THAME town councillors have called for round-table talks to tackle the empasse that surrounds their taking over of the old Windmill Suite, on a short-term lease.
At a meeting of the council last night, the Town Clerk, Helen Stewart, described the council’s attempts to obtain management of the building for community use as: “..a mind-boggling exercise as the sands keep shifting on a weekly basis.”
She told councillors that one of the problems was that, once the council were able to obtain a one year lease, there would be a three month break clause from Coleman Properties, the site owner – a break that would be likely to put off potential, regular hirers from re-locating.
Mrs Stewart informed councillors that this week, Coleman Properties had been negotiating with a view to selling on the old Thame United Football Club site, and that it was likely in her view that the football club could be passed to another developer by the end of the year.
The new developer is waiting to hear what the town council hopes to achieve.
“Do we want something very similar to the Windmill Suite on the Church Farm site?” asked Mrs Stewart, “or do we want something to compliment that?”
(Thame Football Partnership, which includes Thame United, are seeking to build a new stadium and associated facilities on the Church Farm site, off the Thame by-pass – facilities that could include a club house.)
Cllr Peter Cockayne said that the football club had been closed without notice and that local groups that had used the venue as a regular meeting place, had come to the council very upset because they had felt that they had to one else to turn to.
He pointed out that what the council was proposing was a very short term project and that he feared that any new owner would want to buid on the present car park and building.
“If we (the council) were to spend money and go in there, it would be very short term and we would soon be looking to go somewhere else.
Re-itterating what Val Jonas, of the Cattle Market Action Group (CMAG) had said in a presentation to councillors, Cllr Cockayne said: “Even when the Windmill Suite was up and running as a venue, the town was short of community space.
“We should now look seriously at the Cattle Market project because we need a comprehensive facility that will service the town for 100 years, just as this town hall has done.”
Cllr David Dodds said: “What we need is absolute clarity from Coleman properties as to what their intentions are.”
A spokesperson for Thame Town Council told Thame.Net that it was currently trying to set up a meeting between itself, the developers, the Football Partnership and CMAG, for the second half of August.
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