Author: Sonja Francis

Residents in the South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse area are being advised by the police to make sure their vehicles are locked and secure when left overnight or when not in use. Remove any valuable items and do not leave anything on display.

Leaving items on display could attract the opportunist thief to target your vehicle. If your vehicle is broken into it is not just the loss of personal items but the inconvenience and cost of carrying out repairs.

Over the last six weeks the Thame area has had the highest number of thefts from vehicles reported where offenders have gained entry to insecure vehicles and stole property. Police have put on extra patrols in the Thame area and some arrests have been made.

WITH the recent heavy rainfall Thames Valley Police are advising anyone living or working in Oxfordshire to contact Oxfordshire County Council to report a flood or to get advice ? phone the Highways Team on 0845 310 11 11 and select option 1, or visit http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/public-site/flooding

For updated flood warnings, visit the Environment Agency website:
www.environment-agency.gov.uk or call 0845 988 1188

SUCH was the topic for a heated discussion at Tuesday’s meeting of Thame Town Council’s Policy and Resources committee.

The proposal on the table was to adopt the council’s revised policy for dealing with graffiti, which aims to remove ‘offensive’ graffiti on council-owned property within 24 hours, and any other graffiti within three days of its discovery.

All very uncontroversial until it got to the bit about the skate park. The proposed policy stated that: “On the Skate Park facilities, graffiti should be left as it is classed as artwork and of amenity value to the local surroundings.”

To Cllr Vaughan Humphries, a published author, that was like offering a glass of lager to a Real Ale drinker! But he had done his homework and had come prepared. His lyrical lesson in the history and philosophy of graffiti was more akin to something one would expect to hear delivered in the House of Lords, rather than the council chamber of a market town:

“Personally, this is something I find rather irksome,” he began. “I acknowledge that graffiti has been a problem for municipal bodies dating back to classical times. However, it has become part of our ‘pop’ culture from the stencilled street art of ‘Banksy’ to Simon & Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence, where you can quite clearly hear “the words of the Prophet are written on the subway walls and tenement halls…”

“We cannot deny that one of the fundamental rights that we uphold in this country is the Freedom of Expression and quite justifiably so; art is a form of expression.

“Where does the line become blurred? There is a difference between ‘street art’ that has been sanctioned and ‘graffiti’, which is defacement or vandalism of property, both of which are crimes.

“Reading a number of academic studies on the subject, it has been suggested that 85% of graffiti was of the ‘tagging’ variety, a further 10% a form of gang communication, be it asserting territorial claims or serve as a warning to others, which leaves us with 5% that we could consider to be defined as ‘art’ – and I use that term rather loosely, as I am certainly no fan of ‘contemporary art’.

“This leaves me with the following questions based on my interpretation of the (Clerk’s) report.

1. What is considered to be graffiti?
2. How will it be determined? Will it be based on a specific definition as above, and on whose judgement?
3. Why and how does the graffiti at the skate park qualify as ‘art’? (Although for the main part not offensive in content)”

Cllr Jeannette Matelot Green jumped to the defence of the skate park graffiti: “If you take the graffiti away from the skate park, you will be taking away the souls of the skaters!” she said.

Deputy Mayor, Peter Lambert’s view was: “As long as it is not offensive, it’s not doing any harm.” But this begged the question put forward by Cllr Mike Dyer: “Who makes the decision as to what is Art and what is graffiti?”

Finally the committee agreed that ALL graffiti around the town would be removed, except graffiti at the skate park, unless it was consider offensive. But the vexed question of who decides what is ‘offensive’ remained inconclusive.

IMAGE: Copyright MerlinJnr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/merlinjnr/

FOLLOWING six weeks of public consultation, and 221 responses, Thame Town Council has now officially endorsed the Thame Neighbourhood Plan and agreed on the next stage, that it be submitted for examination by South Oxfordshire District Council.

It became clear at a meeting to present the final report on the TNP at the Barns Centre, on Monday (19/11), that the most significant objections to the draft plan during the consultation period had centred on a proposal to build houses on land around the Grade 2 listed house, The Elms, in Upper High Street, Thame. Both SODC and British Heritage (among others), objected to the number and density of the units proposed. As a consequence, the number of units allowed for on this site in the TNP will be reduced by between 20% and 40%, the final number being ?the subject of on-going discussions? according to the town council.

WHAT WERE THE ISSUES OF CONCERN IN THE CONSULTATION?

Several respondents were concerned about a proposed ?linkage access? (path) from any development close by, on the eastern edge of the Stones Close allotments. As a result, this site has now been designated as ?Open space? in the final TNP to give it added protection against development.

Other concerns expressed during the consultation included that of some residents of Griffin Road, where new homes might have backed onto some properties there. Alternative options, including allowing for some possible development on what is currently Meadowcroft?s land, have been put in the final TNP.

No changes to the number of walking and cycling routes, or to the proposals for additional burial space outside the town centre, will be made to the final plan, though some respondents expressed concerns in these areas. On the subject of the number of affordable homes planned for in the TNP, individual developers will now be required to produce their own strategies, avoiding any delay thought likely if they were required to draw up a combined strategy, as suggested in the draft plan.
After presentations from the Clerk, Helen Stewart, Planning Consultant Jake Collinge and Cllr Mike Dyer, questions were invited from the audience.

A resident who asked that Towersey be included in the eventual referendum to decide whether the TNP is adopted or not, was told that although neighbouring villages were consulted, only residents in the Thame parishes were allowed to vote.

Alan Garratt, the Vicar of St Mary?s church, Thame, complained that there had been ?very poor consultation? over what was happening about finding more burial space. No one had told him, he said, that extending the current burial area into neighbouring allotments was not going to happen, nor the results of water table testing. The Clerk replied that the council was still pursuing extending the burial ground into the allotments but that even more additional space would be needed eventually. She said that the council had written to the Environment Agency asking for change of use permission.

A question was raised about how so-called ?windfall? housing developmet would impact on the number of houses Thame has to build in future years. Jake Collinge replied that the council had asked that, when we get to year 10, could we deduct windfalls, but that it was told ?no? because that would cause ?a degree of uncertainty.? However, Jake did add that there was uncertainty over the possible Lord Williams?s Upper school development, so if it has not been built on by 2020, windfall numbers could be deducted from the number of houses left to be built by the end of the period. ?We hope this will be the case, but we cannot guarantee anything,? he added.

Cllr Dyer stated that according to the recently published National Planning Policy Framework, windfalls arising in the first five years can be off-set from the numbers allocated.

Another questioner asked whether the council considered 221 responses to the consultation to be an adequate response. The Clerk replied that such a number is generally considered to be a positive response at this stage of a Neighbourhood Plan. She added that all background papers, including responses to questions will be published but not names.

Angus Lochlan asked if SODC can change the plan when it examines it, but he was assured that it could only make representations to the Inspector who will decide whether the plan is sound or not, on ?conformity? to regulations and processes. The question was raised about how people without access to the internet could follow the process to which the answer was that hard copies would be available at both the town hall and the library, and that it was hoped a simple pr

THE daughter of a Thame war-time Resistance worker, decorated for his sabotage exploits behind enemy lines, has suggested that its time for him to stop talking about his experiences, at least for a while.

Anne Freeman, who helped her father, Arthur Staggs, celebrate his 100th birthday in Thame over the weekend, spoke to Thamenews.net this morning about her feelings following his interview with the BBC, and its broadcast last night.

“We all had a brilliant day on Saturday, but we are now shattered. Though dad put on a brave face at the beginning, he held up amazingly well and in the end, had a whale of time!

“Dad has an incredible history and his experiences during his time in France bring back some good but also, some bad memories for him, as it does for many old soldiers. So we have decided that we are going to give it rest and not talk about the war for a while.”

Around 70 invited friends and family celebrated Arthur’s centenary with him, including the Mayor of Thame, Nigel Champken Woods, who presented him with a fine bottle of Brandy as a birthday gift from the town council.

Pictured: Arthur Staggs with his daughter, Anne Freeman

A THAME pensioner who worked as a secret agent in German occupied France during World War II, celebrated his 100th birthday over the weekend, and this evening featured on BBC news talking about his extraordinary life. LINK

Arthur Staggs trained as a wireless operator at SOE (Special Operations Executive) based at Thame Park, and amongst his various expoits, destroyed Nazi supply lines in France. He was captured by the Gestapo but did not break under torture, and when released he fought with the French Resistance.

Arthur now lives at the Meadowcroft Care Home in Thame, where Arthur’s family and around 60 friends enjoyed an ‘at home’ get-together on Saturday (17/11) with a buffet and birthday cake.

Arthur’s daughter, Anne Freeman, who lives in Lancashire, came down to stay in Thame for the weekend. She told Thamenews.net: “Dad was in good form and was so looking forward to ‘making the ton’!”

LISTEN HERE to the late Arthur Staggs in a remarkable ‘oral history’ recording made by Thame Cinema (Arthur died shortly after his 100th birthday)

THAME Town Council are considering adding two more Blue Plaques to commemorate people who have lived in the town and achieved great things.

But to find out exactly which house to display a plaque in memory of one of them, is proving to be a challenge since it is unclear exactly where his house was.

Philip Burnard Chenery Ayres CMB, CMG MRCS Eng LRCP Edin. was born in Thame, on July 13, 1840, and later in life as Colonial Surgeon and Inspector of Hospitals, Hong Kong, was responsible for reforming the sanitary conditions of health care in the territory.

The mystery is that research into Ayres’ life, has been unable to pin down exactly where the house in which he was born, is.

Ayres was born at home in Priestend/High Street, Thame, to parents Philip Burnard (a surgeon) and Harriet Ayres and baptised at St Mary’s church, on August 26, 1840.

The Census of 1841 locates the family living in a cottage at Priestend, three houses away from the Six Bells public house, although the Census fails to say in which direction.

If anyone can throw any light on the mystery of where Ayre’s family home was exactly, they are asked to contact David Bretherton, via the museum.

The other Thame luminary being considered worthy of a Blue plaque is Francis Howard Kirby VC CBEDCM RAF, son of a Thame ironmonger, born in 1871. He was mentioned in despatches many times during his distinguished war career and was awarded the DCM for blowing up the Bloemfontein Railway in South Africa in 1900. He is believed to have been born at what is now 18 High Street, now known as Wavertree.

IMAGES: Left – P B C Ayres, Right – F H Kirby