Category: More News

FOLLOWING an adjournment and re-negotiations between councillors, Oxfordshire County Council voted this afternoon to accept an amended budget that will mean financial support for Day Centres for the elderly and Children’s centres, including Thame’s Red Kite Children’s Centre, will not be cut – at least for another year.

Many speakers, including a 13 year-old boy, and Thame Town Cllr Mary Stiles, spoke passionately to the council about the affect controversial cuts amounting to millions of pounds, would have on those affected.

Cllr Stiles spoke particularly about the proposed removal of bus subsidies for some rural routes and presented a petition containing 261 signatures, and about cuts to children’s centres and day centres.  She told councillors: “The cuts proposed, will hurt some of the most vulnerable people in our county.”

Apparently, during negotiations in the adjournment, the two things that Labour councillors proposed, but Tories rejected, were decreasing councillor’s allowances, and increasing council tax only for the higher bands – which has been done elsewhere nationally.

The Lib Dems and some independents supported the amended budget, but the Greens voted against it. They had proposed an alternative budget, which would have meant having a referendum to put council tax up to 7%.

The alternative budget agreed today will now mean that down the road, the council has £15 million of extra savings to find over the next four years, instead of the previous figure of £11 million.

There was no money for bus subsidies however in the revised budget, but the county council has not yet decided what to do with the additional £4.5 million ‘transitions fund‘ from the government over the next two years, so some of it could yet be used to run some reduced bus services.

Full details of the new budget will emerge in the coming days and weeks.

In a tweet after the meeting, Council Leader Ian Hudspeth, said: “Delighted to propose an amended County budget with support from @OxLabourCllrs & @OxonCCLibDems to provide a stable financial platform.”

THAMES Valley Police is taking part in a national project to create a work of art which will symbolise the country’s stand against knife violence.

The Force is to join more than 30 police forces already contributing to the project by the British Ironwork Centre. Knives surrendered to police from across England and Wales are being repurposed into a magnificent piece of art, a 20 ft, knife angel sculpture, which it is hoped will be displayed on the fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square in London.

Knife surrender bins will be in a number of police front counter offices across the Thames Valley until Sunday, February 14, in support of London Metropolitan Police’s initiative Operation Sceptre.

A police spokesperson said: “In Thames Valley we do not experience knife crime on the levels seen in similar communities and areas elsewhere in the country. From January to December 2015, Thames Valley Police received reports of 485 crimes in which a bladed or pointed article was used compared to 496 during the same period the year before, a two per cent reduction.

“The figures refer to sexual and violent offences, including robbery, where a pointed or bladed implement is recorded as being used in the offence, and it was capable of piercing or puncturing the skin. A pointed or bladed implement could include items such as knives, pens, screwdrivers and broken bottles. The item could have been used to injure or threaten.

“It is important that we continue to ensure that people understand that carrying a knife makes an individual more likely to be a victim of knife crime themselves.”

Knife surrender bins will be in front counter offices at the following locations until Sunday (14/2): Oxford, Abingdon, Banbury, Henley, Cowley, Didcot, Witney and Bicester.

Knives should be wrapped in cardboard or something similar and secured with tape. You can read more about the Knife angel project here: LINK

TIFFANY Dowie, of Hilltop, Long Crendon, has admitted two counts of theft by an employee by stealing £240 cash from Sally Russ-Silsby at the Shepherds Crook pub in Crowell, Chinnor, on August 22, 2015, last year and stealing a further £150 on August 30.

She was given a 12-month conditional discharge by Oxford Magistrates, and ordered to pay £390 compensation, a £15 victim surcharge and £30 costs.

PLANS are well underway for Thame Carnival 2016, on Saturday, June 11, and local organisations, clubs and businesses can now book their place for the parade and/or a stall at the Big Street Party fete following the carnival at Southern Road Recreation ground.

In recognition of Her Majesty’s 90th birthday celebration this year, the them of the Carnival is The Best of British. The Carnival and Fete booking details and form can be be downloaded Carnival_Booking form 2016

The next Carnival meeting will be at The Stables at the James Figg on February 24, at 7pm, and anyone who would like to discuss any aspect of the Carnival can email the Chair of the Carnival Committee, suedownhill@gmail.com or call her on 07860 328880.

THIS months crime report from Thame’s Community Policing team is now out, and apart from the usual incidences of Anti-social Behaviour, this month focused around Chinnor and Tetsworth, there are some good news stories too!

Whilst out on patrol, PCSO Jackie Madden was handed three diamond rings and a Tiffany watch by a member of public. They had been found at the BP garage forecourt in Thame.

PCSO Madden was then able to view CCTV footage at the garage and subsequently able to trace the owner through the licence plate of the vehicle they had driven into the garage in.

THAME Town Council is preparing to defend the town’s ground-breaking Neighbourhood Plan, against the supermarket giant, Tesco, which wants to build a store on the outskirts of the town.

The town council has already told the planning authority, South Oxfordshire District Council, that it is against giving planning approval for the plans which include a supermarket, employment building and petrol station on what is currently the DAF site, as the plans do not comply with policies in the TNP.

But at last night’s meeting of the town council, Cllr Mike Dyer said: “The Town Clerk is getting no comfort from what the Planning Officer in the case is saying to him,” which councillors fear, demonstrates that the Officer is of a mind to recommend approval of the plans to SODC’s Planning Committee (it is expected to meet on March 9 to consider the Tesco application).

‘Last chance saloon’

Cllr Paul Cowell told the meeting: “This is ‘the last-chance saloon’ for us. We have to be committed to take this all the way.” Cllr Mike Dyer added: “We spent a lot of money pioneering our Neighbourhood Plan. If we do not defend it against this first, serious threat, I could not show my face on this council.”

After much discussion about how far along the legal road the council would be willing and able to go – particularly how much public money they could ‘reasonably and justifiably’ spend on legal fees etc, the council voted to delegate to a small Working Group, the task of preparing for the eventuality of the Tesco Plans being recommended for approval, or if it is rejected by SODC’s Planning Committee and Tesco goes to appeal, and to research which approach the council should take to whatever situation arises.

Secretary of State to be asked to intervene

In the meantime, the town council voted to ask the Secretary of State to ‘Call in’ the Tesco Plans, taking the decision out of the hands of South Oxfordshire District Council, the timing depending on what recommendation is put to the Planning Committee by their Planning Officer.

The Town Clerk, Graham Hunt, said: “The public would expect us to carry through with this. We are in unknown territory here as no Neighbourhood Plan community has asked for a retail planning application to be called in.”

What does ‘Call in’ a planning decision mean?

‘Calling-in’ of a planning application refers to the power of the Secretary of State to take the decision making power on a particular planning application out of the hands of the local planning authority for his/her own determination. This can be done at any time during the planning application process, up to the point at which the local planning authority actually makes the decision.

A Thame Chef has made it into the finals of the 2016 National Burger Awards, a nationwide competition to find the UK’s ultimate burger champions.

Tasty hand-made burgers are turned out daily by The James figg pub’s young head chef, Jack Bull, and the top notch, 28 day dry aged beef used in his special recipe, helped earn Jack a place in the finals and the chance to be named winner. He’ll join 15 other chefs from across the country when they compete in a cook-off at the Islington Metal Works in London on Wednesday, February 24, 2016.

Jack, aged 25, became head chef of the popular Thame watering-hole in Spring of 2014. Since then he has carved out a reputation for the quality of his honest home-cooked food and his signature burgers whose fame has quickly spread – Jack’s burgers are the most popular thing on the pub’s menu outselling every other dish.

“I eat out a lot and eat a lot of burgers, too,” says Jack. “I honestly believe that ours are better than many I get served in other pubs and restaurants and I think it’s down to the great ingredients and care that go into making them. We only use the best British beef from Royal Warrant Holders Aubrey Allen, and we even dedicate every Tuesday night to serving burgers.

“I’m really proud of my burgers so when I found out about this competition to find the country’s best burger, I decided to go for it. Entering was really exciting; being chosen as a finalist was thrilling and now I can’t wait to cook for the judges in London next month to try to take the crown for best burger in the land,” he says.

Hundreds of pubs, bars and restaurants entered the competition online, submitting their signature burger recipes in the hope of reaching the grand final. Jack’s shortlisted recipe is an Aubrey Allen Burger served in a Brown Sugar Bakery brioche bun, with Monterey Jack Cheddar and Aubrey Allen smoked bacon, which he’ll be cooking for the judges.

He will also face a technical burger challenge using ingredients given to him on the day to be in with a shot at the title and come away with a £1,000 prize.

Tristan O’Hana, editor of Casual Dining Magazine, which hosts the awards, says: “The 2016 National Burger Awards finalists are an impressive group of chefs who clearly put a lot of time and effort into their burger recipes. To say it was difficult to choose a final 16 would be a huge understatement – who knows how our judges are going to decide the overall winners on the day.”

Follow the action live on Twitter @CasualDiningMag #NationalBurgerAwards and @figgthame