Author: Sonja Francis

THAME has today been shortlisted as one of the country’s best high streets in the third, annual Great British High Street competition.

Thame High Street is one of Britain’s top three in the small market towns category. This follows Thame’s success last year, when the town was one of ten in the country to gain a Rising Star award.

To be crowned champion in its category this year, Thame needs your votes. The public has the chance to vote directly for their best-loved high street online. Between now and November 18, you can cast your vote once a day, for free via http://thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk

If Thame wins, not only will we get a share of a prize pot worth £100,000, but we’ll receive expert training from Google’s digital taskforce for Thame’s shops, bars and restaurants and a trip to Twitter UK’s London office to further boost social media skills. Previous winners have found that winning not only boosts town pride, it also has a tangible economic impact with increased footfall.

This year’s competition saw a record 900 entries across 14 categories, with new categories for individuals and shops. This is a big increase over last year, which saw 230 entries and attracted over 200,000 public votes.

The Great British High Street Competition celebrates the great work that is being done to revive, adapt and diversify the nation’s high streets. It is one of a number of initiatives helping to champion high streets as cornerstones of the community. The Government is helping local business communities adapt to the changing face of high streets, with a £6.7 billion package of business rates support to cut the rates for 900,000 businesses – with 600,000 now paying none at all.

High Streets Minister Andrew Percy said: “Our high streets are the life and soul of towns, villages and cities across the country and the record number of competition entries this year is proof of their continued importance to local life. From North London to Northumberland, great work is underway to adapt the high street to the needs of modern life. I want to wish all who’ve entered the very best of luck.”

The Thame town bid team is being coordinated by Sonja Francis and Helen Johns. They said, “We’re proud that Thame is one of Britain’s best high streets and hope this will be a real boon for the town. We’re pulling out all the stops to make sure local people know about Thame’s shortlisting. Now we just need everyone to show their support and get voting.”

The public’s votes count for 50% of the result. The other 50% comes from individual inspections of each town by the judging panel, made up of industry leaders from across retail, property and business, including Boots, M & S, the Post Office and Holland & Barrett.

To go online to cast your vote, visit the Great British High Street website http://thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk/high-street-of-the-year-award and follow @TheGBHighSt on Twitter.

And get tweeting and facebooking your own posts and pictures of what you love about Thame high street.

THAME’S local Neighbourhood Policing team is asking that all members of the local community consider the manner in which they park their vehicles along narrow residential roads, for fear of obstructing emergency vehicles.

In their latest Neighbourhood update, the team asks: ” When parking your vehicle, consider these scenarios; If there was a fire, would a fire engine be able to easily travel along the residential road to get the people in need of help?

“If there was an incident and the police were called, would the police be able to easy access the roads? If an ambulance is called to save a life, can they get to the property at the bottom of your road? For everyone’s safety, please consider this when parking your vehicle on the residential roads in your towns and villages.”

The next ‘Have your say’ meeting, where you can meet the Neighbourhood team, is on October 19, at the CO-OP Café, High Street, Thame, between 10.30am-11.30am with PCSO James HOPKIN.

SO much is going on in Thame these days, apart from the big headlines, like Tesco’s officially backing away from proposals for a large supermarket on the DAF site, and the launch of Thame’s prestigious Art and Literature Festival (TAL) this week, but there are also lower level, but nonetheless significant snippets we think you will want to know about. So here goes:

Road Safety – There have been a lot of complaints about safety on the Aylesbory Road Round-about recently, including reports of two cyclists being knocked off their bikes and last week, a serious incident involving a motorcyclist. As a result, Oxford County Council is currently monitoring the situation.

A Thame Wine Fare, to raise funds for Thame Citizens Advice Bureau, will be held at Thame Town Hall on Saturday, November 12, between mid-day and 6pm. Entry is £6 for the opportunity to taste and buy a wide range of fine quality wines from around the world, shown by members of the Association of Small Direct Wine Merchants. (Visit the fair without tasting for a £3.00 charity donation) Contact Sandra Davison 01844 214498 for further information.

New Housing in Thame – Thame Town Council has decided that whilst the Local Plan consultation was underway, the council would decline to meet with any potential developers, so as not to give any sign that it might tolerate further housing in the town beyond that defined in the adopted Neighbourhood Plan. Persimmon Homes is currently seeking to increase the number of houses on its development site, on land West of Thame Park Road, from the 175 already approved, to 195. But Thame Town Councillors are not happy and have resolved not to “entertain developers about extra houses or extra sites as these would be in breach of the Thame Neighbourhood Plan.”

SOUTH Oxfordshire District Plan has received 8,500 responses to its consultation on the latest Local Plan which includes a proposal for 600 more houses to be built in Thame, on top of the 700 plus allocated for in the Neighbourhood Plan – an unpresidented response!

At a recent meeting of Oxfordshire County Council, the leader of SODC, Mr John Cotton, refused to sign up to what he called “flawed” plans which would see 14,300 homes shared out across the county. The other five district council leaders voted for the plan. “This could be seen as good news in that the District Council is listening to the comments received and prepared to confront the issue,” remarked Town Cllr Mike Dyer at a recent TTC meeting.

Thame Carnival – The carnival this year will take place on June 10, 2017. The theme will centre around World War Two and the 1940s. The organisers are looking for volunteers to join them and anyone who would like to help is invited to contact Sue Martin Downhill via suedownhill@gmail.com

Emergency Services Day – On September 25, Thames Valley Police’s Thame Neighbourhood Policing Team, South Central Ambulance Service, Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue and the Search & Rescue team held a family fun Emergency Services Day at Southern Road recreation ground in Thame. Everyone who went said it was great fun and there was a great turn out despite the wet weather with around 300 people attending. A spokesperson for the team said: “It was a good opportunity for the community and children to learn about the different roles. The ambulance service were able to educate people on CPR, Thames Valley Police were on hand with crime prevention advice and leaflets, and the fire service educated people on fire hazards and information on what to do in case of a fire breaking out.

“We are planning to do some more Community Crime Prevention days, going out into the villages with crime prevention advice and leaflets. More details will be released when the locations and dates are finalised.”

New Post to Co-ordinate Thame projects –  The town council and SODC between them have funded a new post, that of Market Town Co-ordinator for Thame. Thame.Net would like to welcome Becky Reid who lives in Thame, and who will begin work, based at the town hall, on November 1, 2016.

‘Greening’ Thame – The 21st Century Thame partnership is looking for more volunteers to join its Environment Working Group, to support work on the Thame Green Living Plan, which came out of the Thame Neighbourhood Plan. A Key topic for discussion at its next meeting will be how to raise awareness with the general public of green issues around consumerism, thinking for instance about repairing a washing machine rather than throwing away and buying a new one. 21st Century Thame is also looking for someone to administer the Thame Community Equipment Bank.

Anyone who wants to learn more about these positions is invited to check out the website: LINK HERE or contact Sue Martin Downhill, the Chair of 21st Century Thame.

TWO fire engines were mobilised on Friday morning, October 7, after a quick thinking postman and a neighbour responded to calls of ‘Help’ from a plumber who had been working at a house in Thame. They became aware of smoke billowing out of windows and through roof tiles of the property in Onslow Drive, Thame, and immediately dialled 999.

A spokesperson for Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue said: “The attending firefighters were faced with smoke coming from the upstairs windows of the property and after quickly establishing that no one was in the property, two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus were committed to the landing area to locate and extinguish the fire using high pressured hose jets. Ventilation fans were subsequently used to remove any remaining smoke from the building.

“At the time of the incident the occupiers were away from the property, however a plumber working at the property and was able to raise the alarm immediately and met crews on arrival.

“Due to the swift actions of the crews following the prompt emergency calls, a fire inside an airing cupboard was extinguished and fire escalation and smoke damage to other parts of the building were prevented.

“Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service would like to remind the public of the importance of having working smoke alarms on every level of their homes. ”

Visit www.365alive.co.uk for fire safety advice. If you have a fire safety question please call the free phone community safety helpline on 08000 325 999 or email: community.safety@oxfordshire.gov.uk