Category: Thame news

EXCITING next step for a Thame community-led housing! – THAME Town Council is to go ahead with the launch of a Community Land Trust, to provide social and/or affordable homes for local people. A potential site will now be sought and an analysis of housing needs carried out.

“We now need to get some momentum to achieve this!” said Cllr Bob Austin, speaking at a meeting of Thame Town Council last week, January 16, 2018.

Childrens’ Assessment Centre

EVER wondered what goes on in that new, large building on Chinnor Road, on your left, as you come into Thame is? Well, so did some of Thame’s town councillors. So, they invited Mr James Collins, the Children In Care Engagement Officer in charge there, to go along to a council meeting and explain.

It’s not a Childrens’ Home, explained Mr Collins, but a Childrens Assessment Centre, mainly offering support to families with young people aged 12-17 years, who are at risk, with preventative strategies, working with psychologists, family support workers, and other professionals. Most of the young people only stay for a few nights in one of six rooms with en suit facilities, as most of the work is done within the childrens’ own homes. Mr Collins explained how the young people are involved in the running of the Centre, cooking meals to share with families etc.

The young people catered for at the Centre are also encouraged to take part in outdoor activities and are given educational support. So now you know.

Searching for high risk, vulnerable people who go missing

OXFORDSHIRE Lowland Search and Rescue, known as OxSAR for short, is the group of volunteers that are called out to help the other emergency services when people who may be suicidal or have dimentia, go missing.  As a charity, OxSAR depends on raising the £15-16K it costs them the operate each year, from Corporate fund-raising, Community fund-raising and some money from Thames Valley Police.

Volunteers also raise funds by marshalling at public events such as triathlons and sponsored bike rides. But their current HQ at Thame fire station is now becoming cramped, and with no space to park their special vehicles, but on members’ own driveways, the group is in dire need of a new Headquarters, and are looking to set up a drone team with Thames Valley Police to help in searches.

To find out more about OxSAR, visit their website HERE  and follow then on twitter: @oxsar

FEARS that a lack of enough employment land in Thame could mean the town becoming ‘a dormitory’ town, have been expressed by some town councillors.

Speaking at a recent meeting of Thame Town Council to discuss a planning application for up to 180,000 sq ft of commercial buildings on land North of Rycote Lane, near Thame, Cllr Mike Dyer said that Thame had traditionally had a high number of people living and working in the town, but if the growing gap of suitable employment land within the town was not filled, such a destiny for Thame could not be avoided.

He said that it was his opinion that approval for such speculative development as that being applied for at the Rycote Lane site, should be delayed until public consultation for, and the development of, the revised Thame Neighbourhood Plan. He admitted that this was ‘not likely’.

‘Parasites’

Cllr Bob Austin called such speculative development ‘parasitical’ adding that it makes the management of the Neighbourhood Plan difficult, because the council would be ‘guessing at what might happen around the town and in neighbouring parishes’. “We need robust employment analysis,” he added.

Cllr Ann Midwinter said that it was Permitted Development that had caused the problem; turning offices, like those at the old Angus Fire Armour building, into flats. Goodson’s Yard in Wellington Street, Thame, she added, was waiting to be developed for housing and that the employment sites there were not being taken up. Cllr Helena Fickling wondered how long the Government was going to allow Permitted Development to go on. She feared that the logic would be that Employment development would be allowed and then, at some point in the future, developers could use Permitted Development rights to build houses there!

Permitted Development ‘collateral damage’ says MP

Cllr Mike Dyer said that there was no indication that the government would change Permitted Development rules. In fact, he added, Thame’s MP, John Howell, when challenged at a recent meeting, had said that ‘the impact on Market Towns of Permitted Development, was: “collateral damage!”

Cllr David Bretherton said that it was possible for planning authorities to issue an ‘Article 4 direction’ on a new build, removing Permitted Development rights, thereby requiring planning permission for any change in the future.

At the end of the meeting, Councillors agreed that their collated comments should be sent to the District Planning Officer at South Oxfordshire District Council.

TRUST for Oxfordshire’s Environment, TOE2 for short, Oxfordshire’s independent environmental funder, is seeking ‘creative, ambitious and visionary projects that will deliver real, strategic and lasting benefits to Oxfordshire’s environment’.

Since 2011,  TOE2 has provided more than £1.25million to more than 250 projects across Oxfordshire, supporting better wildlife habitats, better access to green spaces and better ways of reducing our carbon footprint.

If you have a partly developed project or even a good idea for a project, they would love to hear from you. They may be able to put you in touch with individuals or organisations to help you take your project forward.

TOE2 is also looking for biodiversity projects to offset the loss of woodland and scrub habitats associated with the electrification of the Greater West Line. The Trust is working with Network Rail to make funds available for woodland and scrub biodiversity projects in Oxfordshire, South, City and Vale, and in Berkshire (West, Reading, Wokingham, and Windsor and Maidenhead).

Stepping up to invest in a sustainable future for Oxfordshire

“With so many development pressures, this is the time to invest in a sustainable future for the county,” believes TOE2, and it is planning to expand by developing a designated Environment Fund so individuals and organisations can invest in the future of Oxfordshire’s environment. The first step will be to increase the small staff team by recruiting a part-time Development Officer; contact the Trust for further details; 01865 407003.

As a place based environmental funder, TOE2 believes that it knows about and understands local needs and priorities, and seeks to ‘secure sustainable funding for a sustainable future for Oxfordshire and its communities’. Current funders include Grundon Waste Management (through the Landfill Communities Fund), Network Rail, Whittard of Chelsea, Brakspear, Oxfordshire County Council and the Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre (TVERC).

Celebrating the impact of TOE2 funded projects

During 2017, TOE2 provided more than £100,000 to projects across the county. These projects give a flavour of what they support and of what local groups and communities are achieving:

• Supporting access to green spaces and the countryside – better rights of way with better access points and signage at Sydenham in the South, Buscot Estate in the Vale
and Adderbury Lakes in Cherwell. Better boardwalks along the Thames Path at Cholsey and a new access point on the River Cherwell so boat users can enjoy the
meadows at Marston Hamm.

• Supporting richer wildlife habitats – Restoring ponds at Heyford meadow near Sandford, improving wetland habitats for curlew and other waders at Balscote Quarry
in Cherwell, improving the biodiversity of limestone meadows on the edge of Oxford through fencing and grazing and supporting the RSPB’s innovative Swift City
Project in Oxford City.

The Trust has also supported BBOWT in the purchase of 113 acres of farmland to add to their Chimney Meadows nature reserve, the first nature reserve on both sides of the Thames. Here the river will be allowed to flood the area and water will be held in ponds and pools providing habitats for waders and other wildlife.

• Supporting the Low Carbon Agenda – A whole raft of energy efficiency improvements in community buildings across the county, from South Newington and Bodicote
in Cherwell to Uffington in the Vale and Wallingford and Sutton Courtenay in the South. We were delighted to work in partnership with the Low Carbon Hub to
support energy efficiency measures at the Abbey in Sutton Courtenay.

To find out more about TOE2, visit the website HERE

A Memorial Ride, hosted by Bike Life, Oxford, is to be held on August 28, 2018, on the anniversary of the death of Luke Portmouth, of Thame, whose inquest was heard today.

The inquest was told that Luke, who died when he crashed his father’s motorbike, was travelling at over 60 mph before losing control of the bike and colliding with a lamp post.

The Oxfordshire Coroner, Darren Salter, was told by 18 year-old Luke Portsmouth’s father, Tom Portsmouth, that on the day of the tragedy, August 28, 2017, his son took off on his father’s black, Kawasaki ZX series motorbike, without his permission, while he, the father, turned away to make a phone call. The two had been out riding together, before pulling into the car park of the Thame skate park.

The only witness to the crash that killed Luke, Dr Emma Montague, said that she was driving to a friend’s house along the A4129, Tythrop Way, Thame, when she saw the teenager approaching in the opposite lane and that ‘his front wheel began to wobble’. She then described how the bike was ‘thrown into the air’ and the driver thrown from the bike.

Collisions investigator, Stephen Moffatt, reported that CCTV footage indicated that Luke was travelling at between 63 and 65mph in the moments before the crash. He added that it was likely that Luke had been in too low a gear when he accelerated, causing the front wheel to lift and the motorcycle to become unstable.

While he was an experienced rider, Luke was not used to such a powerful motorcycle, said Mr Moffatt.

The Coroner recorded death by road traffic collision.

THAMES Valley and Hampshire’s Joint Roads Policing Unit have begun a week of activity specifically targeting drivers using hand-held mobile phones, with the aim of drawing attention to the risks posed by being distracted while in control of a vehicle.

The enforcement activity will run until Sunday, January 28, 2018, in line with the National Police Chief Council’s campaign. On motorways in the area today, 16 drivers were caught using hand-held mobile phones.

You can read more about the affect of using a mobile phone while in charge of a vehicle, and the stories of families devastated by the tragic results of such actions (including from the family of one of two people killed by this lorry driver (pictured), who was using a mobile phone)  HERE