Author: Sonja Francis

POLICE have launched a murder enquiry following the discovery of burned, human remains at Milton Common, just outside Thame.
A member of the public reported finding human remains whilst out walking at around 2pm, on Friday, July 13, in a field just off Rycote Lane, on the A329, on Friday afternoon.
The road was closed immediately and remains closed today.
More information later following Press Conference at 10am (Sunday).

SPECULATION in the National Press is rife today, as to whether or not Thame’s MP, Boris Johnson, has made up his mind whether or not to run for job of Mayor of London next year.
Last week, Boris was reported as saying that he was definitely not a candidate”, citing the “logistical difficulties” of his position as MP for the Henley constituency.
But this morning, just briefly, there was a report on his website that he HAD decided to stand, but then the message was removed.

ThameNews.Net can reveal exclusively, if not straight from the horse’s mouth, but from the horse’s groom, (his Parliamentary Assistant)who spoke to us this afternoon, that all the reports in the written press today are merely speculation.
He told us: “Boris is still considering his decision. He has been inundated with emails, phone calls etc from a lot of people, and advise from colleagues of the highest order in the party and family and friends. He is thinking very deeply about what he should do, and as soon as he has made up his mind, Boris will make a statement.
“Obviously, if Boris does decide to stand for Mayor of London, he will have to re-consider his position as a Constituent MP.”

The deadline for applications is Monday.

Photo: “Shall I or sha’n’t I?”

THAME Town councillors are not happy about a developer’s plans for a building in the town’s Conservation area.
Berkeley Homes, who are building the new housing development on the old Rycotewood college site next door, want to demolish an annex wing and an outbuilding and erect two terraced cottages, and convert a barn to a dwelling, as well as providing a a ground floor extension to the exisiting building.

Cllr Nicola Dixon said that she knew the location at 13, Priest End, and that in her opinion, the developer was trying to cram too many properties into, what she called a tiny courtyard, “just to make money out of it.”

Cllrs Beatrice Dobie and Nigel Champken-Woods, were concerned about an increase in traffic generation coming in and out of the entrance to the site, near a busy junction at the top of the High Street.

Sean Moore, who live at Stribble Hills next to 13 Priest End, told the council in a letter that he was concerned about the fire risk of the proposed extension which would only be 10cms from the roof of his property. He too was worried out traffic volumes and a proposed window that appeared from the plans to overlook his proporty.

The town council’s Planning committee voted to recommend refusal of the plan on the following grounds:

1. Over-development
2. Traffic generation
3. Restricted vehicular access

THE leader of Oxfordshire County Council has branded Gordon Brown’s much heralded housing plans as ‘simplistic’ and says that they will not have the effect of helping people on to the housing ladder.
The Prime Minister today announced plans to build three million new homes by 2020 with 25-year fixed-rate affordable mortgages and a Homes Agency to oversee new developments.

Cllr Keith Mitchell, who is also chair of the South East England Regional Assembly, said he was pleased to hear assurances that the Green Belt would be unaffected but added that he was far from convinced that this would prove to be the case.
Councillor Mitchell said: “There has been a lot of talk but little detail from the Prime Minister. It is all very simplistic. We have a national stock of 22 million homes. Building 150,000, 200,000 or 300,000 new homes per year will have a very limited impact on housing prices.
“There needs to be a far broader approach with a range of carefully thought out measures to deliver the affordable homes that people want and desperately need.
“All of these measures need the government to make housing and infrastructure investment the top priority – something it has not been to date. Affordable homes must be built, social housing must be taken seriously and new schools, roads and other key infrastructure work must accompany this.
“In Oxfordshire and the South East, simply upping housing numbers without infrastructure will leave people unable to access school places, secure health care or even move freely on our road and rail network.

WHAT HAS MR BROWN ACTUALLY ANNOUNCED?
Here is an extract:
“In two eras of the last century – the interwar years and the 1950s onwards – Britain made new housebuilding a national priority. Now through this decade and right up to 2020 I want us – in environmentally friendly ways using principally brownfield land and building eco towns and villages – to meet housing need by building over a quarter of a million more homes than previously planned, a total by 2020 of 3 million new homes for families across the country.
“So for England we will raise the annual housebuilding target for 2016 from 200,000 to 240,000 new homes a year.
“We propose a new Housing Bill which will support and encourage initiatives on the ground by local authorities and other authorities and to do this will bring together English Partnerships with the Housing Corporation to create a new homes agency charged with bringing surplus public land into housing use to deliver more social and affordable housing and support regeneration. This will include new partnerships with local authorities, health authorities and the private and voluntary sectors to build more housing made affordable by shared equity schemes and more social housing responsive to individual needs.
“The Planning Bill will implement the Eddington and Barker reports to speed up the development of the major infrastructure projects that Britain needs to facilitate economic and housing growth, and to speed up planning generally.
“The Planning Gain Supplement Bill – to ensure the public receive benefit from planning gain – is provisional because if prior to the Pre-Budget Report a better way is identified of ensuring local communities receive significantly more of the benefit planning gain to invest in necessary infrastructure including transport – and it is demonstrated that these are a better alternative – the Government will be prepared to defer next session’s legislation.”
READ THE FULL SPEECH HERE