Thame.net

Author: Sonja Francis

  • 20/02/13…..Editor’s response to the Town Clerk’s letter

    Dear Helen, As you have decided to publicly challenge my report of part of yesterday’s public Examination, I will reiterate my private response to you.

    As is my duty and habit, I took very careful notes of yesterday’s proceedings and what Ms Rowlands actually said was that (and I quote straight from my notes) “A need for a 200+ community facility HAS NOT BEEN IDENTIFIED …….. so therefore to stipulate that in the policy would not be helpful.”

    Carefully reading the plan again (see my quotes in my email to you and the links in yesterday’s report), a need most certainly HAS been identified through the consultation – which Ms Rowlands carried out – and has emerged as a ‘Core Objective’ and a policy. Hence my considerable surprise at hearing her response to the Examiner’s questioning.

    Therefore I maintain, that my report WAS accurate and that Ms Rowlands, and now yourself, saying that a 200+ person community facility should NOT be stipulated in the plan is illogical because it IS ALREADY in the plan for everyone to read!

    I would add that others at the meeting, including one of our town councillors, also came away with the same feeling of amazement that the large community centre that so many, including the Cattlemarket Action Group (Cmag) had very clearly asked for, appeared not now to be included in the Neighbourhood Plan.

    I would therefore ask you – Is a 200+ community centre for Thame included in Neighbourhood plan or not? If it is not, will the wording be amended?

    Sonja Francis
    Editor

  • 21/02/13…Thame street to be closed for emergency repairs

    ON Friday, February 22 (TOMORROW) there will be an emergency closure of North Street in Thame due to urgent road repairs. This will apply only to the section between the High Street and Wellington Street. Buses will be affected.

    Buses on services 40, 110, 200, 280, 120/123/124 will be diverted as per the usual diversions in place for Thame Fair, i.e. via Bell Street, and for service 40 via Wellington Street.

    This means the main bus stops at Thame Town Hall and opposite outside Thame Co-op will not be served. The nearest stops for all, except the 40, will be further along the High Street at The Thatch and outside the museum. The 40 will stop in Wellington Street near the junction with North Street at the nearest suitable place to the junction.

  • 21/02/13….Your chance to quiz MEP on Europe

    RESIDENTS in and around Thame have been invited to attend a free seminar on Europe and what the role of the UK within it is.

    There will be a debate by three distinguished speakers, including Alexander Stockton, the grandson of Harold McMillan. The public will then have an opportunity to fire questions at the panellists. The event will take place between 10 am and 12.30 pm at The Oxfordshire, near Thame, on Saturday, February 23.

    James Elles, the European MP who has special Conservative responsibility for Oxfordshire, said: ?Why not come and have your questions about the EU and how it works answered? You will be able to contribute to the debate that will become all the more important now that the Prime Minister has announced a referendum before 2017.?

    The three panellists are Klaus Welle, who as Secretary General of the European Parliament, heads the Secretariat; Robin Niblett, Director of Chatham House and a British specialist on international relations and Alexander Stockton, the second Earl of Stockton, a former Member of the European Parliament.

    PHOTO: James Elles MEP with the then Mayor of Thame, David Bretherton, when James visited Thame to help celebrate the 10th Birthday of Thame’s town twinning with Montesson, in France – May, 2011

  • 20/02/13….Win FREE tickets for the Chilterns Big Weekend

    TO celebrate English Tourism Week, the Chilterns Tourism Network has organised the Big Chilterns Weekend on March, 23 & 24.

    Local businesses are giving residents of the Chilterns AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and adjacent towns, the opportunity to explore and experience more of what?s on their doorstep. Here?s how you can participate. Send an email to: info@visitchilterns.co.uk by midnight on February 28, saying in no more than 100 words what you love about
    the Chilterns. The more original and quirky the submissions, the greater the chance of winning tickets.

    CTN will need your contact information too, including full name, telephone, email and Chilterns postcode, and your preferred top three tickets you would like to win.

    1x Pendley Manor bed and breakfast
    5x Didcot railway family tickets [Two adults and two children]
    2x Chilterns Brewery Tour tickets Saturday 23rd March [Winners must be 18 and over]
    30x WalkFree BreakFree circular Chilterns guided walks – Wendover, Princes Risbourgh and Wycombe
    1x Hobs of Henley 2.5 hour hire of 12-seater self-drive motor launch
    20x Hobs of Henley children go free (with a paying adult) on sightseeing river boats
    16x Amersham Museum adult tickets
    24x Marlow Museum guided tours
    2x Leighton Buzzard Railway
    1x Cliveden family ticket – free entry to the gardens for up to 2 adults and 3 children. If you
    are National Trust members, use the ticket to bring non-member friends of family.
    2x sets of Chilterns walking guides including Kiddiwalks, Pub Walks, On Your Bike and Chilterns
    Cycleway
    1x Chinnor and Princes Risbourgh Railway family ticket Sunday 24th March
    1x London Gliding Club in Dunstable flight 2000 [Winners must be 18 and over]
    20x London Gliding Club tours – Dunstable
    22x Chiltern Valley Winery wine tasting Saturday 23rd March [Winners must be 18 and over]
    20x copies of the Chilterns Cycleway guide book.
    14x GoApe Wendover Woods tickets Sunday 24th March [Winners must be 18 and over, and
    not weigh more than 20 stone]
    2x Wendover Woods all day parking
    1x Stag and Huntsman in Hambledon dinner, bed and breakfast [Winners must be 18 and]
    4x CycleFleet ?bikefix? maintenance class tickets Saturday 23 March [Winners must be 16 and]

    Winners will be notified by email no later than Friday March 8, 2013.

    Terms and Conditions:
    This promotion is run by the Chilterns Tourism Network, a not-for-profit social enterprise based
    in the Chilterns.
    The judges decision is final and correspondence will not be entered into once tickets have been
    allocated.
    The tickets may not be exchanged for cash and it is the responsibility of the winner to use
    them on the date and time allocated.
    Winners must contact the businesses to arrange their visits. It is not the role of The Chilterns
    Tourism Network to do this.
    Email addresses will only be used to contact winners and will not be passed on to third parties.

  • 20/02/13….Business rates the biggest issue facing high streets

    BUSINESS Rates are the biggest issue facing towns and high streets, according to new research published by national charity, Action for Market Towns (AMT.

    AMT has over 450 member towns all over the UK including market towns, small towns, coastal and seaside towns and some cities. It surveyed 205 towns across the UK, 105 of which are members of the organisation and 100 not, and asked them to name the most pressing issues affecting their town or high street ? and what the Government needs to do.

    Business rates, high rents, car parking and competition from out of town retailers all featured highly, with Business Rates scoring as the most pressing issue for a majority of respondents. The towns surveyed were vocal in calling for Government action on the issue, with over a hundred towns making comments such as “Review business rate model. Flawed and outdated. Level the playing field for business rates between high street and online retail.”

    Other participants called for stronger action and enforcement of the ‘Town Centre First’ policy around which AMT has been running a ‘Town Centre First WATCH’ campaign.

    Chris Wade, AMT’s chief executive, commented: “We have listened to towns across the country and the message is that if the Government is serious about saving the High Street, it needs to review how business rate levels are set. This would play a part in leveling the playing field so that our towns can be competitive and find creative solutions to bounce back.”

    ABOUT AMT

    Action for Market Towns (AMT) is a national charity which works with 450 member towns and over 2500 stakeholders, all over the UK.

    It provides practical support with town revitalisation projects, recognises great ideas and projects through the annual Towns Alive National Awards, measures towns’ strengths and weaknesses via town benchmarking; supports towns with neighbourhood and town plans and community engagement, and lobbies policymakers.

    AMT and several other organisations recently issued a briefing note to members of the House of Lords, expressing concern about the postponement of revaluation of business rates, and stating that the postponement will:

    “unfairly penalise hundreds of thousands of businesses by requiring them to pay excessive levels of tax for an additional two years in order to subsidise those in more prosperous areas. This will harm businesses in regions and sectors of the economy that that have underperformed relatively since 2008, and so will have a particularly devastating impact on struggling high streets.”

  • 20/02/13…….Town Clerk challenges Neighbourhood plan report

    Dear Editor, I believe the Editor promises to print all letters received and therefore ask that this letter is published to restate the actual answer given to the Inspector about the community centre at the Neighbourhood Plan Public Hearing.

    Sue Rowlands has already informed you directly that she said:

    ?The Examiner asked me whether specifically including a requirement for a capacity of 200 people within the new community centre would be helpful to the policy. As Thame Town Council has not concluded work into the feasibility of a community centre, I answered ‘no’ as any such capacity requirement would pre-judge the outcome of further, more detailed work on the community centre. Such further work could identify the need for a facility that is larger or smaller than a 200 person capacity facility ? there is no need to set a number in the Neighbourhood Plan no.

    I trust that this clarifies the discussion at yesterday’s hearing.”

    This clearly shows a misrepresentation on your website and the Town Council asks that you correct your report accordingly particularly since the person responsible for answering the question has confirmed you have misconstrued her words.

    Kind Regards
    Helen Stewart
    Town Clerk
    Thame Town Council

  • 20/02/13….Thame makes local planning history

    THAME made planning history on Tuesday (19/02) when the first ever Public Hearing on a Neighbourhood Plan took place at the Town Hall.

    Nigel McGurk, the Independent Examiner, said that all the people involved in developing the Neighbourhood Plan should be congratulated. ?It is a very comprehensive and thorough document?, he said, and without prejudice to his report on the Plan, he thought the level of detail was very impressive.

    The Hearing was to allow the Examiner to hear oral evidence from invited participants to assist with his examination into whether the Neighbourhood Plan had met the Basic Conditions. Representatives from landowners, developers, residents and the Town Council were invited to answer questions.

    Mr McGurk will now consider all of the evidence before producing his report on whether Thame?s Neighbourhood Plan meets the Basic Conditions and proceeds to referendum.

    The Examiner closed the Hearing by expressing his sincere thanks for the exemplary manner in which all participated and thanked everyone for sitting still.

    The Examination last just under four hours and a selection of the spoken representations made at the hearing are made below.

    Advocates of site F were asked by the Examiner about the sustainability and landscape aspects of their site. Mr Linnell, for Regeneration Thame, said that his group believed that site F could accommodate more than the 203 dwellings allocated, in fact 400 minimum, because in his view it is one of the most sustainable sites throughout Thame. ?We believe that to under deliver would mean that the conditions for sustainable growth in Thame would not be met,? he said. To further questioning about where the additional houses should come from, Mr Linnnell replied, from site C, because it is less sustainable because of its position to the South of the town against an industrial area. Site F, he said, would improve the approach to Thame from that direction and has good access to highways and public transport. ?We believe,? he said, ? that site C does have a part to play in the plan as a reserve site if the amalgamation of the two schools does not come to fruition.

    The next speaker was Guy Bailey of Banner Homes, representing the interests of site D. The Examiner asked him why he would like to see more homes allocated to site D. His reply was: ?It (site D) has been shown to be nearer the town centre, particularly regarding the promotion of walking and cycling.?

    The Examiner then asked him to confirm that he had suggested that site C does not meet the Basic Conditions and should be removed from the plan, and the houses allocated to site D, and to explain why he did not consider site C met the Basic Conditions.

    Mr Bailey replied that priority should be given to transport and movement, and that it is a 20 minute walk to the town centre from site D, whereas from site C, it is longer. It was his contention that site D ?constantly performs better? and that there was ?no reasonable rationale or planning reason? why site D should not take these extra homes.

    The next speaker was Adam Ross of Broadway, speaking on behalf of the interests for site C. He was asked to say how the site does meet the Basic Conditions. Mr Ross responded that the main criticism was one of transport and accessibility but that in his view most of site C is a 20 minute walk from the town centre, and that no objections had been raised from Oxfordshire County Council on either sustainability or transport.

    The next speaker was Mr Preston, on behalf of SODC, talking about The Elms. The Examiner pointed out that this proposed development was for 45 dwellings, the whole within the Thame Conservation Area and in the grounds of a Listed building. Mr Preston said that there are other listed buildings, including The Poplars, The Barn and the War Memorial, that would be impacted.

    The Examiner asked him to summarise his concerns, not about the principle but about the number of houses in the plan. Mr Preston said: ?This is a sensitive site which was added to the Conservation Area in 2006, along with the recreation ground. Its appearance and character is that of an open space and set in parkland, with a complex history of ownership. There was some potential for development he felt, but it was important to leave the sense of space and views, and to protect beeches and the Ha ha. ?A large scale development would have a harmful impact,? he concluded.

    The Examiner asked Richard Peats, for English Heritage, whether he was content that the Elms development was not in danger of failing to ?preserve or enhance? the site as required by National Policy. He replied that good positioning should not harm the setting.

    Following on from Mr Peats came the representatives for the Nash Partnership, promoting The Elms. They were told by the Examiner that he had received a significant number of objections to this proposed development, and asked why he thought it did meet the Basic Conditions.
    Mr Peats responded that the site is sustainable in that it is close to services and amenoties, and that whilst he agreed it is a very important site, in his view it ?contributes very little to the town.? Whilst he thought heritage to be important, he thought ?significance? was open to interpretation. It was his understanding that the house was not originally built in park land, but for the views to the rear.

    It was important, he felt, to consider the ?public benefit? from the development which would include new, public park land, enhancement of the access from the park to the High Street, the creation of walking and cycling routes, revealing local heritage and the renovation of the house itself.

    The Examiner said that a number of representations had referred to accessibility in relation to cars and asked Mr Peats if he considered the plan met with the Basic Condition regarding Transportation. He (Mr Peats) replied that he considered The Elms to be the most sustainable of all the sites because it was close to the town centre. ?We would need to comply with parking standards i.e. Planning Policy 4,? he added.

    MORE FROM THE MEETING TOMORROW

    PHOTO: Standing room only at the UK’s first, ever Neighbourhood plan Examination in public (Taken by Peter Lambert)

  • 19/02/13….Town Council drops ‘large’ community centre from Neighbourhood Plan

    IN an apparent contradiction to its own published Neighbourhood Plan, Thame Town Council told the Examiner into the plan today that it does not want a 200 plus person community centre included in the plan, despite this being one of its ‘core objectives’ in the published plan.

    Speaking on behalf of the town council, Sue Rowlands, of Tibbalds, the Consultants brought in by the council to help it produce the plan, told the Examiner, Mr Nigel McGurk: “The need for a 200 plus community centre has not been identified yet, so no decision has been made about what such a facility should comprise. Therefore, it would not be helpful to include a 200 plus facility as a policy in the (Neighbourhood) plan.”

    She added: “The TNP focuses on the wider needs of the community in the town centre.”

    This statement seems to be at odds with the plan itself which states:

    Community, leisure and wellbeing
    Main comments raised by local people during the
    consultation include:
    ■ providing a really large meeting room (200+ capacity)
    ■ creating more riverside walks
    ■ another primary school is needed if there is more
    housing
    ■ supporting local people
    ■ needing to get more people living AND working in
    Thame (i.e. reduce commuting)

    And, further in the plan:

    Community Facilities
    5.8 The Plan identifies three alternatives sites that have the potential to accommodate a new community facility large enough to hold 200+ people. The three potential sites
    are:
    ■ the Cattle Market site
    ■ retaining some existing facilities at Lord Williams?s Lower School should the site come forward for development
    ■ the northern end of the Southern Road Recreation Area

    Dropping a large community facility from the TNP will not be welcomed by many local groups who, in a survey carried out by Cmag, the Thame Cattlemarket Action Group, stated a need for a larger facility.

    THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

    The 92-page plan sets out a vision for Thame which, as well as locations for a community facility, includes the construction of an additional 775 homes, three hectares of new employment land and up to 5,700 square metres of new retail (excluding convenience food) within the town centre and plans for new and improved connections in and around the town and new and improved open spaces.
    Read the full plan here: http://www.southoxon.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Thame%20Neighbourhood%20Development%20Plan-RD.pdf

    TODAY’S EXAMINATION HEARING

    Today’s hearing was basically the Examiner’s opportunity to hear oral evidence from some of those who had submitted written representations where he required clarification to help him establish whether the NP complied with required Basic Conditions. For this reason, he explained, Sainsburys had not been invited to speak, despite a legal request why they should not, because: “..There were no questions I needed qualification of. Their written representations were sufficient.”

    MEETING THE BASIC CONDITIONS

    The Basic Conditions for Neighbourhood Plans are specified by law:
    ? must be appropriate having regard to national policy
    ? must contribute to the achievement of sustainable
    development
    ? must be in general conformity with the strategic
    policies in the development plan for the local area
    (SODC’s Core Strategy in this case)
    ? must be compatible with human rights requirements
    ? must be compatible with EU obligations.

    MORE FROM THE PUBLIC MEETING TOMORROW – Including submissions from developers, land-owners, residents groups and others.

    IMAGE: Part of a Concept Plan for a community centre on the Cattlemarket site, produced for Cmag

  • 19/02/13….Your town needs you! Join the Thame Tidy Day Team

    IT’S almost time for the annual Thame Tidy Day, planned for March 24, and the organising team or looking for volunteers to give the town a spring clean.

    In previous years, teams of public-spirited volunteers have helped remove rubbish on the Phoenix Trail and other footpaths, cleared flower beds in the Co-op car park, painted the cricket pavillion, removed graffiti and generally given the town a spruce up.

    Anyone interested in taking part is invited to a meeting this Thursday, February 21, at 7pm at the Town Hall. But don’t worry; if you can’t make the meeting, contact either Mary Stiles via: maryandstella@aol.com or Andy Gunn via: andygunn41@yahoo.co.uk

    PHOTO: A team of pupils from Lord Williams’s school taking part in last year’s Thame Tidy Day

  • 18/02/13…..Pick-up stolen from Chinnor building site

    ON Friday (15/2), around 1.30pm, a vehicle was stolen from a building site in Lower Icknield Way, Chinnor.

    The vehicle is described as a Mitsubishi L200 Warrior pick-up, silver grey in colour, part registration number WV12 ***.

    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 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.