THAME PLAYERS – And now for something completely different – a benefit night to raise funds for Lord Williams’s school’s new Phoenix studio.
Author: Sonja Francis
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Ealing’s loss condemns Chinnor 1sts renegation
EALING’S loss to Lydney at the weekend, condemns Chinnor’s drop to a lower league.
With Lydney winning 17-10 against Ealing on Saturday, all hopes of remaining in their current league was dashed for Chinnor firsts.
Next season, they will play in National 3 South West (the new name for what was South West 1).
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Thame teenager out of coma
A Thame teenager, seriously injured in a car crash three weeks ago, is reported to have come out of the drug-induced coma he has been in since the crash.
The parents of 19 year-old Joe Robinson have reported that he seem to come out of the coma on Sunday, since when he has been trying to communicate with those around him.
Joe’s father Kevin has said that things are looking “fairly good” at the moment and that the family is now feeling more confident.
“He has improved and taken giant steps forward having woken up from a coma,” added Kevin.
“He is making attempts to communicate and although we know it is at an early stage, we are hopeful.”Joe, known as Rob, or Robo to his friends, has been a regular player for Chinnor Rugby Club based in Thame, and has played cricket for both Thame Town and Oxfordshire County. He is also a member of the London Wasps? player development centre.
Friend and fellow passenger, Grace Hadman, 17, who attended St Edward?s School, in North Oxford, with Joe, died in the incident. Two other fellow pupils received minor injuries, one, a 17-year-old boy, from Boar?s Hill and a 17-year-old girl from Buckinghamshire who was arrested shortly after the crash and bailed on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
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Opposition to Thame housing development grows
AS the closing date for the district council’s public consultation on its Core Strategy to 2026, the ‘Preferred Options’ document, opposition is mounting to a proposal for 850 new homes for Thame (option D)close to Cuttlebrook.
At a meeting of Thame Town Council’s Planning committee last night (28/04/09), residents and town councillors firmly let their feelings be known to representatives from SODC.
REASONS FOR OBJECTION
A resident of Moreton, Helena Fickling, made several points, including the following, many of which were restated by councillors:
? The Council (SODC) has not given clear reasons why the preferred options in the initial consultation A and F were not chosen and the least preferred option, D, was chosen. This omission also means the approach is inconsistent with National Policy. The choice of Site D would appear to be either arbitrary or swayed by the sophisticated presentation made by RPS on behalf of its client Banner Homes.
? In choosing site D the Council ignored the advice of their own landscape consultants, Machin Bate Associates, who expressly recommended against using site D West ?we recommend against development of this site due to its visual impact on well used [footpath] links between Thame and Moreton and on the valley landscape of Cuttle Brook? in their report (at page 29*).
? Site D borders Cuttle Brook nature reserve and the wider Cuttle Brook valley. In the words of Machin Bate Associates report: “Not only should it be protected for landscape and ecological value but it also has considerable potential as a local recreational resource?[and] would severely compromise the gap between Thame and Moreton? We therefore recommend against development in this area.” (report page 30.)
? The report glosses over the lack of capacity in the primary schools, Lord Williams School – redrawing the catchment area will destroy the cohesion of the district around Thame in Bucks as well as Oxfordshire and the capacity of the Local GPs – what Bucks PCT says is not the same as the experience of the doctors.
Ms Fickling concluded: “It seems that SODC would like to appear to be consulting us and is going through the motions, but are they really listening? Will they act on what we say? It does not seem like it.”
CHILTERN VALE RESIDENTS FEAR MORE FLOODING
Mr Keith Parsley, Chairman of the Chiltern Vale Residents’ Association, said that his association feared Thame would be “swamped” by such a large development and feared further flooding due to ‘run off’ if more houses were build in the area. He added that, in his opinion, Thame had already had its fair share of housing development and that any more was “unjustifiable.”
He said that the town already had insufficient leisure facilities and lacked the infrastructure to support such a large number of additional houses.
“We must protect our market town, of which we are all proud, with all our efforts,” he concluded.
DISTRICT COUNCIL RESPONDS
Caroline Emery, speaking for SODC, said that her and her team were constrained by the South East draft plan when it came to the number of new homes needed to be built in the region and that they were currently refining the options as a result of consultations, including liaising with infrastructure agencies.
It was explained that option D was chosen after carrying out full appraisals including bio diversity and education, and that the site has good access to the town centre which it is thought, would be more likely to encourage people to walk and cycle to town.
It was also explained that there was no intention to build right up to the Cuttlebrook Nature Reserve but to create landscaping to form a recreation area or extension to it.
THAME COUNCILLOR QUESTIONS WHOLE PROCESS
Cllr David Dodds said that he was not at all convinced by the numbers, and questioned what the whole process was doing to benefit local communities. He questioned where the people were going to come from to live in the proposed houses and where the jobs were going to come from.
“We need to be planning for communities,” he said, “not just providing houses.”
“These proposals will change Thame forever,” he concluded, “and I am not prepared to let that happen.”
NO ONE WANTS MORE HOUSING IN THEIR AREA
The SODC officers admitted that everywhere they go around the district, people are objecting to new development in their area. But in defence of the proposed numbers, explained that statistics show a marked decline in the size of households in the country due to divorce, people living longer and that there is a need for economic growth in our area which is important for the economy of the country. All these factor will necessitate more homes being provided in the district.
Replying to a statement from Cllr David Bretherton that develolpment on more, smaller sites might be more acceptable, Ms Emery and her colleague said that it was more difficult to provide facilities in piecemeal developments.
The closing date for the consultation is Friday, May 1, 2009.
Visit the District Council’s web site at: LINK
To find out more and how you can get involved visit www.southoxon.gov.uk/corestrategy or phone planning policy on 01491 823725.
Photo: Farm land near Thame, similar to that proposed for a new housing development (for illustrative purposes only)
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Thame carnival poster winner is a little gem!
THE winner of this year’s Thame Carnival poster competition for local children has been announced and she is nine year-old Ruby Stalley. She lives in Thame and attends Barley Hill school.
Local artist, Robert Duncan, judged the competition which was run by the organisers of this year?s carnival. The Spinning Top toy shop, in North Street, Thame, donated a voucher as the prize.
Ruby?s design will be used around the town on posters and flyers to promote this year?s event.
The carnival, which will take place on Saturday, June 13, 2009, will start with a parade through the town centre at 12.30, leading to a fete on Southern Road recreation ground from 1pm till 4.30pm.
The fete this year is being organised by the Rotary Club of Thame anyone interested in taking part can contact Tyrell Gillman via emai: gtyrellgillman@aol.com
Picture: Ruby Stalley receives her prize gift token from James Butler, proprietor of The Spinning Top toy shop in Thame.
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Remembering Sheila and Denis Manners
A MEMORIAL concert, Remembering Sheila & Denis Manners, is to be held in aid of Amnesty International and The Woodcraft Folk, on June 27, 2009.
TIME: 7.30-10.30pm at the Thame Leisure Centre, Thame, Oxon.
An unforgettable night of Music, Song and Dance with
Roy Bailey ?One of the finest voices in the folk world? The Guardian, ?The greatest Socialist Singer of his Generation? Tony Benn.Also – John Kirkpatrick – One of the most prolific figures on the English Folk Scene, John is regarded as England’s leading exponent of ?Squeezebox? instruments ?A Virtuosic Master!? Amazon.
Plus – Gavin Osborn – ?Funny and Touching. Osborn walks a similar tightrope to Loudon Wainwright the III, but remains perfectly balanced? Sunday Times;
?Simultaneously hilarious and heart ‐rending songs?
Independent Weekly (Australia)Tickets
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Thame’s MP speaks up for the Green Belt
THAME’S MP, John Howell, has called plans to expand Oxford into the Green Belt, Objectionable, Unsustainable and Undemocratic.
John Howell was speaking at the CPRE?s ?Hands Off Oxford?s Green Belt? Campaign Rally Horspath Village Hall, near Wheatley on Sunday, April 19.Around 100 people attended the campaign rally including Ann Ducker, Leader of the SODC, John Cotton, SODC Cabinet Member, Anne Purse, District Councillor for Forest Hill, Janet Carr, Parish Council Chairman for Wheatley and District Councillor for Wheatley. Residents from the Leys and Berinsfield also attended.
Caroline Lucas, Green MEP, who was unable to attend the rally, sent a strong message of support: “The benefits of green open spaces are increasingly appreciated from a range of perspectives, including for our well being and mental health as well as the environment,” she said. “As you enjoy the beautiful Oxfordshire countryside, please consider what this area would look like if the government forges ahead with meeting its unsustainable housing targets. I am sorry I cannot be with you to say ?Hands Off Oxford?s Green Belt.’ By all working together I am confident that we can win this one and I shall certainly be doing my utmost in the European Parliament to help protect our valuable countryside from unnecessary development.”
Ian Scargill, Chairman of the Oxford Green Belt Network, kicked off the rally by saying that Oxford City has always seen the Green Belt as an “obstacle to its expansionist ambitions? and simply as a “reserve of land for development.”
The Green Belt provides City dwellers with “quality of life” said Ian Scargill, and warned those in the audience that they would be the losers if they allowed it to be developed.
Elizabeth Gillespie, SODC Councillor for Garsington and The Baldons, began her presentation by saying that the Oxford Green Belt is currently “threatened as never before.” She confirmed that SODC is fighting against the proposed development of more than 4,000 homes south of Grenoble Road and called on the Conservative Party to “roll back the proposals” if it comes to power at the next election.
Commenting on SODC?s proposal to review the Green Belt at Wheatley and Berinsfield as part of its Core Strategy, Elizabeth Gillespie said that she was of the openion that no special circumstances warranted the development of the Green Belt at Wheatley. She said that the proposal to expand Berinsfield into the Green Belt is currently out for consultation, but if it can be shown that there is a genuine local need which can only be met by extending into the Green Belt, then this could be a special circumstance allowing the development.
John Howell, MP, said that he failed to see how the development would be sustainable in terms of location and infrastructure.
He said the proposal to build on the Green Belt south of Grenoble Road was being imposed on the local community by central Government through, what he called, an undemocratic planning process.
“Democracy has to be put back at the heart of the planning process,” he said, and that power had to be returned to local communities so that they have a say over decisions in their area.
He promised that if the Conservative Party was to win the election, that there would be a “bottom-up approach to planning” where local communities, not central government, would have a much stronger say in housing numbers and location of development. He said the Conservative Party would demolish the Government?s Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) ? a system which he said had “imposed housing numbers regardless of local need and feelings,” and “which has not worked.”
It is expected that the South East Plan, due to be announced this month by the Housing Minister, Hazel Blears, will endorse the review of the Green Belt south of the City and would require an increase in the number of houses to be built in Oxfordshire by 2026.
CPRE (Campaign for the Protection of Rural England), has said that it will continue to challenge both the urban extension into the Green Belt and “any further increase in housing imposition by the Government.”
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Beamed Back to Earth – well Towersey at least! (Contributed)
BACK for one year only, it is 10 years since Edward II last played out and we are really chuffed to have them on our guest list this year at Towersey. And you might wonder why the boys have thrown on the decorator overalls for this historic return?
There are rumours of alien abduction! Have they been beamed back to us to give us one last blast of their unique sound? Simon Care of the band tells us that this otherworldly photo shoot got some funny looks as the band stood in front of four cars with full beam headlights on to create this effect.
Splicing dance tunes of old England with the sunny sexy grooves of reggae and lovers? rock, Edward II transcended superficial notions of ‘crossover’ to forge a truly original synthesis from their far-flung musical roots.
So get ready for a very “Close Encounter” when Edward II beam into Towersey on Sunday, August 30.
Book tickets HERE
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Thame Starter homes planning application
A PLANNING proposal to demolish garage buildings at 1 Chinnor Road, Thame, (currently a car valeting business & former Bambrook’s garage), and build
six new starter homes, will be considered by Thame Town Council’s Planning committee on Tuesday (April 28, 2009)The applicant is Mr Carl White, of 46 Chearsley Road, Long Crendon.
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Al Fresco Dining at The Dinton Hermit Inn
AS summer approaches, The Dinton Hermit Inn, in the peaceful hamlet of Ford, near tHAME, is focusing on the forthcoming season of ?al fresco? dining.
With new garden furniture now in place, diners can enjoy lunch or dinner in the beautiful and peaceful garden surroundings, overlooking the Buckinghamshire countryside. Or the gardens make a lovely setting for an afternoon tea, with home made scones, jam and of course clotted cream, along with a wide choice of teas.
Alternatively, you can relax in the sunshine with a chilled glass of wine or a pint of one of the guest beers.
Children are welcome at The Dinton Hermit Inn, with a range of dishes on the menu that are suitable for children, that they can enjoy in the restaurant and in the large pub garden – ideal for a lazy family afternoon.
The Dinton Hermit Inn is just a few miles out from Aylesbury and Thame, in the middle of the most peaceful Buckinghamshire countryside ? a great place to escape to for a quiet lunch.
This historic inn dates back to the 17th Century and is named after the legendary ?Dinton Hermit?, a parliamentarian sympathiser during the Civil War, who was reputed to have been one of the executioners of King Charles I.
The Dinton Hermit is open all day, every day. To book a room or a table for lunch or dinner you can contact The Dinton Hermit on 01296 747473 or email relax@dintonhermit.co.uk.