Category: Thame news

POSITIVE news on crime in the Thame area has been delivered by the town’s Local Neighbourhood Sergeant, Sergeant Neil Anns.

 

Reporting in person to Thame Town Council, Sgt Anns said that crime figures were down with a year-on-year reduction of 20% in violent crime and a 41% reduction in anti-social behaviour. During the summer months, he said, there had been a targeted effort by his team resulting in a number of offenders being arrested and charged. Some have received custodial sentences and others restraining orders preventing them from visiting the town.

Shoplifting offences down

The officer reported that burglary from dwellings was down, bucking the national trend and that vehicle crime figures remained stable. Also, much work had been done to reinvigorate Shop Watch and as a consequence, there was evidence that there had been a marked reduction in shop lifting in the town. He said that the the number of Officers in the Neighourhood Policing Team had increased, and that there was now two PCs and seven PCSOs. The increase in numbers allowed the police to have a more visible presence and to deal more effectively with criminality. (Ed. PCSO Ryan Dollery has left the Thame Neighbourhood team and begans his training for his new PC role with TVP on Monday, November 5)

Warning of ‘huge impact’ of police pension changes

Sgt Anns acknowledged an increase in Precept (the force’s share of the Community Charge money raised from households across the district) this year for police funding of £432m. On a less positive note however, he said that recent information suggested that the Government intends to change the way the counting and collecting of police pension funds takes place which, if agreed, will equate to a cut of £450m in police budgets. Considering 92% of police budgets goes on staffing this will have a huge impact, he said. (See LINK)

Working with youth

Sgt Anns said the police were working the Thame Youth Projects Group and supported their ambitions for an outreach worker and to have a permanent home at Southern Recreation Ground. The police had also provided funding for the group.

Cllr questions police’s ‘disproportionate’ response to Park Street collision

Cllr Mike Dyer asked Sgt Anns about the police response to an incident in Park Street, Thame, recently, when a pedestrian was in collision with a taxi. Cllr Dyer praised the quick actions of residents and the prompt response of the Emergency Services, but ask whether to appearance of ‘at least seven police cars was a little disproportionate!’ Sgt Anns replied that he would be very surprised if that number of police cars had been available that night, but that an investigation into the incident is on-going and that there was a suggestion of criminality associated with the incident, to which there is ‘more than meets the eye’. The pedestrian is fine, he confirmed when asked about the man’s medical condition.

A crime-free Thame fair

The Mayor of Thame, Cllr Ann Midwinter, congratulated the local policing team on a crime-free Thame fair this year.

Parking enforcement

Sgt Anns reported that in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire the local authorities are responsible for on-street parking enforcement, and that South Oxfordshire District Council is currently looking into taking over parking enforcement from the police in our district. The officer said that he would expect the change to happen within the next 18 months.

NB The local police have made it clear in the past that, because of a lack of resources and pressure to deal with more major criminality, illegal parking in the town has not been a priority for them. (See LINK)

Meet the local policing team to talk about any policing concerns you may have – The next sessions are being held at the Co-op Thame: 06/12/18 at 10am and at Waitrose Thame: 21/11/18 at 3pm & 14/12/18 at 11am

THAME Town Council wants community involvement in making its next annual budget, and is hosting a drop-in session at the Town Hall from 5:30pm until 8pm, on Tuesday, December 4, 2018.

 

The event will give an opportunity for any resident of Thame to discuss the draft budget in detail with the Town Clerk and members of the Budget Working Group. There is potential then for the Budget Working Group to refine the budget still further, in response to feedback from the community of Thame.

In 2019-20, if there is no further change to the current draft budget, the average whole household (i.e. Band D) will contribute just under £3 per week (through the precept portion of Council Tax) towards the funding of all the projects, functions and services that Thame Town Council provides for the community.

If anyone has any comments on whether £3 (or a different amount?) is a reasonable amount, or suggestions on where the council should spend more, or less, or the same, it wants to hear them.

You can read the whole statement on the town council’s website HERE

THAME Town Council has said that it will not support a planning application for an indoor sports and leisure complex, including squash courts and a gym, proposed at the site of a former carpet warehouse on the industrial estate in Wenman Road, Thame.

Much of the evidence of need presented in support of new indoor facility like this ‘is anecdotal’, said councillors and that no details had been submitted regarding highways or transport matters. They were concerned that commercial vehicles would be maneuvering within the shared car park area with people of varied ages and mobility.

What IS needed

What Thame DOES need, said councillors, is a Climbing Wall, and other councillors said that they had been lobbied by enthusiasts for a Boxing Club in the town, boxing facilities being part of the proposal for this site. Cllr Paul Cowell said that he thought the town did need another gym because that at the Thame Leisure Centre was too expensive.

He raised the possibility that the area could be left with an empty building that might eventually come up for housing, and that some advice about what might be more acceptable should be given to the applicant. Councillors heard that there had been three or four other offers for the building, some to sub-divide the space, but that the building’s owner had not been keen. This application stated that an electrical installation company would use at least part of the office space on the site.

Thame jobs

Maintaining the ‘integrity’ of the Neighbourhood Plan is vital, suggested Cllr Bob Austin, in that the town must not lose employment sites, though an updated Employment Needs Analysis was needed. He added though; “There is a job for anyone who needs a job in Thame, apparently.”

Cllr Mike Deacock said that although ‘there are holes in the application’ it should not be discounted completely. Although the planning committee as a whole voted to recommend refusal of the application, last year’s Mayor of Thame, Tom Wyse, voted against the recommendation.

More Planning News

FOLLOWING representation from a residient, Thame Town Council will not support an application to enlarge a block of apartments which the developer has claimed is not vacant – despite the fact that none of the flats had been sold.

Speaking at Thame Town Council’s Planning & Environment committee, Mr Allan Ruxton and Mrs Patricia Ruxton said that if this new application, for the erection of a second floor extension to the existing two storey block of flats, comprising 2 x 2 bedroom and 2 x 1 bedroom flats at Milton House, Station Road, were to be approved, it would result in four balconies overlooking their property and neighbouring properties.

Neighbours not consulted

Mrs Ruxton had alerted nearby residents to the proposals as they had not been included in the consultation and said that they were ‘horrified’. Mrs Ruxton had written to the District Council to raise her concerns and offered a copy of her letter to the Town Council as it had not yet been published on the District Council’s website.

The planning committee concluded that the proposals, if approved, would be visually overbearing; there would be loss of privacy and daylight; there would be light pollution; the design was poor and not in keeping with the character of the area and the height would be greater than the current tree level. The comittee also concluded that parking provision was inadequate and would result in on-street parking in an area that was already busy and congested, and that the increased traffic would have an adverse impact on vehicle and pedestrian safety.

It was noted at the meeting that if the additional flats were built, the consequential increased number could be subject to the 40% affordable housing policy and CIL (Community Infrastructue Levy) contributions.

The full planning application can be seen HERE

New women’s wear shop for Thame?

THE women’s wear clothing brand, Mint Velvet, is applying for planning permission to make alterations to 5, Upper High Street, (formerly Green’s Furnishings). The plan has the support of Thame Town Council, provided there are no objections from the District Conservation Officer.

A planning application for a restaurant at the site had already been approved by South Oxfordshire District Council. See LINK

DID you know that 1 in 3 people rescued from house fires in Oxfordshire are rescued from cooking fires? Or that distraction is the main cause of cooking fires?

It’s easy to get distracted – the phone rings, someone’s at the door or a TV show catches your attention. Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service are currently running an awareness campaign about the dangers of cooking fires and have issued the following advice:

If you need to leave your cooking, even for a couple of minutes:

* Turn down the heat
* Set the timer
* or ask someone to watch it for you

Or could find that Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service firefighters join you for dinner!

To find out more visit: www.365alive.co.uk/cooking 

Link to the video: https://youtu.be/wF0tltzumZQ

EX Mayor of Thame, Cllr Don Butler, joined the town’s friends from the Thame’s twin town in France,in the pouring rain, to lay a wreath during Montesson’s Armistice Remembrance service.

Recalling his visit, Don said: “The Mayor of Montesson, Jean Francois Bel, contacted our twinning association and asked if we would like to represent Thame at their Armistice Remembrance service and ceremony on November 11. Also invited was Dr Willi Linkens, the Mayor of Montesson’s German twin town, Baesweiller, so, all three countries were represented on this very special occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the end of World War I.

“It was a privilege to lay a poppy wreath on behalf of the Thame Twinning Association, in remembrance of our own fallen, and also those of France and Germany, who never made it back home. It was a very poignant occasion and a great honour to be there, united in our thanks to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for us all.”

Back in Thame, members of Thame and District Twinning Association laid wreaths on behalf of both its organisation and Montesson Twinning Committee, during Thame’s commemorations on November 11.

THAME came together on Sunday, November 11, to commemorate 100 years since the Armistice ended World War One, and to mark the culmination of the four-year long, Thame Remembers project.

 

 

In glorious autumn sunshine, the generally sombre mood concentated the thoughts of the hundreds of all ages, gathered infront off the War Memorial, to jointly focus on the sacrifice of the millions who lost their lives in the so-called ‘Great War’ so that those who remained behind could be free from tyranny.

As a giant screen rolled through the names of the 212 Thame, WW1 casualties, prayers, poems and exhortations were read by the Mayor of Thame, Ann Midwinter, the Rev Alan Garratt and others, and a lone trumpeter played the Last Post before a two-minutes silence, followed by the traditional Reveille. Then, the town’s organisations, civic leaders, armed services, police, fire and rescue and other civilian services, filed before the war memorial to lay wreaths of poppies on its steps.

With perfect timing, two RAF helicoptors flew low over the tree tops above the scene, a reminder that our uniformed services are still there, ready to protect us if conflict should ever again disturb the peace the last two generations have been fortunate enough to enjoy.

Later in the evening, one of hundreds of Beacons around the county was lit, to signify Battle’s Over, A Nation’s Tribute. This was followed by the solo voice of Anne Reid_Hansen singing movingly, the Requiem mass motet, Pie Jesu. But as the whole nation had done when the Armistice finally came after four long, years, in 1918, the mood lightened and the band Tay O’Lay performed songs from every decade starting with that of WW1, as the crowd that had gathered in the night air, sang along and danced in the street.

As a fitting end to a day of tears, memories, and a taste of the hard-hitting impact of wars on a community – as portrayed particularly on-point in the theatre production the night before, Ten Tommies from Thame – the Thame Remembers project reached its final episode, with a coming together of many of those who had played their part, for a ‘thank you’ dinner and entertainment at the Spread Eagle Hotel. Hosts, David Bretherton and Mike Dyer related the achievements of the project and some of its most memorable episodes and challenging deliveries.

Some of those present shared personal stories of their journeys and adventures, travelling to war graves all over the world to delivery special, Thame Remembers crosses to the resting places of Thame’s war dead. Members of Thame Players sang excerpts from their recent production of ‘Oh what a Lovely War’ and Peter Lambert and Kath Bacon reprised their emotional scene in Ten Tommies from Thame, when Ernest Harbour (Peter) discovers that his missus, Molly (Kath) has heard that he plans to go to Cowley Barracks with nine fellow Thamensians, to sign up for the army. Later, the couple repeated their final scene together, where Ernest sings ‘I’m coming home Molly’, and there was hardly a dry eye in the house!

However, the jollities soon returned and like any good party, ended with a very special cake!

And finally….

Every year since November 11, 2018, the Armistice is commemorated and every year, we’ve come to know the traditional exhortation ‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old…etc’ and ‘When you go home tell them of us and say; For your tomorrow we gave our today’. But this year, Thame resident Nick Rogers, summed up Thame’s poignant coming together in the morning of this extra special Remembrance Day, beautifully when he was moved to post the following poem on social media:

The centre of Thame was heaving
More than I’ve ever seen before
Adults, Women, Children
Here to commemorate the War

Our Lord even made the sun come out
And kept the rain away
Nothing left to spoil
This very special day

I came to remember those brave men
Who often lived life in a trench
It was their home, while they were fighting
In Dirt, Disease and stench

Associations laid there wreaths
They handled with great care
Each one stopping for a second
To say a little prayer

We had to wait awhile
For the fly pass overhead
But it gave me extra minutes
To Think about the dead

All in all a wonderful day
Thame Had surely done it’s best
For all our forgotten servicemen
Who are now all laid to rest