Category: Thame news

THAME Town Council is becoming increasingly frustrated with, what one Councillor has described as, it ‘hitting beaurocratic buffers’ in attempting to move forward the town council’s actions and policies for the town.

 

 

A meeting of the town council’s Neighbourhood Continuity Committee (NPCC) last night, Tuesday, May 22, discussions around the town council’s Sports Strategy, buses, the future of the Cattlemarket site, future housing numbers for Thame and progress towards a Community Land Trust to provide affordable housing, drew expressions of extreme frustration with the district and county councils, and government departments, obstructing progress in these areas.

Money for sports clubs held up

Important questions that need answering about spending money already allocated for Thame’s new sports facilities, including the new cricket club pavilion, money for the swimming and hockey clubs, and new changing rooms at the rugby club, are still awaiting an answer – after seven changes of the officer responsible at South Oxfordshire District Council!

Cllr Helena Fickling said: “Because of continual changes in personnel, we seem always to be taking one step forward and two back! It some cases, it seems to be a case of a higher up level of obfuscation and obstruction.”

One piece of positive news was shared by the Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Officer, Graeme Markland, who had written to the new, relevant Officer at SODC about items in the methodology of the Thame Sports Strategy, and had received a response asking ‘how can we help you?’ and a meeting has been set up.

Transport projects delayed

In a verbal report from the Transport Plan Working Group of the NPCC, the Town Clerk, Graham Hunt, said that the town council was receiving more and more suggestions from the public about what the council should be doing, such as a 20mph speed limit on the estates, speed limits on the Ring Road, pot-holes, unblocking footpaths etc, but it, the town council, needed resources from Oxfordshire County Council to do some of these things.”

The NPCC Chair, Cllr Bob Austin, said: “There seems to be no coherent plan from OCC; all we can do is keep a list.”

Referring to investigations into the provision of a local, ‘Hopper bus’ for the town, Cllr Bob Austin said: “It would seem that we are faced with lethargy from Oxfordshire County Council over the Hopper bus. We are being held up by the lack of action by others.”

Future of  Thame Cattlemarket site

It was reported from the Community Facilities Working Group (CFWG) that the relevant department at SODC had been chased ‘yet again’ about future plans for the Thame Cattlemarket site, once the cattle market moves out when its lease on the site ends. In response to a comment that there were rumours of SODC making unilateral decisions about the site, Cllr David Dodds, who is also a district councillor, responded: “Nothing has been decided about the Cattlemarket at district council level to my knowledge.” (SODC’s current Local Plan includes ‘ a mixed-use development on the cattle market’)

Cllr Mary Stiles said that some members of CMag (Cattle Market Action Group) who have been lobbying for a large community centre-type facility on the site, had visited Community Centres at Chesham and Radley to see what provision other towns had provided for their communities.

Slower progress for revised Neighbourhood Plan 

On the subject of the revision of the Thame Neighbourhood Plan, Thame Town Council says it, and other parish councils with which it has been sharing problems and ideas, faces ‘frustration’ over a lack of information sharing by SODC Officers and the stalling of the completion of the district council’s Local Plan to 2033 (delayed by a possible revision of housing numbers and a re-appraisal of SODC’s preferred sites for housing developments).

Expressway

Following a recent meeting with other parishes and lobby groups concerned about the route of the government’s proposal for a new Oxford to Cambridge Express Way, Thame Town Council representatives that attended spoke of their surprise that that neither they, nor most of the other parishes at the meeting, had heard anything about a consultation exercise that was apparently carried out two years ago. Ian Stewart MP was at the meeting as the Government’s ‘Expressway Champion’ to hear questions and idea about the proposal. (His full title is Government Champion for the Oxford-Milton Keynes- Cambridge Arc and member of Transport Select Committee)

This lack of inclusion in a consultation constituted ‘a serious mis-communication’ suggested Cllr Bob Austin, presumably held up at District Council level, having failed to ‘trickle down’ to the parishes. Whether this had been deliberate or not, he was unsure. Cllr David Dodds reiterated Iain Stewart’s reassurance that there are currently no plans for a route and that it was unlikely to go South of the area because it must include Milton Keynes.

Spanner in the works for Thame’s affordable homes ambitions

Finally in this litany of frustration at delays and non-communication from above, came a report that Thame’s ambition to form a Community Trust and build affordable homes for local people, had ground to a halt because the release of funding agreed by SODC for a ‘Needs Analysis’ for such a project had been held up for several weeks because of a change of personnel in SODC’s Housing Team.

“We now have new people to convince of our case. It’s very frustrating,” said Cllr Bob Austin. “We wait and hope for a positive response. Meanwhile, we can see from the planning applications coming in that local people are trying to create homes within the bounds of their own properties in Thame for their relations.

“It may be that we will have to do this ourselves or may be even get together with other towns.”

High cost of living locally affecting personnel retainment

District and Town Cllr, David Dodds explained: “There is a new chief executive at South Oxfordshire District Council who is restructuring all departments at the council. Some Officers have left; there always has been a big turnover at SODC, partly due I suspect to the high expense of living in the area having to work at Milton Park. It is very difficult for some people.”

THAMES Valley Police is warning residents in the Thame area to be vigilant following a series of courier fraud incidents, which have involved offenders posing as police officers.

 

 

Scams are constantly changing and becoming ever more complex and harder to spot. Fraudsters are very convincing and recent reports in the Thame area have seen them requesting your assistance to ‘help catch a thief.’

On Friday, May 11, an 80-year-old female resident in Thame received a phone call from a man claiming he was a Superintendent from the Metropolitan Police, advising her that there had been a fraudulent transaction on her account and £4,800 had been withdrawn. The man went on to say that this attempt had been intercepted and all funds had been returned to the victims account. He then suggested to the victim she should call 999 so that she could be satisfied that she was not being scammed.

Offenders will often use this call-back trick to gain your trust, leading you to believe you have ended one call and redialled a new number. However, the offender merely leaves the line open so unfortunately you are still speaking to the original fraudster.

The victim was then asked to withdraw £4,600 from a bank on Thame High Street so that the bank notes could be checked to see if they were counterfeit. The offenders then arranged to collect the cash from the victim’s house using a code word.

It is unlikely that this money will ever be recovered.

Another Thame resident received a phone call on Friday, April 20, telling them that they owed a large amount of unpaid tax from a previous year. They were warned that if it was not paid immediately a warrant would be executed for their arrest. The victim was understandably very frightened. They were instructed not to contact any third parties, especially the police, and briefed on how to engage with bank staff.

The victim attended the bank on three separate occasions and transferred over £12,000 to the fraudsters account before bank staff became suspicious. Bank staff then contacted the police who were able to stop two of the transactions. As a result, most of the funds were retrieved.

There is a Banking Protocol where banks have agreed to notify the police of all suspicious and out of character withdrawals made by individuals, but fraudsters are attempting to avoid this detection by briefing victims with bogus stories. Fraudsters will often have access to genuine, large corporation bank accounts with worldwide links where fraudulent funds are moved and transferred undetected across the world at the press of a button.

Your bank or the police would never ask you to meet them at a location and hand over money or anything valuable.

Your bank or the police will never call you asking you to verify your personal details or PIN by phone or offer to pick up your card by courier. Hang up if you get a call like this.

If you have any doubts regarding the legitimacy of the call please disconnect your telephone at the wall, plug the phone back in and call 101.

For more advice about how to protect yourself against fraud and identity theft from Thames Valley Police please visit the LINK HERE

 

THAME Paper Boy, Dominic Mutero, met with town councillors and sponsors of the Thame Town Awards on Wednesday, May 16, to receive his Service with a Smile Town Award, at a unique location for award presentations!

As Dominic had been unable to attend the Town Awards ceremony earlier this month, his award presentation by the Mayor of Thame, Ann Midwinter, took place at Atalay’s Kebab Van in Thame, the Atalay family being the sponsors of the Service With A Smile award this year. Resul Atalay also presented him with a voucher to celebrate the Town Award’s tenth birthday this year.

Family and friends of Dominic came along to celebrate, along with Thame Town Cllrs Dyer and Champken-Woods, and Annette from The Chocolate Box, where Dominic works.

Dominics citation read: “Dominic was described as having an admirable work ethic by his customers – unfailingly reliable, polite and always smiling. As a newspaper-deliverer for The Chocolate Box in Thame, he completes his newspaper round in all weathers (including in this winter’s snow) before going to college and almost never misses a round or runs late. Furthermore, he goes above and beyond expectations to help his customers where he can.”

Ataly’s Kebab Van is itself familiar with Award ceremonies, having won twice in two years for its owners, the UK Kebab Van of the Year Award !

WHILST debate over Brexit rages on over much of the country, here in Thame French and English people were enjoying a weekend of culture-sharing, fun and friendship.

After 17 years, the twinning between Thame and the Parisean suburb of Montesson, in France, reached a milestone on Sunday, May 13, when a delegation from the two towns, including a teacher from John Hampden primary school, met to launch a twinning partnership between JHS, and a primary school in Montesson.

Plans were set in motion to welcome some of the pupils and families of the Thame school to visit the Montesson stall at the lights switch-on event in Thame at the end of November, and in the future to hopefully organise exchanges of emails, drawings, photographs and music CDs between the two towns’ schools, and even for skyping sessions.

The inaugural meeting, which took place in Costa Coffee, included Laura McRonald, who teaches French at John Hampden School, the Mayor of Montesson, Jean Francois Bel and his wife Andrée, Huguette Fouché, a Deputy Mayor of Montesson, the Deputy Mayor of Thame and Chair of the Thame and District twinning Association, Linda Emery, the President of the Montesson Twinning Committee, Anne Gillet, Phillipa Town of the group, Thame for Europe, Elisabeth Charriere who works with students of English at the Montesson primary school, her partner Michael Gitlin and Sonja Francis.

The group from Montesson arrived by coach on Friday evening (May 11), to be greeted by their Thame host families before going home with them to share an evening meal, and to bed to rest for a busy weekend of activities. These included a guided tour of the Oxford Colleges in the morning on Saturday, before eating a packed lunch in the old Court Room, courtesy of the staff of Oxford Town Hall.

During the tour of the winding, narrow lanes that the visitor to Oxford rarely sees, the visitors were shown the Radcliffe Camera, the Sheldonian Theatre and library, Brasenose College where David Cameron was educated, the house of Halley – of Comet fame, and most of the famous colleges that make up Oxford University.

Later that evening, a meal together and a Barn dance was organised in the stunning medieval barn attached to Towersey Manor, courtesy of Marie Jean Barnett. English traditional barn-dancing proved to be quite challenging for the French – and many of the English too! But everyone had great fun trying!! The band, TRACTION provided the music and the ‘caller’ showed great patience and tact towards his pupils!

And, did you know? The expression ‘Do-si-do’ in barn dancing, actually originates from the French ‘dos à dos’ meaning ‘back-to-back’ ?

A cake, celebrating three significant birthdays among the two twinning groups, was made by Norma Laver of A Piece of Cake in Thame, who with her husband, David, a staunch supporter of Thame Twinning, mingled with the guests, mysteriously closely resembling the royal couple, due to marry next Saturday!

 

Anne Gillet, speaking on behalf of the Montesson contingent, said: “Everybody – unanimously- spent an amazing weekend; rich with joy, friendship, discoveries and much fun!

“Every moment was just perfectly organised and the dance evening was a real highlight! In the coach we all shared our recollections of barn dancing. That was just fantastic !!! The dinner was excellent and the atmosphere so great. We’re looking very much forward to coming next year again ! On the shuttle back home, we shared pieces of Norma’s wonderful and delicious EU cake!”

In September, members and friends of Thame and District Twinning Association will make the return visit to Montesson for a weekend that will include festivities for the annual fête du pâté à la Carmen.

Linda Emery, for Thame Twinning, was delighted with the way the weekend went, and said: “There have been many links between the residents of Thame and Montesson over the last 17 years; this is the first time we have had a Barn dance! We danced away to a wonderful ceilidh band for most of the evening and apparently, our guests are already talking about coming back next year!”

For more information about Thame and District Twinning Association, go to here LINK HERE

A man from Thame, who spent time in prison after an incident in a Thame pub, has been awarded compensation from the police regarding, what he described as ‘an unlawful search’of his vehicle.

 

Peter Butler, formally of Glenham Road, Thame, was found guilty of Actual Bodily Harm (ABH), and two counts of common assault in March 2016.

On January 24, 2016, Mr Butler’s vehicle was parked in a private car park in Swan Walk, Thame. A police officer, PC Aaron Walker, was handed a car key that belonged to Mr Butler, that had been dropped during an incident in the Swan Hotel, Thame. He then went to Mr Butler’s vehicle, entered and carried out a full search without Mr Butlers knowledge or authority.

Mr Butler said: “when I was handed back my car keys by Thames Valley Police I was shocked to find when I went to pick it up that it had been ransacked with the belongings that where in a locked glove compartment all across the front seat and foot well. The boot has also been searched and my property disturbed. PC Aaron Walker had admitted searching my car although he had no authorisation, nor lawful reason to do so. I informed the Chef Constable of Thames Valley Police that I was prepared to take legal action for trespass and seek compensation.”

A Thames Valley Police spokesperson told Thame.Net: “We compensated Mr Butler £150 but did not accept liablity.”

Previous police apology

Back in In March 2017, Mr Butler complained to Thames Valley Police, saying that there were various inaccuracies in a press release they issued after Mr Butler’s sentencing, which stated that Mr Butler had punched a woman in the head ‘multiple times’.

In November 2017, Thames Valley Police responded to the complaint, accepting that PC Walker’s comment (that Mr Butler had punched a woman in the head multiple times), was “a wrong choice of words.”

Mr Butler was not satisfied with the outcome of Thames Valley Police’s investigation into his complaint, and mounted an appeal.

In December 2017, Thames Valley Police rejected Mr Butler’s appeal, but stated: “It has been accepted that a mistake was made in this matter, in the wording of the press release, and that the service provided to you has fallen short of that which I would expect, for which I offer my apologies.”

Whilst Thames Valley Police did not accept that there was any evidence of deliberate misconduct by PC Walker, they confirmed that ‘strong words of advice’ had been given to him.