Category: More News

OXFORDSHIRE County Council is considering Moorend Farm, Thame (latterly the Einig extraction site) as a location for a new permanent plant for demolition and construction waste recycling.    

The site is one of several preferred sites earmarked by the county council that are included in its draft Minerals and Waste Policy, currently out for public consultation. A second site is under consideration in the Thame area, a hectare of land off Rycote Lane, in Christmas Lane (close to the ASM car recycling centre). 

Several Thame residents, including many from Lea Park close to the Moor End Lane site, oppose the council’s choice, on the grounds of dust in the air, noise, too many lorry movements, danger to walkers and cyclists using the bridle way where vehicle enter and leave the site, and degradation of wildlife habitats and water courses.  

The consultation will be discussed at a Thame Town Council Planning Committee in the near future. Meanwhile local people with strong feelings about the proposed Thame sites, are invited to visit Oxfordshire County Council’s website and make their views known by taking part in the consultation.  

 JOHN Hampden Primary school in Thame saw the Jackson hall transform into a big top as we all got carried away with the circus for Arts Week 2020!

We felt the sawdust beneath our feet and smelt the grease paint and popcorn, being lured in by our very own ringmaster, and mesmerised by the Hampden-made troupe of performers.

We cheered as the strong man, sweating with the effort, lifted his huge barbell. We laughed at the clown as he juggled with ease and gasped and held our breath as the trapeze artists soared through the air above our heads. We were in awe of the delicate balance of the circus elephant on his ball and marvelled at the one armed contortionist. We trembled at the fierce lion who was under the spell of our very own lion tamer, Mr Eyre. We debated the moral dilemma of animals in circuses both now and in the past.

It was a wondrous experience full of excitement and colour, with children from Nursery to Year 6, spending time in the hall together creating art!

We were aided by our very own circus troupe of helpers (nearly 50 helpers – thank you to all those who volunteered!), parents, grandparents, governors, carers, artists, teachers, teaching assistants, old and new and Year 6 pupils (who helped us in our moments of need!), who volunteered to support us in creating our circus dream. What an amazing community spirit JHS has!

The John Hampden PTFA funded the week, with their usual, generous donation which enabled the school to provide a wealth of experiences and resources for the children to enjoy. The school also provided a real-life circus experience with Rob the juggler from Circus Allstars, coming in on Thursday to entertain and teach circus skills to all the children. 

The Circus Arts Week Quiz saw the children challenged to identify a dazzling troupe of circus performers created by JHS staff. Each performer was accompanied by clues to guide the children in their guesses as to which circus act was which member of staff- giving hints as to the staff artist, for a whole school competition.

Well done to Amalie Coe and Evie Dent for their winning entries! Well done as well to Nahiyan Chowdhury and Megan Booth and for being crowned the winners of the Artsweek shield for their participation this year.

 At the end of the week, the star struck JHS friends and family were guided into the Jackson Hall big top to be astounded and captivated by our circus performance at the Friday Artsweek Fair-Trade Café. 

So, wipe the clown make-up from your face and take off your ringmaster top hat. The performance may be over, but we have the JHS big top to bring back the memories for weeks to come, as well as our time lapse video of the events.

Where will our next art adventure take us? Send your ideas for next year to Ms Nichols! 

CONTRIBUTED by Jackie Nichols (Arts Coordinator)

 

A Thame resident who was in the public gallery during a meeting of Oxfordshire County Council, was so appalled at the behaiour of some councillors during a debate, that she has written a public letter to the Chair of the meeting, Cllr Les Sibley.

Mrs Liz Barker was watching a somewhat high octane debate to decide whether OCC would agree to take over drawing up a new Local Plan 2034, if offered, which a government minister is threatening to take away from South Oxfordshire District Council and handing over to them.

The Conservative Cllrs were broadly in favour of the take-over, whereas the LibDem and Green Party Cllrs were generally against SODC losing control over the Local Plan. There had been several public speakers opposed to the move, including Cllr Sue Cooper, the Leader of SODC.

Mrs Barker wrote the following:

Dear Councillor Sibley
I write with reference to the full council meeting which you chaired on 11 February.

I was present in the public gallery and I unfortunately need to question the way in which the meeting was chaired.

Firstly, there was an incident in which the leader of the council, Ian Hudspeth, angrily called another councillor a liar and jabbed his finger at him. You quite rightly asked Councillor Hudspeth to withdraw the remark and not to point at other people in the chamber. Councillor Hudspeth refused to withdraw the remark but instead of you asking him to leave the meeting as I believe is the procedure in these circumstances, he was allowed to continue taking part for the whole of the rest of the meeting.

Secondly, insulting remarks were directed by councillors towards those of us in the public gallery and this went without any admonishment from you. The worst example of this was from Councillor Eddie Reeves who called us “malcontents“ and “a random assortment of ne’er do wells”. We naturally took exception to this, although I have to say we do not see ourselves as Councillor Reeves described but believe he was possibly simply insulting us as we do not agree with his point of view. Several of us politely called for respect to be shown. But rather than any reprimand whatsoever being given to Councillor Reeves, you asked those of us in the gallery who were being insulted to be quiet.

The abusive behaviour in the meeting on Tuesday was very concerning and gave the impression of a culture of bullying and a free for all. Please could you let me know if councillors will in future be barred from the chamber for not withdrawing inappropriate language when asked to do so and that they will be reprimanded for insulting behaviour directed towards members of the public gallery.

Yours
Liz Barker (Mrs)

FOLLOWING Oxfordshire County Council’s decision to accept a possible government invitation to progress the emerging South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2034, Cllr Sue Cooper, Leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, has written to The Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, Secretary of State Housing, Communities and Local Government:

DEAR  Mr Jenrick, As you are no doubt aware, Oxfordshire County Council agreed on Tuesday to take on our emerging Local Plan 2034 (eLP2034), subject to financial guarantees, should you decide to offer it to them.

My statement afterwards is attached. Also attached is my speech to OCC, from which you will see that we intend to comply with providing extra housing honouring our duty to Oxford City and our wish to work with neighbouring councils for the good of South Oxfordshire residents. Obviously I am concerned about the possible removal of eLP2034 from South Oxfordshire, not only because of the loss of local input for which we have a democratic mandate, but also for planning and financial reasons.

Dealing with eLP2034 is an expensive option for South Oxfordshire tax payers. Our planning officers know eLP2034.  Sending it elsewhere will obviously cost a lot more. South Oxfordshire has a long history of good, compliant planning policy.  I personally have been involved with creating the previous two Local Plans. We deliver well in terms of numbers of houses, % affordable, and wish to continue delivering the right houses of the right size in the right places for the right people. There is much concern locally about removing land from the Green Belt. We would like to in future designate new GreenBelt areas, as allowed in NPPF, to maintain and even strengthen the protection for Oxford.

We want “Building Beautiful, Building Better” in line with your stated aims.We are ambitious and would like our Local Plan to be at the forefront of the latest bold and far-reaching thinking on the climate emergency.

To do this in an economical fashion our preference as you know is to start a new plan, jointly with our neighbours, the Vale of White Horse District Council. This would almost halve their and our costs. However ,they are not committed to working with us on a plan as they have already started and cannot wait for our uncertainty to be resolved. We would still want to start on data collection now, so that we are ready when your new bold environmental plans come into being.

On the understanding that you continue to view eLP2034 proceeding to inspection as the only possible way forward, it would help us if your officials could list some examples of the kinds of significant changes which would address our concerns that can be made as modifications during inspection, and also an indication of how we could go further on sustainability and climate change policies. There is obviously a lot more detail that I could give you. But it would be very much better if we could meet so that I can explain how and where we wish to plan for really good, affordable, well designed, energy-efficient housing in sustainable locations, rather than the depressing, sprawling housing estates of over-priced units remote from locations where the occupants work which make such poor use of our very restricted land supply. I look forward to speaking to you soon in accordance with the undertaking made in the House.

Yours sincerely
Councillor Sue Cooper
Leader of the Council

Link HERE for previous articles on this subject

 

THE government is to shelve plans for an extension of the Oxford – Milton Keynes – Cambridge Expressway.

 

This is according to Iain Stewart MP, who announced the news on Friday, February 7, to a packed meeting of leading local Parish and Town Council representatives in the Milton Keynes area.

He confirmed he had received the news from George Freeman MP (Secretary of State at the Department of Transport) and that some of monies originally earmarked for the project would now be transferred into speeding the delivery of the much anticipated East West rail link and into locally decided road improvement schemes.

The extension was originally planned to run from Junction 13 of the M1, through Milton Keynes and onwards across Buckinghamshire to Oxford.

Opposition parties to the Expressway, including CPRE, feared that the planned route threatened to destroy homes, blight neighbourhoods and destroy countryside. CPRE had stated: “The new road ……will unleash a tidal wave of development. 200,000 houses, or 4 new cities the size of Oxford, are being planned for Oxfordshire.” http://www.cpreoxon.org.uk/campaigns/ox-cam-expressway-growth-corridor

Depite this news, this decision is not official until an announcement is made by the government. However in PMQs on Tuesday, February 12, Daniel Zeichner MP for Cambridge asked a question about cancelling the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway. Boris Johnson failed to give an answer. SEE VIDEO. So, still no official statement. But could there be news in March 11, 2020 budget – if it’s still happening after the resignation of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and yesterday’s Cabinet reshuffle?

NB LINK HERE or previous reports from Thame.net

STORY SOURCE: https://totalmk.co.uk

And https://www.noexpressway.org/

INDEPENDENT broadband firm Airband has started work on its fibre network in Oxfordshire as part of the BiRO project, which delivers ultrafast broadband to businesses in rural Oxfordshire.

Work commenced on the project the first week of February 2020, with night works on Thame High Street. The Worcester-based firm specialises in bringing high-speed broadband to hard-to-reach rural and urban areas and has recently completed the second phase of a fibre roll-out in Herefordshire as part of the Fastershire project.

Airband Project Lead, Andy Brain, said: “This first cluster stretches from Thame to Chinnor. We’ll also be working on other clusters at the same time including the second cluster which goes from Henley-on-Thames to Lower Shiplake and Sonning Common and a third cluster from Childrey to Kingston Lisle, west of Wantage. We expect all of these clusters to be finished by June 2020 if not before.”

Oxfordshire County Councillor, Nick Carter for the Thame & Chinnor Division said: “Faster broadband is a game changer for rural areas and access to ultrafast connectivity will help so many of rural businesses to prosper and grow. A lot of time, money and effort has gone into the BiRO project because providing better connectivity for our rural areas is so important, both now and in the future.”

In order to provide ultrafast connectivity for businesses in rural Oxfordshire, Airband uses existing infrastructure where possible. Sometimes access to the infrastructure is via privately owned land.

Ryan Bezuidenhout, General Manager of The Oxfordshire Golf Club, said : “We are happy to enable Airband to have access to infrastructure on our land via a structured business arrangement, making the roll-out of their business broadband network possible.”

Airband was awarded Lots 3 and 4 on the BiRO project in October 2019, for £2,852,216. The company will supply 557 business premises and connect 619 incidental residential properties along the way, delivering total connectivity to 1176 premises as part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs funded programme.

The BiRO project is funded by £6.3m EAFRD funding through the Rural Broadband Infrastructure scheme to improve broadband for businesses in rural Oxfordshire and will provide ultrafast broadband to 970 SMEs across the region. The project is managed by the Oxfordshire County Council Digital Infrastructure programme in partnership with Airband.

FLOODING is possible for: River Thame from Marsworth to Dorchester including, Long Marston, Rowsham, North Aylesbury, Cuddington, Thame, Shabbington, Ickford, Waterperry, Cuddesdon, Wheatley, Quarrendon, Drayton St Leonard, Overy, the Chalgrove Brook at Chalgrove and Stadhampton.

Be prepared

River levels have risen on the River Thame overnight as a result of heavy rainfall, particularly in the Thame Bridge and Dorchester areas. River levels are forecast to gradually rise throughout the day 11/02/20. Therefore, flooding of low-lying roads and farmland is possible today and may remain high for a few days. The weather forecast is for further unsettled weather, with lighter showers today. Flooding of properties is not forecast at this point.

Thame Town Council is closely monitoring the situation. Refer to the ‘River and Sea levels in England’ webpage for current river levels and avoid using low lying footpaths near local watercourses.

To check the latest information for your area

* Visit the GOV.UK website to see the current flood warnings, view river and sea levels or check the 5-day flood risk forecast: https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/target-area/061WAF19Thame

* Or call Floodline on 0345 988 1188 using quickdial code: 171115 .

* Follow @EnvAgency and #floodaware on Twitter.

* Tune into weather, news and travel bulletins on local television and radio.

What you should consider doing now?

* Monitor local water levels and weather conditions.

* Keep your staff and customers informed about the situation.

* Get ready to act on your business flood plan if you have one.

* Move cars or other vehicles to higher ground, if it is safe to do so.

* Check that you know how to turn off your gas, electricity and water mains supplies.

* In rural locations, farmers should consider moving livestock and equipment away from areas likely to flood.

* Avoid walking, cycling or driving through flood water. 30 cm of fast-flowing water can move a car and 6 inches can knock an adult off their feet.

* Flood water is dangerous and may be polluted. Wash your hands thoroughly if you’ve been in contact with it.

IN a very unusual move, Oxfordshire County Council today voted to accept an invitation from the Minister responsible for housing, Robert Jenrick MP – if he were to send it – to take over the production of South Oxfordshire District Council’s Local Plan 2034.

The Liberal Democrat and Green coalition that has led the district council since May’s local elections, believed that the 28,500 new homes figure in the plan drawn up by the previous Conservative SODC administration, was excessive. So, they sought to amend the Local Plan back in October, to reflect more the climate emergency and fewer homes that they, the new administration, say they fought and won their mandate on in the May 2020 General Election.

Tetchy Councillors

After presentations from CPRE, several SODC Councillors, including their Leader, Sue Cooper, and a young mother of two, followed by an ill-natured at times, lengthy debate, the decision came with a vote of 39 for, 16 against and 4 abstentions. Two of the abstentions to the motion, to accept the invitation from the Minister, came from Thame and Chinnor’s County Councillors, Jeannette Matelot Green and Nick Carter.

Some County Councillors, mainly LibDems, held the view that it would be undemocratic to take the Local Plan away from the SODC, the designated Planning authority elected in May, elected with a mandate to look again at ‘excessive’ housing numbers in the plan and lack of consideration for Climate Change coming down the line. Others though, mainly on the Conservative and Labour side of the argument, were of the view that withdrawing and delaying the plan was wrong of SODC and the only way to get it through, and to get the £368 million infrastructure fund for itself to spend, would be to take over from SODC, if the minister asked it to.

There was much debate as to the legality of the Minister’s proposed action and whether the county council would put itself at financial and/or legal risk by taking over the plan. Many Councillors veered off into what a good plan should contain eg more social housing. but eventually a vote was taken and the final result was to accept the Minister’s invitation, if it came.

Afterwards, Cllr Sue Cooper said: “I regret the decision made by the county council today, and would like to thank those who came to the meeting to support the principle of local democracy and decision-making. We wish to continue working constructively with the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government and Oxfordshire County Council to keep local plan making with South Oxfordshire.

“We would like to know more about the Secretary of State’s suggestion to propose changes to the plan through the examination process, with the aim of putting our plan at the forefront of the latest bold and far-reaching thinking on the climate emergency, rather than being the last of the environmentally damaging plans.

“Our preference remains to discuss the mechanism to propose such changes in a face-to-face meeting with the Secretary of State, as he agreed in parliament in response to a question from Layla Moran MP. We are yet to hear back from the Secretary of State on our request to hold this meeting.

“If we are prevented from withdrawing this plan and working on a new one ourselves, we must at least be able to uphold the principle of local democracy by proposing improvements.”

Writing on OCC’s Facebook page, Ian Hudspeth, Leader of the council, wrote: ““This is a very unusual position we find ourselves in. It is something that neither I nor Oxfordshire County Council have proactively sought.

“I thank county councillors for taking part in today’s debate and the vote that followed. The only way to have local input in to the progression of South Oxfordshire’s Local Plan was for us to take the difficult decision to accept an invitation if this is received from the Secretary of State.

“This way forward would give the very best opportunity for South Oxfordshire residents to feed into the process as it evolves, as well as seeing the many infrastructure benefits that it could provide. By not progressing the Local Plan we could lose £368m for much required infrastructure.

“We have a strong and longstanding partnership with our partners at South Oxfordshire District Council on many issues and we want to maintain that for the benefit of people of South Oxfordshire.”

Oxfordshire County Council has not yet received an invitation from central Government.

PREVIOUSLY: Link HERE

VISIT 21st Century Thame’s Volunteers Fair on Saturday, February 15, and pick up FREE hedge trees and/or small trees for gardens.

There will be six different types of hedge trees to choose from. Apart from the Thame Trees Plant 2020 stall, there’ll be an assortment of local organisations offering the opportunity to get involved with one of the many local organisations that do so much for our sense of community, our environment and those more vulnerable among us here in Thame.

Go along and find out about 21st Century Thame, Thame Carnival, Thame Tidy, Thame Museum, Girl Guides, Scouts, OX9ers, Thame Youth projects, Thame Art Crawl, Oxfam, Music in the park, Thame Climate Action, Taste of Thame and others….

Refreshements will be available including a Cake Sale in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, and children will be encouraged to have a go at racketball, table tennis and squash on offer at Raquests Fitness Centre, which is hosting the event.

At the Volunteers Fair, you could:
1. Pick up a tree to plant in your garden (part of #ThameTrees)
2. Meet the leaders and other volunteers of over 10 different voluntary organisations from around Thame
3. Have drink in the Racquets bar and chat through what opportunities there

Come on – join in – and continue the work of making Thame a great place to live, work and visit.

The Volunteers Fair runs from 12 noon through to 4pm.

DO you have the gift of time to give to an enjoyable and rewarding activity?

Thame and District Day Centre meet at Thame Town Cricket Club on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30am to 2:30pm and are open for 50 weeks of the year.

They provide a day out with plenty of refreshments, a two-course meal and a variety of entertainment for people from Thame and some nearby villages, who are elderly, frail, or perhaps isolated. They first opened nearly 30 years ago and currently have about 60 members and a small waiting list.

This wonderful service is dependent on the commitment of an excellent team of volunteer drivers and Day Centre helpers. They need helpers to support the managers with serving drinks and lunch, organising activities and entertainment and providing a friendly, sociable atmosphere with time to listen and chat! They also need volunteer drivers who can use their own cars for an hour in the morning and/or afternoons to pick up their members and take them home afterwards. A clean driving licence and an empathetic and friendly manner is all that is needed and mileage expenses are paid. If you are an entertainer, speaker, singer or even magician, they can always accommodate your skills in the Centre. Expenses or your standard charges can be paid if they are within budget. Volunteers with particular skills e.g. manicurist, hairdresser, chiropodist or craft worker would be most welcome to enhance the members’ day out.

Whether you have just a few hours or the whole day to spare, please consider helping out and call Gillian Coleman on 01844 212080 for an informal chat.

SOURCE: Thame Town Council’s news letter