Category: Missed a ThameNews story?

A new planning application – the fourth – has been submitted for a ‘Care Plus’ home for retired elderly on the controversial Elms site in Upper High Street, Thame, after a previous application for a care home was withdrawn earlier in the year.

The application is for: The erection of a ‘Housing with Care’ development (Use Class C2) and a communal residents centre; the creation of new public open space; the provision of new pedestrian/cycle links from Upper High Street to Elms Road and Elms Park; repairs and alterations to the boundary walls and entrance of Elms House; and associated infrastructure works and landscaping.

The applicant is again Rectory Homes Limited, this time together with FirstPort Retirement Property Services – The latter made the news back in January 2018, when residents at a retirement property in Bridport were reported to have been ‘trapped’ in their own homes for a week, when their lift broke, this just months after residents at retirement housing in Ipswich, managed by the same company, were reported to have been trapped in their homes four times in six months due to the lifts in their building breaking down. Again, in November 2017, the same thing happened at assisted living flats in Braintree, when some residents were apparently trapped in upper floor flats for a week.

Fire prosecution

The year before, FirstPort Retirement Property Services (operating as Peverel Ltd at the time, later rebranding) were reported as having pleaded guilty to four charges and fined thousands of pounds, after an 87-year-old perished in a fire at a residential home in Surrey, in 2011.

The new care home application

In a pre-planning consultation between the applicants with SODC, Planning Officer, Joan Desmond, she advised the applicants in a letter that: “…any plan must comply with the relevant parts of the Development Plan, the Core Strategy which was adopted in December 2012, the saved policies of the South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2011 and The Thame Neighbourhood Plan (TNP). Any development which is not in accordance with an up-to-date development plan should be refused unless ‘material considerations’ indicate otherwise.”

She advised the applicantsThe Thame Neighbourhood Plan (TNP) (Policy HA4) identifies the land at the Elms to be allocated for residential development for no more than 45 homes; this latest plan is for 80 units – 79 apartments and two houses.

Pressure on local services

Joan Desmond also advised that: “Whilst there is some need identified to make provision for our aging population, depending on the number of occupiers from outside the local area, the proposal would place additional pressure on local services and makes no provision for CIL to mitigate this impact.” (Care Homes have become the ‘go-to’ option for developers as they are excused from providing any affordable housing element and are zero-rated with regard to developer contributions towards local infrastructure.)

Environmental benefits

On the positive side, she said: “In environmental terms, the proposal has some benefits in providing housing in a sustainable town centre location, providing for the long term management of veteran trees and provision for additional pedestrian and cycle access to the town centre. The proposal would also result in reduced traffic generation compared to the extant planning permission (Ed. granted some time ago for 45 homes – see LINK). Against this, the proposal would harm the character and appearance of the Conservation Area and the setting of The Elms.”

The Officer’s advise concludes: “The revised scheme would still conflict with Policy CSH4 of the Core Strategy and Policies H9 and H10 of the TNP. the revised NPPF ( National Planning Policy Framework) makes it clear that where a planning application conflicts with an up-to-date development plan permission should not normally be granted.

‘Harm’ would outway public benefits

“The development would be contrary to the development plan as a whole and would not amount to sustainable development in view of the environmental harm to heritage assets. I consider that the harm is not outweighed by the public benefits of the proposal.”

You can see details of the application (including the full pre-planning advise) on SODC’s website by clicking this link: HERE

LORD Williams’s Lower School students have been busy making poppies and writing poetry for Remembrance Day and have created some exceptional displays of their work.

Students were taught to crochet during Humanities Club by Amy Hackett from the Technology department and the school’s English Faculty organised poetry workshops and homework tasks.

Melissa Lancashire, Teacher of English and Humanities at the school, who led on this work, said: “We felt it was important for students to know about the wonderful work Thame Remembers and Thame Town Council have done in researching and commemorating those servicemen from the local area. I hope the students engage with the displays and remembrance events, and start to reflect on the enormity and significance of events 100 years ago.”

The school will be holding a two Minute Silence on Friday, November 9,  to commemorate the Fallen.

THE public launch of a Thame Community Land Trust (CLT), which will provide affordable homes for local people, will happen ‘in the near future’, according to the man leading the project.

Cllr Bob Austin, who Chairs the Thame Neighbouhood Plan Continuity Committee, reported the progress of the Thame CLT at a meeting of the committee tonight (Tuesday, 06/11).

The money for the Legal formation of a CLT is in hand, he reported, and the various Working Parties involved are working well, but that ‘the missing part of the jigsaw’ is the long-delayed Housing Needs Survey, from South Oxfordshire District Council.

Cllr Austin has now escalated the need for an updated Housing Needs analysis for Thame to the Leader of SODC, Cllr Jane Murphy, asking her to review the Thame CLT’s progress, which her council is blocking.

“We wait, hopeful of some action!” he concluded.

DEMOLITION work has now begun of the old Thame Police Station in Greyhound Walk, despite opposition from both the district and town councils, following a successful second appeal to a planning inspector on September 28, 2018.

The site was sold by Thames Valley Police to Churchill Retirement Living Ltd. under an agreement made in 2013. An initial planning application for retirement homes on the site was refused in 2014. A subsequent planning appeal brought about by Churchill was also turned down in early 2016. Churchill sought permission again for a revised scheme of 41 retirement flats, later in 2016.

Although now effectively being built within planning law, the Town Council has expressed concerns about the amount of amenity space, potential noise and air quality issues and where residents may park their vehicles. The council has also said that visitors, delivery companies and support services may also have problems with access and parking. In in a letter of opposition to the plans, sent to the planning inspector, Thame’s Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Officer wrote:

“The design leads to a natural height restriction to the site’s parking area and main entrance. This will certainly prevent access by emergency and patient transfer ambulances, day care minibus transport, many delivery vehicles and all of the District’s refuse vehicles. The main access is off a short, sloping approach road that has a no-waiting restriction, applied because of highways safety concerns.”

Legal advice

Having taken legal advice about challenging the planning inspector’s decision that there would be significant cost and little chance of the challenge succeeding, the town council has now said: “With regret, the decision has therefore been made to take no further action in this specific matter. The Town Council is deeply disappointed at this outcome and will continue to do all it can to prevent being overruled by such poor decisions in the future.”

THAMES Valley Police has issued advise to dog owners today, following an incident in Elms Park, Thame, last Saturday (27/10), when a dog was killed by another dog.

A police spokesman said that following the incident being reported to them, ‘it was decided that no police action was required.’ The surviving dog has now been destroyed.

The police statement reads:

We have recently seen an increase in reports of dog attacks. We would like to remind dog owners to take reasonable steps to keep your dog under control by considering the following:

Consider keeping your dog on a lead in public places
Ensure your dog is comfortable off a lead and will respond to your recall
Use a muzzle if you are concerned about your dog in public
Keep your dog on a lead when near livestock
See advice from the local Vet Surgery if you have any concerns
It is your responsibility to ensure that your dog is under control at all times.

Your dog must be wearing a collar with an identity tag that has the owners name and address on it – just a telephone number is not enough.

For more information on this issue and ways to report crime, please visit the Thames Valley Police website.

THAME’S Service of Remembrance will take place at the Memorial Gardens on Sunday, November 11, 2018. The procession, which will include Town Councillors, members of the Royal British Legion and other community groups, will assemble outside the Town Hall at 10.30am ready to proceed to the War Memorial.
Following the service everyone is  invited to Christchurch for refreshments.

A copy of the Order of Service will be available to download from the Town Council’s website at www.thametowncouncil.gov.uk/remembrance. Copies will also be available at the Information Centre and will be distributed at the Memorial Gardens on the morning of the service.

In the evening, a Beacon will be lit at the War Memorial at 7pm as part of the national Beacon Lighting ‘Battle’s Over’ event. The Mayor of Thame, Ann Midwinter and President of the Royal British Legion will open the event at 6:50pm, and after the event Tay o’ Lay will perform music through the decades commencing with familiar songs from the First World War. The church bells will Ring Out For Peace and the Last Post will also be played.

As 2018 marks the centenary of the end of World War I, a variety of commemorative projects have been undertaken around Thame. Almost 200 homes and businesses in Thame where over 300 servicemen once lived before going to fight in the war will display a poppy, or poppies, in their front window from  November 1 -12. The poppies, printed by Windles, have been coloured in and cut out by local schoolchildren, Scouts, Guides, the Youth Café and Day Centre. Poppies with a black centre represent those who did not return, and a white centre represents those who did. This visual and poignant tribute has been made possible thanks to extensive research by the Thame Remembers project.