Category: Thame news

A elderly man was pushed and robbed at a Thame ATM machine on Thursday (26/07).
The robbery took place at Barclays bank, in Thame, at around 1.30pm, when A 74-year-old man was at the ATM and was approached by two women. They distracted him and pushed him away from the machine while a man took

PROPOSALS to move Thame’s Cattle market to an out-of-town site, face a rocky road next Wednesday, when district planners will decide to accept or reject Planning Officers’ recommendations to reject the plan.
The plans, to build a new Cattle market adjacent to the Thame Show Ground, will go before South Oxfordshire District Council’s Planning Committee on August 8.
Thame Town Council, however, have recommended Approval of the plans subject to “substantial improved access and egress arrangements for site and the Lea Park Estate” and “Restriction on hours of Cattle Market traffic.”

SODC Planning Officers are recommending that planning permission should be refused for the following reasons:
Quote:
“1. That, having regard to its location, in an attractive area of countryside, beyond the existing built development at Thame, the proposed buildings, and hardstandings and access way, would detract from the rural landscape character and visual amenity of the locality, and the setting of Thame, contrary to Policies G2, G4 and C1 of the adopted South Oxfordshire Local Plan. Insufficient justification exists to justify overriding the policies.

2. That insufficient information accompanies the application to demonstrate that the foul drainage can be adequately dealt with. In the absence of such information, the development would be contrary to Policy EP7 of the adopted South Oxfordshire Local Plan. “

To read more information about the plans and the relevant planning policies relating to the application, visit: Link

COMMUNITY Wardens are expected to be on the streets of Thame by next year, according the the Chief Executive of South Oxfordshire District Council.
Speaking to Thame Council recently, David Buckle said that the wardens, who will compliment the work of police officers and PCSOs (Police Community Support Officers), should be in position by April, 2008.

Mr Buckle was speaking about the dealy in the introduction of the Decriminalisation of Parking, which was due to come into effect next year, but has been delayed for a further year.

Once this happens, Parking will no longer be the responsibility of the police and Traffic Wardens, but will be administerd by the the County Council who will delegate the job to the district council.

Currently, the main car parks in Thame town centre are looked after by the town council and Mr Buckle assured councillors: “I do not want to tread on the toes of this town council. If it wants to continue in its role, I would rather that carry on.”

Mr Buckle added that the district council does not intend to make the introduction of Street Wardens dependent on the introduction of Decriminalisation of Parking.

Photo: Community street wardens in Oxford. (Picture courtesy of BBC.Co.uk

FIRE crews from Thame fire station attended a road traffic collision involving three cars on the M40 near junction six, north bound, yesterday (29/07).
Luckily all the occupants of the cars escaped serious injury but in the current weather conditions, the situation could have been completely different.
Crew Manager, Steve Lockwood, from Thame Fire Station would like to suggest the following:
“In conditions like this people should leave plenty of room between their cars just to give them time to think and get out of the way”. It was raining heavily at the time and this always affects stopping distances.”
Watch Manager, Derek Thatcher, said: “The police always recommend a minimum distance of two seconds between cars but during bad whether this should be doubled”.

Please help Oxfordshire County Council Fire & Rescue Service save lives-especially your own!

For more information log onto ?

www.365alive.co.uk

SOUTH Oxfordshire District Council’s Chief Executive has admitted that his council needs to be more assertive in making sure that developers meet their obligations to provide the appropriate number of affordable homes as part of any new developments.
Talking to Thame Town Councillors last Tuesday, David Buckle said:”Affordable housing, which doesn’t necessarily mean social rented homes, does tend to get squeezed by developers because of the pressure for spending on roads, libraries, etc.
“We are now learning to become more sophisticated when negotiating with developers and say ‘no’ – we want more affordable houses. But as a consequence, some spending on roads and schools etc may have to go by the board.”

Current policy is for 40% of new housing to be ‘affordable’, which is, according to David Buckle, is more likely to be ‘shared equity’ housing, but Thame town councillors, including Cllr David Dodds, have been critical of the new fact that the new, prestigious housing development on the site of the old Rycotewood college site, has very little ‘affordable’ housing despite it being promised.

OVERNIGHT between Thursday 26th July at 23:00hrs and Friday 27th July at 08:30hrs, a property in Cheshire Road, Thame, was burgled. Entry was gained via the front door and cars keys were taken to two vehicles which were then stolen from outside the property.

One vehicle is a Silver Cherokee Jeep part registration number *YO3 XW* and the second vehicle is a grey BMW Z4, part registration number *V06 ND*

If you have seen any suspicious people or vehicles in the area or have any information relating to this message, please call the police on 08458 505 505 and quote URN 302 of 27/07/07.

A Malaysian man, who had been staying with a relative in Thame, died instantly under the wheels of a train, an inquest into his death heard yesterday.
Read full story.

A further person has been charged in connection with the murder of Thea Zaudy, whose burned body was found in Milton Common, near Thame, on July 13.
Lucasz Gajda, aged 25, from the Ealing area of London, was charged yesterday with assisting an offender in the commission of murder after being arrested on Tuesday evening.
He will appear at Oxford Magistrates’ Court this morning (26/07).

LOCAL authorities in Oxfordshire have joined with the British Red Cross to launch of a national flood relief appeal fund to help those affected by the flooding both here in Oxfordshire and in other parts of the country.
OCC is in discussion the Red Cross on how funds will be allocated within Oxfordshire to assist local people who have suffered through the floods of the past few days.
Oxfordshire County Council Chair, Liz Brighouse, said:”Staff from our various organisations are currently in the midst of a huge recovery operation and there are many examples of outstanding teamwork and commitment.
“However we recognise that however hard we work, the floods have caused huge distress and loss to a large number of people, and their problems are likely to continue for some time after the water levels have subsided.
“There are many in the community who want to do their bit to help those who have been badly affected and we feel that supporting a national appeal fund is the best way of helping them to do that. Donations are vital at this stage but we have also received numerous offers of help from volunteers which we will need to co-ordinate over the coming few days and weeks”

Councillor Chrissie Curry, the Mayor of Witney, said: “I fully endorse this Appeal. I have, for the interim, opened a Mayor’s emergency Flood Appeal through the Witney Town Council and opened the account with a donation of

THE name of one of the new streets in the Rycotewood housing development, currently being built on the site of the old Rycotewood college in Thame, is not classy enough to reflect the high price of the new residences – and the town council has been asked to suggest a new name.
Potential buyers of the new homes, in what was to be called ‘Union way’, have asked the district council to change the name to something else that reflects the quality of the new homes being built there. The ‘Union’ was the popular name give to the old Workhouse, which was the original pupose of the old building which has now been converted to prestigeous apartments.
But town councillors, who had chosen the original name at the request of the district council, were not willing to totally change the name, at a meeting of the Planning committee last night. However, they did agree with a suggestion by Cllr Don Butler that the name be altered to ‘Old Union Way’, which councillors agreed “softened” the name somewhat.

Photo: Rycotewood as it looks today, ‘the Sales Suite’ (picture courtesy of Rycotewood Association’s website)