, I have been taken aback at the inspector?s intention to change sites at Wallingford, especially as his direction goes against local opinion and the views of the town council and other key stakeholders.

“Decisions on housing sites should be made locally by people elected by their communities. This is exactly why we now have the Localism Act.?

Notes to editors:

The correspondence from the Inspector dated 30 November 2011 can be found at: http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/services-and-advice/planning-and-building/planning-policy/core-strategy/core-strategy-examination

The Government appointed Planning Inspector, who has been examining the council?s proposed Core Strategy, has produced some draft conclusions following the hearings held at the beginning of November. These are not his final conclusions, which will be contained in a report that is not expected until next spring. Nonetheless, these draft conclusions provide a strong indication of the Inspector?s likely findings on some key areas.

The principal changes he is proposing are:

the allocation of land to the south of Wallingford for a new greenfield neighbourhood of 555 homes – instead of allocating land to the west of Wallingford, as the council had proposed, and;

for the allocation of land for 775 homes at Thame to be determined through the emerging Neighbourhood Plan – instead of the allocation of land to the north west of Thame for a new greenfield neighbourhood of 600 homes and the allocation of 175 homes through the Thame Neighbourhood Plan.
He has also re-affirmed that he does not consider there to be sufficient grounds to change the green belt boundary at Wheatley.

The council is pleased to note:

he does not support those who had called for our Core Strategy to include an allocation for 4,000 homes in the green belt on the south side of Oxford, within our district

he supports our approach to how many homes to allocate to Henley, on sites to be identified through the Site Allocations Development Plan Document

he appears ready to back our proposals to help transform Didcot and to support the success of the Science Vale UK area, through the development of a new greenfield neighbourhood to the north east of Didcot and the development of the Orchard Centre Phase 2.
The next stage is for the council to carry out a sustainability appraisal1 of the Inspector?s draft proposed further changes, for submission to the Inspector. The Inspector will then consider the results of the appraisal before deciding whether to ask the council to advertise the proposed further changes for comment. Before they can be advertised these changes would need to be reported to South Oxfordshire?s Cabinet and Full Council. These meetings are likely to take place in January. The subsequent advertising of the changes will give all with an interest in the core strategy an opportunity to submit comments. These comments will be passed to the Inspector for him to take into account before making his final report.

[1] The sustainability appraisal will ensure that the full environmental, social and economic impacts of the changes are properly considered

SOURCE: Press release 30/11/11

SATISFACTION is ‘on the up’ for visitors to South Oxfordshire market towns, including Thame, according to a new visitor survey.

The South Oxfordshire Visitor Study, carried out recently by South Oxfordshire District Council, found that the number of people who were satisfied with their visit to Thame, Henley, or Wallingford had increased over the past two years.

73 per cent of the 295 people who were questioned enjoyed their visit to the market towns, an increase of five per cent from the previous survey carried out in 2009, and perhaps even more impressively, the vast majority of visitors (91 per cent) indicated that they would recommend the market town to someone they know, a key factor in bringing more people into the area to explore the local shops or visit the market town attractions.

The survey revealed that Thame is seen by many as a friendly and welcoming town (83 per cent), and rated highly as a good place to go for a drink or something to eat (78 per cent), with a good choice of interesting shops for visitors to explore (79 per cent). This resulted in the town achieving an overall satisfaction rate of 64 per cent, with 93 per cent saying they would recommend the town to other people, a six per cent increase from 2009.

“This highlights the good work carried out by 21st Century Thame which has organised a series of events and helped bring about new facilities in the town,” says SODC in its press release, referring to projects like the Food Festival, a new Shopping guide and information boards, Blue plaques and Historic walks leaflets, etc.

Wallingford experienced the biggest increase in the level of satisfaction that visitors felt about the town, with 71 per cent enjoying their time there, up 12 per cent from the previous survey. An impressive 91 per cent also said that they would recommend the town to someone else, an increase of 14 per cent on previous results.

Henley also continues to enjoy a high level of satisfaction (75 per cent), with 92 per cent of people saying they would recommend the town to someone they know and 80 per cent feeling that the town makes the most of its links to the River Thames.

Cllr Judith Nimmo-Smith, cabinet member for economic development for South Oxfordshire District Council, said: ?The survey proves that South Oxfordshire continues to have market towns to be proud of; places which visitors enjoy spending time in, and which have shops and attractions that make people want to come back time and time again.

?We are keen to continue improving the visitor experience and will be working with the various town councils, representative bodies, businesses and community groups over the coming months and years on a number of recommendations and projects resulting from this survey to ensure that this happens.?