Author: Sonja Francis

AS the wet and stormy weather looks set to continue, fire chiefs are asking property owners to carry out a simple survey of their premises and to develop a plan to ensure that flood water is prevented from entering the building and able to flow away naturally.
* Check that drainage grids, guttering and any culvert running through or past a property are clear of debris.
* Home owners who have sewage drain access covers close to the house can reduce the risk of the cover being displaced by placing something heavy on top of it – similar to a large garden pot or ornament.
* Be aware of the contours of the surrounding land or property which may indicate the areas in which flood water will accumulate and be prepared with a stock of sandbags.

Further detailed advice on flood preparation for domestic and commercial premises is given in a county council booklet – visit Link
or go to the Environment Agency’s website www.environment-agency.gov.uk

Your local fire station will also be able to give advice.

Photo: Flash back to last year’s flash flooding in Thame. (Fire Station Officer, Andy Fords reports no wind or water related incidents in the Thame area.)

A bus driver who was seen using a mobile phone as he manoevered his vehicle outside a busy school, has been reported to his employer and the police.
Parent, Cathy Gaulter-Carter, who was showing a County Council officer around the town’s walking and cycling routes, said she could not believe her eyes when she spotted the school bus driver steering the bus load of children from Lord Williams’s Lower school out of the school exit, turn left and then negotiate the busy zebra crossing outside the school with one hand – the other holding the phone up to his ear.
Mrs Gaulter-Carter said: “I cannot believe that this man, who has the safety of our children in his hands, could have acted in such an irresponsible way. There were lots of children milling out of school at the time and his irresponsible behaviour put those young people at risk.”
Mrs Gaulter-Carter complained to the school who said that they were told that the driver had been spoken to, and that the police had said that no action can be taken by them unless the incident was witnessed by two police officers.
Emails have been sent to Motts by Mrs Gaulter-Carter and by the editor of ThameNews.Net, asking what the company’s policy is regarding mobile phone use by their drivers, and what disciplinary action will be taken against the driver, but so far no reply has been received.

Photo: School buses collect pupils from Lord Williams’ school, Towersey Road, just before the white bus on the right is seen to be driven out of the school one-handed, while the driver uses a mobile phone with his left hand.

THAME town councillors have expressed their disappointment that homes currently being built on the old Rycotewood college site will not have double glazing.
Councillor Peter Cockayne told fellow councillors at a meeting of the Planning committee yesterday, that he had been told that apartments being converted from the old Workhouse building on the site, will not be double glazed because Conservation Officers had disallowed it.
The irony of the District Council’s Officers’ decision was not lost on some of those present, who had been discussing the Draft Sustainable Development Strategy for 2007-2010, currently being formulated by South Oxfordshire District Council.
The document states that the strategy will include: “…encouraging developers and architects to specify new buildings and refurbishments with high environmental standards, including energy and water saving measures..”

District and Town Cllr David Dodds, had presented a synopsis of the Draft consultation document explaining that it included a commitment to ensure that the district council’s chosen Contractors in Procurement of services, are fully compliant with sustainability and that Building Control Inspectors would receive training about sustainability.
He called the document: “A very important step forward for what is a very uncertain future.”

The Planning committee agreed to write to the Conservation Officer about decisions regarding the Rycotewood development.

THAME town councillors are to consider spending up to

POLICE are appealing for witnesses after a brand new washing machine, still boxed and wrapped in its plastic, was stolen from a block of flats in Chinnor last week (02/01).
The Samsung P1253 washing machine was delivered to Glynswood House, Glynswood Meadow at 9am. It was taken from the communal area of the block between 11.30am and 1.30pm the same day.

Anyone with information should contact PC Matthew Rantle at Thame Police Station via the Police Enquiry Centre on 0845 8 505 505.

If you don?t want to speak to police and don?t want to leave your name, contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

THE rolling out of a new community policing project in the Thames Valley area is coming to the Thame area.
A key part of this new strategy, which is a partnership between Thames Valley Police, local communities and the district council, is for public meetings to take place in each area of the neighbourhood.
The meetings are an opportunity for the local community to tell police and council representatives what particular policing, community safety and quality of life issues concern them. From this meeting priorities decided upon by the community will become apparent and taken to a Neighbourhood Action Group that will be set up, probably in conjunction with the existing Thame Community Safety Group.

The Thame public meeting will be at Thame Town Hall on Wednesday, January 17, between 7.30pm and 9pm.