Category: Thame news

MEGA Pop Star, Robin Gibb, has given his support to a charity duck race to be held on his land.
Thame Round Table is hosting the duck race on Saturday, June 10, from 10.45am, in the meadow next to Thame Bridge on the Old Crendon Road.
The ducks will be released into the river from the bridge at 11am and ticket holders of the ducks that come in first, second and third will receive a prize in the form of gift vouchers.
Tickets cost

A controversial planning application for the old Rycotewood college site in Thame, will come before the district council on Wednesday – and you can watch over the internet.
Using internet technology, it is now possible to watch South Oxfordshire District Council’s meetings from the comfort of your own home, or anywhere else where internet access is available.
The Council has installed cameras in the council chamber to broadcast planning, cabinet and council meetings on a regular basis. Live and recorded meetings will be available on this site and viewers can send comments in during the broadcasts ? which occur in real time ? and the council is particularly keen to receive people?s views on the quality and usefulness of these ‘webcasts’.
The Rycoyte site application, of over 90 homes, including some affordable housing, will be decided by SODC’s Planning committee on Wednesday, June 7, starting at 6pm.

The Developer, Berkeley Homes, proposes to retain the former workhouse, the gate lodges and one existing dwelling. They intend to demolish the remainder of the buildings and build a total of 98 dwellings.
Of these, 19 units would be created from the conversion of the former workhouse. It is proposed that 39 of the dwellings be affordable units which would comprise:-
13 one-bedroom flats
14 two-bedroom flats
6 two bedroom houses
5 three bedroom houses
1 four bedroom house

The tenure split would be 75% rented and 25% shared ownership.

The open market housing would comprise the following:-
3 one-bedroom units
16 two-bedroom units
11 three bedroom units
14 three/four bedroom units
5 four bedroom units
8 four/five bedroom units
2 five bedroom units

Follow the Link
to watch the webcast.

SIGNIFICANT improvements to bus services to the John Radcliffe Hospital will take place this summer, ahead of the transfer of 1,200 staff to the site in early 2007.
Oxfordshire County Council has been working with bus companies and NHS managers to plan ahead for the transfer of staff from the Radcliffe Infirmary in January, 2007.

Improvements will include increased bus frequency, services from new locations and newer vehicles.

The changes will take place from June 5 and will include a newly enhanced Number 13 service operating directly between the John Radcliffe and the Railway Station. There will also be more frequent buses on this route in the evening and on Sundays.

The 14 service between the John Radcliffe, Banbury Road and the Railway Station will now be operated by Stagecoach using new low floor wheelchair accessible vehicles.

The 600 service between Thornhill Park & Ride, Nuffield and Churchill Hospital will now operate every 20 minutes during its times of operation, where before it only operated every 30 minutes during the daytime.
It will now be operated by RH Transport using new low floor wheelchair accessible buses.
Further significant improvements to the 13 service from Oxford Station and the 10 service from Cowley are planned for October when the Osler Road and Saxon Way bus gates are planned to open.

David Edwards , Transport & Development Planning Manager at Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals said: “Hospitals are open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week which is why it’s important to have a frequent bus service, especially in the evenings and at weekends. Patients, visitors and staff will all benefit by this increased service and will be pleased that with the RI moving to the JR early next year, further improvements to buses to the Headington hospitals are in the pipeline.”

For more information contact Cllr Robertson on 07721 787771.

BE part of a winning formula for children!
Two very lucky people will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet Bernie Ecclestone and join him in rubbing shoulders with the top drivers in the world of Formula One (F1), at this year?s British Grand Prix on June 11.
A fabulous day of activities at the Grand Prix is to be auctioned in aid of the Oxford Children?s Hospital Campaign.
Bids can be made on www.chox.org.uk or email campaign@orh.nhs.uk for this outstanding package which includes:
? A personal invitation from Bernie Ecclestone to join him on his grid walk prior to the Grand Prix
? Helicopter transfers to and from the Silverstone circuit from Banbury
? Two VIP passes to the F1 paddock throughout the day
? Hospitality in the exclusive British Racing Drivers? Club and seats in its private grandstand to watch the race, followed by lunch in the club house

The Children?s Hospital is being built in Oxford on the site of the John Radcliffe Hospital which has a national reputation for medical excellence, research and education. The new, 106-bed Children?s Hospital will bring children?s services under one roof in a child and family-friendly building designed to reduce the stress and anxiety of being ill.
The Hospital Trust provides medical care for up to 2.5 million people, well beyond the people of Oxfordshire. Up to half a million of these patients are children.

For example, its Craniofacial service is one of only four such specialised services in the UK and children travel from as far as the Scottish Highlands and Cornwall. It is anticipated that 47,000 outpatients and 17,000 inpatients will be treated at the hospital every year.
Your bid can make a difference for sick children.

A THAME company has stepped in to rescue the town’s hanging baskets from the possible ravages of drought.
Purite, of Bandit Way, Thame, which manufactures and supplies high quality water purification equipment to hospitals and laboratories, has to test its equipment every day with water. This then becomes wastewater and, rather than throw it away, the company has been looking at ways to recycle it.

Purite stepped in when they heard of the Town Council?s dilemma about how to keep the town?s hanging baskets watered because, although it seems that it won?t stop raining, it?s rumoured there?s a drought!

Three times a week (and possibly more if the sun appears), Purite will supply the Council with sufficient water to keep the town?s flowers blooming.

The company has also offered a temporary home for the Memorial Gardens’ fish when the ponds are emptied for refurbishment in the next few weeks.

THAME’S new Town Mayor, appointed last night at Thame Town Council’s Annual General Meeting, says that he is “looking forward to an interesting and challenging year ahead.”
Cllr Nigel Champken-Woods, is a Conservative councillor and was elected to the town council three years ago. Married to Alison, and a resident of Thame, Nigel is a former Chairman of the Thame Classic Motor Club and currently Chair of the Thame & District Twinning Association.
He was Deputy Mayor in 2004-5, the post to be occupied for this coming year by Lib.Dem. Cllr David Bretherton.

Photo: New Mayor of Thame, Cllr Nigel Champken-Woods (Left) and his Deputy for the coming year, Cllr David Bretherton.

A THAME councillor has raised the question of a lack of NHS dentists in the town, particularly for children.
Speaking at Thame Town Council’s AGM last night, (Tuesday), Cllr David Dodds, said:”There is a growing inequality of health care, particularly dental health care. It would seem that dentists in Thame have concluded that the new NHS contracts do not allow them to offer the quality of service and materials they feel necessary to enable them to offer adequate treatment.
“Dental plans for children cost around

JUST days after Thame’s MP Boris Johnson, declined to sign an Early Day Motion to fight ‘Ghost Town Britain’, the sub-post office in Park Street,Thame, has closed.
(See May 19 report-Main News page)
According to the Manager, the business has declined over recent years, mainly due to the government taking away the pensions allowance from sub post offices and the arrival near-by of the Sainsbury store.
The Post Office managers have suffered from ill health recently, following two robberies and intend to move to Spain.

A resident of Park Street, who wished not to be named, told ThameNews.Net: “I must admit that in recent months I only used the sub post office for the odd stamp or emergency card or wrapping paper. Now, like a lot of things, now its gone I shall miss it and wish I’d used it more. I think it’s a shame that the Post Office didn’t support it more, instead of gradually taking away things like Car Tax renewals and Pass Port applications.
“I feel sorry that all these little shops are going. When my children were younger, it was very convenient for ice creams and drinks but that side of business has been taken away by Sainsbury’s up the road.
“Apart from being very convenient for older people, the post office was a regular meeting place for pensioners on a Monday morning and I feel very sorry for them because they will have to somehow get into town to get their pensions if they don’t have bank accounts.”

Mike Dyer, another resident and ex-user of the Sub Post Office, said: “With the loss of customers going in to collect pensions and allowances, went the sales of incidentals like cigarettes and sweets but the biggest nail in the coffin came when the Park Street post office applied for a National Lottery terminal, only to see it granted to Sainsbury’s.
“I for one, refuse to use the Post Office in town. Its often difficult to find somewhere to park, and there are always queues. I personally go to either Stone, Long Crendon or Haddenham when I am out and about with my business.”

The building has been sold and will be turned into a residential property for which planning permission has been granted.

THAME Town Council will support a proposed Bill to tackle so-called ‘Ghost town’ Britain, even though the town’s MP, Boris Johnson refuses to sign the parliamentary resolution Early Day Motion 641.
The council agreed back in October to support the Sustainable Communities Bill, which will be included in a ballot later in the year, and wrote to Boris asking him to support it.
In a reply to the council, Boris said: “I support genuine local government and believe in the real decentralisation of power to local authorities.”
He further stated that he believed that local authorities are already “over-stretched and under-resourced” and that he did not believe that “further regulatory burden for them is the most effective way of building sustainable communities.”

The lobby group, Local Works, who now have over 260 MPs supporting the Bill, has written to the town council asking it to try to persuade its local MP.

To find out all about The Sustainable Communities Bill, what is means and who Local Works are, see Link

Go to ThameNews.Net Forum and give YOUR views on the future of town centres and what can be done to protect to economic vitality and the environment of a town. Forum

BUSINESS owners and tenants, with premises on a small piece of land between the Buttermarket and the Cornmarket, Thame, are trying to get support from the local authorites to tidy up the area, known as The Shambles.
Part of the difficulty has been that there is no clear ownership of the area, a state of affairs described by Town Cllr, David Dodds, as being ‘a shambles’ in itself, as well as being an appropriate description of the area.
A district council Conservation Area Officer described The Shambles as:”A rather forlorn area largely given over to car parking…and the presence of several unsightly rubbish bins.”
Several of the owners have contacted the Town Council with a plan to taking a partnership approach to improving the area, for which they are prepared to pay, providing local authorities undertake not to take action to romove or prevent the proposals put forward.
The residents’ plan includes a communal bin store and keeping some parking but South Oxfordshire District Council’s view is that there should be no car parking. They would prefer to see the area resurfaced and the rear of 3 Pump Lane used for something that would encourage pedestrians to linger, bringing activity to the courtyard. SODC recognises that rubbish bins may be necessary to the area but feels that they could be ‘rationalised’ or perhaps screened in some way.

After much discussion about the problem at the town council’s Policy and Resources committee meeting on Tuesday evening, councillors voted to offer support to SODC, who may have some funding available, to move the matter forward.