THE Mayor of Thame, Cllr Nigel Champken-Woods, is to write to a young Long Crendon boy who organised a petition among staff and pupils at his school to ask for help in saving Thame’s toy shop.
The boy, a pupil at Ashfold School, said in an accompanying letter to Thame Town Council that his fellow pupils would have to travel much further to find a toy shop once the Pied Pedaller closes next December, and that this would be very bad for the environment.
The mayor told fellow councillors at their meeting on Tuesday, (20/02)that he would reply to the boy telling him that he was glad to have heard about the shop’s ‘stay of execution’ and that he hoped the shop owners would be able to find some alternative accommodation in Thame in the meantime.
Background
Over six years ago, the owners of Pied Pedaller sold the building in North Street to Oxfordshire County Council who then leased it back to the toy company.
That lease was due to end in June this year but the company asked the county council if it could vacate the building by February 24, for financial reasons. (Toy shops generally depend on the money they make on the run up to Christmas to carry them through the rest of the year, an advantage Pied Pedaller would not have had by closing in February.)
Then came the news that an agreement had been reached for the shop to remain open until the end of the year until demolition work would begin, so that the property did not sit empty for several months.
Caroline Taylor, who is in charge of library services for the county council, has apparently told the town council that the new library is expected to be opened around June, 2009.
A planning application to replace the Pied Pedaller with a new library for Thame, currently being discussed by Oxfordshire County Council and South Oxfordshire District Council, will be for demolition of the existing building and its replacement with a new, purpose build library.
The estimated cost will be
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