WHITE STUFF is coming to Thame! The fashion and lifestyle brand that sells women’s and men’s clothing, accessories and gifts, will be adding the new Thame store to over 100 existing shops in the United Kingdom, and several others in Germany and Denmark.
White Stuff will be taking over the ex Country Casuals building in Buttermarket, Thame.
The company is currently advertising for an Assistant Mananger:
THAMES Valley Police are appealing for the help of the public, after a garage owner and a customer were injured during an attempted robbery by two men, one armed with a hammer.
A police statement reads: “Were you in Churchway Haddenham, this afternoon (Tuesday, August 9) at around 4pm?
“We’re currently at the scene of an attempted armed robbery when two men entered a garage (Miles’ garage), one carrying a hammer. They demanded cash. A bit of a scuffle ensued between the offenders and the man at the garage and a member of the public also in the garage.
“The two offenders then ran off, empty-handed — they even left their hammer. The two victims are being treated at the scene for injuries. It’s believed the two offenders are injured too.”
Anyone with any info or concerns about this incident is asked to call 101. Or you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously https://crimestoppers-uk.org/
PEOPLE in Thame and the rest of South Oxfordshire have only days left if they want to give their views on updated proposals for how the district should meet, what the district council says, is a need for more new housing to 2032.
So far almost 1,000 responses have been submitted while over 1,300 people have attended special drop in sessions across the district to find out more about the plans. However, people only have until 4.30pm on Friday, August 19, to submit their comments on the plans.
‘No thanks’ says Thame Town Council to ‘dreadful’ plan
SODC’s Local Plan 2032, includes its ‘Preferred Options’ – which for Thame, include provision for an additional 600 new homes, on top of over 700 ‘enshrined’ in the Thame Neighbourhood Plan. At a packed public meeting held last Thursday, August 4, at St Mary’s church in Thame, the most strongly expressed feeling was against any more new homes in the town, and that any necessary infrastructure should be in place before any additional development, if there was any.
Thame Town Council is strongly against any more development in Thame and at a meeting of its Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Commmitte, Councillors called the plan ‘dreadful’, and ‘a poor piece of work with holes all over it’. Cllr Ann Midwinter questioned SODC’s motives, and said that it needed to be made clear to SODC that it was necessary to concentrate on the impact the proposed plan would have on Thame, and not on the discussions about a Unitary council.
People of Haddenham feel ‘dumped on’
Councillors also fear the impact on Thame of the proposed Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan, for whcih a public meeting meeting was held last week in Haddenham, attended by three district councillors and a Senior Planning Officer. Reporting back to the NPCC, Cllr Mike Dyer said: “The people of Haddenham feel as though they are being dumped on big time!” (5,500 extra houses are proposed for Haddenham)
He reported that a very strongly worded letter to Wycombe District Council from Haddenham, accused Wycombe DC of ‘abusing ‘ its position, by allowing a lower housing density in its own area, thereby forcing more houses elsewhere, to meet an unmet need for houses in its own district (15 houses per hectare in Wycombe, and 25-30 in Thame) !
What else?
Over the past three years, South Oxfordshire District Council has been preparing its new Local Plan 2032. The document will set out where the main new housing sites in the district should go, as well as the shops, jobs, road improvements and leisure facilities needed for the district. The plan will also include detailed policies the council will use to help decide planning applications for the lifetime of the plan. It is hoped that this will be delivered through the neighbourhood planning process – in Thame’s case, a revised Neighbourhood Plan.
A completely new settlement?
The consultation includes seven possible options for a new sustainable settlement of 3,500 new homes. The council’s preferred option is to build a new community on the Chalgrove Airfield, which is near to existing and future employment sites. Most of the other options are in the green belt, which the council has said it does not believe is appropriate.
Thame Town Council will be submitting its draft response to the Consultation to SODC, along with the presentation it made at the public meeting in Thame last week.
How YOU can have your say
To view the proposals and have your say on the Local Plan 2032 and the Sustainability Appraisal, visit www.southoxon.gov.uk/newlocalplan.
A new planning application for an Extra Care housing development, on land at The Elms, Upper High Street, Thame, submitted by Rectory Homes, is currently open for Consultation until August 31.
The application is for apartments, houses and a communal residents’ centre with basement parking and storage areas and creation of new public open space, provision of new vehicle access from Elms Road and a new pedestrian/cycle link onto Upper High Street with associated infrastructure works and landscaping.
A previous application by Rectory Homes for 37 dwellings on land at The Elms, was awarded Planning Permission over a year ago, but no work was ever started.
An organisation that lobbied against the original application, the Elms Petition Group, has stated in its recent news letter: “This volume of housing clearly exceeds the allocation of ‘up to 45 houses’ which is detailed in the Thame Neighbourhood Plan. This volume of housing of this type will also heavily increase the pressure on local support services such as doctors and ambulance first responders. Anyone that currently lives in Southern Thame will testify that ambulances and fire services (first responders) are already an all too regular sight at the existing care homes in the area.
You can read the full application on South Oxfordshire District Council’s website HERE
JUST two days after a warning was issued about the dangers of grass fires in the current weather conditions, a grass fire, that threatened near-by houses yesterday, is thought to have been started by embers from a passing steam train.
At 5.30pm yesterday, August 7, fire crews from both Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Services were called to a substantial field fire near Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway line in Chinnor, just off the Lower Icknield Way.
Watch Manager, Andy Ford, from Thame fire station, said: “The area affected by fire was approximately 200m x 200m and there were houses and horses nearby. Six fire engines and 35 fire crews brought the fire under control and made sure it was out. They managed to stop the fire spreading to nearby houses and made sure horses in the area were led away to safety.
Andy continued: “The crews worked so hard in hot weather to make sure that this fire didn’t spread; I’m really proud of them. This is a reminder that during hot dry weather we need to be very careful in the country side with any kind of potential ignition source!”
NOTE: Visit www.365alive.co.uk for fire safety advice. If you have a fire safety question you can call the free phone community safety helpline on 08000 325 999 or email: community.safety@oxfordshire.gov.uk
A WARNING of a ‘very high’ risk of wildfires for parts of Oxfordshire has been issued by the Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service.
The Met Office’s Fire Severity Index (FSI), is an assessment of how severe a wildfire could become if one were to start. The index uses information such as wind speed, temperature, time of year and rainfall to produce a fire severity assessment.
The following advice about how to reduce the risk of wildfires is being given out to the public:
· Extinguish cigarettes properly and don’t throw the cigarette end on the ground.
· Never throw cigarette ends out of car windows.
· Avoid using open fires in the countryside.
· Don’t leave bottles or glass in woodland. Sunlight shining through glass can start fires. Take them home and or put them in a waste or recycling bin.
· Only use barbecues in a suitable and safe area. Never leave them unattended and make sure it is fully extinguished and cold before disposing of the contents.
What to do if you see a fire
· Report it to the Fire and Rescue Service immediately.
· Don’t attempt to tackle fires that can’t be put out with a bucket of water.
· Leave the area as quickly as possible.
Group Manager Rob MacDougall from Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “Every year, wildfires destroy thousands of acres of countryside and wildlife habitats. They also put lives and surroundings at risk. Some fires are started deliberately, but most are due to carelessness. A cigarette end thrown from a car or perhaps a bottle left behind after a picnic could start a blaze which destroys acres of fields, woodland, crops or undergrowth and with them the habitat of local wildlife.
“We are asking everyone to be extra careful during this hot dry period. Oxfordshire has some fantastic countryside and as well as enjoying it, we all need to protect it!”
Visit www.365alive.co.uk for fire safety advice. If you have a community safety question you can call the free phone community safety helpline on 08000 325 999 or email: community.safety@oxfordshire.gov.uk
Further details of the Fire Severity index can be found at http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/fire-severity-index. The Fire Severity
A suggestion that Thame re-instates the medieval form of punishment, the stocks, has met with a lukewarm response from its town councillors.
The idea was first mooted by Cllr David Bretherton, who was afterwards interviewed by the BBC – and a Canadian network – after his idea was picked up by national media. Cllr Bretherton’s idea was that the stocks could be used by local charities and organisations as a fund-raiser, may be persuading local celebrities to be put in them, and have wet socks or something thrown at them (originally, apparently, people who had done good things were put in the stocks and had flowers thrown at them, and those guilty of some misdemeanor would have have been tickled!).
But some councillors, including Cllr Nigel Champken Woods, Cllr Peter Lambert, and Cllr Helena Fickling, failed to share Cllr Bretherton’s enthusiasm, and were concerned about the cost to the council, the possibility of vandalism and in Cllr Champken Woods’ case, that the provision of stocks would ‘turn the town into Disney Land’ and possibly lead to even wackier requests like putting a gibbet in the High Street !
Cllr Bretherton stated that Woodstock had had stocks in the town for some time and that their’s had never been vandalised, and that a local tradesman had offered to build a set of stocks at cost.
Many councillors failed to be persuaded of the value from tourism to the town from the siting of stocks, but agreed to allow Cllr Bretherton to go away and research costs and the benefits or otherwise, and come back to them at the Policy and Resources committee, at a future date.
A Civic Service to celebrate the coming year in Thame, was officiated over by the Mayor of Thame, Cllr Linda Emery, at St Marys Church.
The Mayor’s Civic Service was conducted by Reverend Alan Garratt, and the Address was given by Reverend Graham Choldcroft. “Both ensured that the service was full of fun, song, praise and worship for the community,” reported The Mayor, “and of thanksgiving for those who give their time and talents in service to the community.”
St Mary’s Church choir sang as the Civic Procession filed into the church. The scripture Ecclesiastes 3:1:13, “A Time for Everything” was read by Jeannette Matelot Green, Deputy Chair of South Oxfordshire District Council SODC. Prayers were led by Town Cllr Helena Fickling who is also the Church Warden of St Mary’s, and Nichola Dixon, the Deputy Mayor of Thame.
The Mayor’s two chosen charities are The Thame Youth Cafe and The Red Kite Children’s Centre. Representatives of both charities, Linda Newton and Barbara Thompson, Youth Cafe and Amy Spicer, Red Kite Centre, gave a short presentation on their objectives. The offertory collection was generously given to the two charities.
The service was attended by civic dignitaries from Oxford and Buckinghamshire, including John Howell MP, Tony Stratton Deputy Lieutenant, The Lord Mayor of Oxford, Cllr Mohammed Atlaf Khan, local Mayors from Abingdon, Farringdon, Henley, Woodstock, Witney, Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Thame Town Councillors, Errol Bateman of The Rotary Club of Thame and many others.
Afterwards, Mayor Linda Emery said: “I was delighted that so many people were able to celebrate with me. It was a truly memorable day and I am grateful for all the support I received.”
THE Co-ordinator behind the team that organised the The Thame Carnival and fete this year, Sue Martin Downhill, dropped into a recent assembly at Barley Hill School, to thank the school for its participation in the Thame Carnival 2016, and present special certificates to the children.
Barley Hill’s float in the Carnival parade was a riot of British weather, from sunshine and wind to rain, with all the children and adults taking part dressed in bright yellow, plastic ponchos.
The school’s PTFA had previously received £300 from the money raised from the carnival.
Other organisation that took part in the Carnival will soon be receiving their certificates. These include Kubota, for ‘Best float’, Thame Town Council, and the other two primary schools in Thame.
THAME’S award-winning High Street, a Rising Star winner in last year’s Great British High Street competion, has a chance to do even better this year – and win The Great British High Street of the Year 2016.
The competition is back and it is bigger and better. Once again judges will be looking for the nation’s best high streets and asking the public to help by voting for their winners. As well as the Rising Star Award for high streets that are taking their first steps turning around their fortunes, the organisers, the Association of Town and City Management, have introduced new categories seeking out the country’s High Street Heroes – examples of local business owners and store managers that are working hard for their towns and high streets.
Work on Thame’s application for The Great British High Street of the Year 2016, is already way and anyone who would like to nominate their own ‘High Street hero’ – examples of local business owners and store managers that are working hard for your towns and high street, can find the details and application forms HERE http://thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk/high-street-of-the-year-award
The Great British High Street’s purpose is to support those working to revive, adapt and diversify high streets. It is a Not for profit organisation which is government funded which aims to provide resources for high street regeneration, and ‘to celebrate innovative work going on in high streets across Britain’.
Everyone can get involved by using social media to share the good things about your town, share pictures and events etc, using the hashtag #gbhighst
The deadline for applications is September 9, 2016.