Category: More News

THE approaches to Thame will soon be looking bloomin beautiful, once they have been enhanced by planters of flowers.

The flora displays will be contained in self-watering planters in a variety of colours, following Thame Town Council?s approval of the scheme and a grant offer from SEEDA (South East England Development Agency).

The planting scheme follows the recent partnership agreement between the town council, SEEDA and the 21st Century Thame Partnership.

Thame Town Council itself will contribute

WHEN the adults of the UK were going to the polls on Election Day, the young people at Lord Williams?s School had already cast their votes for which party they wanted to run the country.

In a close run race, the Liberal Democrat Party, represented by Max Camp, was the clear winner, securing 30% of the votes. Olivia Carter standing for the Green Party won a quarter (25%) of all students votes, followed by Sam Davidson representing the Conservatives on 22% of the votes.

Whilst the representatives of the other parties delivered strong speeches, votes for Andrew Watkinson standing for UKIP were 12%, Jordan O?Shea 8% and 3% of students voted for Jake Smith of the Socialist Workers Party.

Max Camp of the winning Liberal Democrat Party received the news with surprise and delight. “This is an amazing result for the Lib Dems and totally unexpected,” he said. “I?m honoured that so many students voted for me.”

Nicky Stallwood, Citizenship Coordinator at the school, said: “There has been a real buzz about the school with students and staff taking a keen interest in the school election. Listening to the students? speeches has certainly raised staff and student awareness of the key political issues being discussed in the General Election.”

Livvy Carter standing for the Green Party felt the whole experience was very worthwhile. “I?ve really enjoyed taking part in the school election and I?m very encouraged that young people are taking the green issues seriously,” she said. “It?s been fun and we all feel we?ve benefited from the experience.”

THE beautiful landscapes of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty are a product of a great deal of activity every year by thousands of individuals, communities, organisations and public bodies. A huge amount of high quality work is carried out, whether it is conserving wildlife habitats, removing obstacles like stiles on footpaths or sympathetically restoring traditional buildings.

To recognise all the good work going on the Chilterns Conservation Board runs an annual awards scheme, The Chilterns Awards, and is looking for great projects and outstanding people to reward. There are three categories of awards:

The Chilterns Wildlife and Landscape Award
 Recognising innovative work that benefits the conservation of the natural environment of the Chilterns, for example, restoring a pond or managing a wood for wildlife.
The Chilterns Understanding and Enjoyment Award

 Encouraging projects that increase the use and understanding of the Chilterns by new and varied audiences. These could include special events, new information displays or education projects.
The Chilterns Outstanding People Award

 Rewarding individuals or groups that have made an outstanding contribution to the conservation of the Chilterns or raising awareness of the area.

The closing date is June 30, 2010. If you know of a person or project which deserves recognition get in touch! Entry forms, more information and profiles of past winners can be found at:
http://www.chilternsaonb.org/caring/chilterns_awards.html

or contact Cathy Rose on 01844 355 506 or crose@chilternsaonb.org Awards will be presented at the Chilterns Annual Forum in November.

PHOTO – Credit: Friends of Oughtonhead Common
Previous winners – Volunteers making hurdle at Oughtonhead Common

IN spite of the showery weather, The Towersey May Festival went ahead on the Village Green and in the Memorial Hall, on Saturday, May Day.

The May Queen, Chelsie Horne and her two attendants, Chelsea Cockle and Elliott Horne, were brought in procession on a beautifully decorated flat farm trailer, from Windmill Close. They were escorted by Towersey Morris in front and a long procession of children behind. The rain then stopped!

The May Queen was crowned on the platform by last year’s May Queen, Georgia Thompson, surrounded by a number of other village children on the Village Green, before a short service led by the Rev Ian Mountford. His talk on life was assisted by a number of amusing diagrams held up by the children and their mothers. Maypole dancing by the young ones followed the service, embodying all the traditional steps.

Then came some very energetic dancing by Towersey Morris who concluded by welcoming the May Queen, and holding her aloft for recognition. Everyone then departed to the Memorial hall to coffee, tea and hot dogs, before visiting the plant, tombola and cake stalls.

Church Warden, Ross Dyke, said: !In all it was a very enjoyable event, again bringing all the village together. We would like to thank all the many people involved who arranged every part of the Festival – there were so many who gave their time and expertise to make the event so successful.”

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THE Liberal Democrat party election candidate for the Henley constituency, Andy Crick, has responded to a series of questions about local, Thame issues. Here are his responses:

1. Do you think that the proposed 850 new homes earmarked for Thame by the South East Core Strategy will be good for the town, or not?

A: I would support more housing for Thame if it goes to the right areas, if it can be agreed in consultation with local residents and if it is of a good standard.

2. What will you do to persuade the government (if your party forms or is part of a balanced government) to do something about the economic viability of market towns?

A: We will seek to bring business rates back to the control of local councils and we will reform the way they are calculated so that they are fairer to smaller businesses. We will reduce red tape for all businesses and include ‘sunset’ clauses in any new business regulations so that they must be reviewed regularly. We will use the roads budget to invest in reopening rail lines. The former line from Oxford to Thame would be a prime example of a new line. We would also support additional housing where appropriate to ensure that our market towns continue to thrive.

We also have a clear plan to return the Post Office to profitability by introducing a ‘Postbank’ and ensuring that more services are offered through the huge network of Post Offices.

3. How will you ensure that Thame Community Hospital remains as such and that the promised future development of is services will good ahead, without losing the 12 beds currently available?

A: My party wants to devolve decision-making on health to communities through locally elected health boards and by giving control of our hospitals back to staff and patients in those communities. I strongly support our community hospitals and I will fight for their continued existence in any future plan for delivering high quality healthcare for the constituency. If decisions are made locally, it will be easier to make a strong case for hospital beds remaining in Thame.

4. Thame is trying to ‘go green’ with several groups springing up, ie Greening Thame and Transitions Towns; What will you do to ensure that Thame and other market towns can move towards becoming a sustainable community?

A: I have a strong personal commitment to environmental issues and I will seek to lead by example through simple measures such as reducing the waste my constituency office will produce, purchasing 100% green energy and moving towards green transport as soon as possible (a number of electric cars are in development at the moment, including a new Mini).

We have national plans to slash emissions which will feed into the work of local groups across the country. We want to begin a ten year programme of home insulation to reduce emissions and cut people’s fuel bills. We will offer small grants of

THE Conservative party election candidate for the Henley constituency, John Howell, has responded to a series of questions about local, Thame issues.

Here are the questions posed and John Howell’s replies:

1. Do you think that the proposed 850 new homes earmarked for Thame by the South East Core Strategy will be good for the town, or not?

A: The people of Thame including those residents group to whom I have talked and helped accept that there is a need for some houses in Thame to meet our need and to ensure that the town remains vibrant and healthy for the future. The number of 850 has been imposed from above by Labour’s central and regional government rather than by a bottom-up approach from the town itself and it is therefore not surprising that it is does not relate to Thame’s own real needs.

Many local residents have already pointed out the difficulty that such a large number of houses would create for the town’s infrastructure such as roads, schools and surgeries and the problems of flooding – and they are right.

That is why, when I was first elected Thame’s MP I held a seminar for the town council to try get the town to focus on a vision for Thame and to come to its own conclusions as to what the right number of houses is. This work is now imperative and I remain ready to help.

I have already set out in the planning policies which I have written and which my Party has adopted how it will be different under a Conservative government by ensuring that plans are built from the bottom-up, that local views really do mean something and that there are real cash incentives available for councils to fund for example infrastructure for new housing which will make sure that we build homes instead of just houses. This is no time for tinkering with the planning system. Only a complete reform will serve our needs for the future.

We all want a say in shaping the place in which we live. By revoking Labour’s regional targets for local councils as soon as we are in Government we will bring the decisions on the number of houses back home. That is why I asked the district council to stop any work on its plans until after the election.

2. What will you do to persuade the government (if your party forms or is part of a balanced government) to do something about the economic viability of market towns?

A: The term ‘balanced government’ is one of the worst euphemisms for coalition I have heard. A coalition will neither be balanced nor be able to govern. Worst of all a coalition particularly of Labour and the Liberal-Democrats will push us further back into recession and will provide no economic stability which market towns need to prosper. The truth is that if you vote red and yellow you will get Brown.

The key thing for our market towns is to get the economy back in shape as quckly as possible and Thame’s business knows this. In a survey I recently undertook of the town’s businesses there was a massive majority in favour of Conservative plans to reduce Labour’s hike in National Insurance because it is a tax on jobs in Thame.

Secondly, we need to be able to attract first-time buyers to Thame. That should not be difficult because it is a great town. So why, then are the Liberal-Democrats proposing 7% VAT on new houses (currently 0%) which would add an additional

JOHN Howell, the local Conservative election candidate, chose the Cross Keys pub in Thame last Thursday, April 29, to meet Thame constituents for an informat chat about local issues.

John Howell said of the event: “Having opened Thame’s brewery at the pub earlier in the year it was an obvious place to hold my meeting. The whole point of these meetings is that there are not set speeches. Individual voters have the chance of some quality time with me to talk in some detail about the issues which affect them. This is a much more mature way of approaching the voter than traditional set-piece hustings and, as many national papers have pointed out, is more in keeping with the national mood.

“For example, at the Cross Keys I was able to discuss the position of the proposed 850 houses in Thame and how the Conservative planning policies I had written would ensure this did not happen again and would give Thame more flexibility over the current numbers. We were also able to discuss rationally issues like immigration and the economy. Most importantly, on all these subjets people were able to look me in the eyes and judge me for myself. I feel vindicated by the success of these meetings.”

John Howell has promised to continue the programme of more intimate meetings with local residents in the constituency if elected.

PHOTO: John Howell pulls a pint during the recent opening of the Cross Keys micro brewere.

LIBERAL Democrat candidate, Andy Crick, today thanked residents of the Henley constituency for their support during this election campaign.

In his statement, Andy Crick said: “It has been a great privilege for me to stand as a candidate in this election and to meet so many people across the Henley constituency.

“This election has got people talking and interested in politics, which is good for our democracy. I haven’t had an easy ride from everyone but I have been engaged and argued with about the policies of the Liberal Democrats ? and more than ever I have had people coming to me to pledge their support for the positive change I am fighting for.

?There is a strong appetite for change in this constituency and I hope that residents will not be scared off by threats from tabloid newspapers, banks or old parties. We can all wake up on Friday morning with a once in a generation opportunity for real change or we can stick with the same old politics.?

THE Labour party election candidate for the Henley constituency, Richard McKenzie, has responded to a series of questions about local, Thame issues.

Here is his response:

1. Do you think that the proposed 850 new homes earmarked for Thame by the South East Core Strategy will be good for the town, or not?

A: For small towns to be viable there need to be enough houses, that people can afford, for people to be able to move in to. I agree with the Party manifesto, where we want houses to be principally built on brown field sites and for Councils to be able to build council houses. In relation to the question, I understand that the actual number has not come from the SE plan, but SODC who are seeking to allocate that number of houses to Thame. If Thame needs new houses there should be sensible proposals from SODC to allocate the number to make sure that the number is sustainable and the land is available.

2. What will you do to persuade the government (if your party forms or is part of a balanced government) to do something about the economic viability of market towns?

A: These two questions are connected, for towns to be viable people have to be able to afford to live in them and there needs to be sufficient infra structure to support them. In the first instance the Labour Party has declared a 2 year holiday on Stamp Duty for houses below

THE popular Thame Market Fun Day is back in business and with its face painters, jugglers and stilt walkers, offers local community groups the opportunity to promote themselves.

Thame Market Traders are asking all local groups and charities to come and promote themselves on Thame Market Fun Day on Tuesday, July 27, 2010.

Chris Hurdman, the Secretary of the Thame Market Traders Cooperative, told ThameNews.Net: “Local groups and charities have been asking when they can we come and have another day on the market. So this is the day that anyone with something to promote can let the public know just what they do, want, or need!”

The market traders always set aside space every Tuesday for local groups and charities, and most weeks you can find such groups promoting themselves free of charge.

Recently funds have been raised for the Thame Youth Memorial, The Thame Wombles, and for the last couple of weeks Thame Bowls Club has been promoting themselves with great success.

Chris continued: “Thame market belongs to the people of Thame and we love the support we get from the community. We feel it is important that the community is able to feel part of the market and is able to make use of the footfall that it brings to Thame every Tuesday.”

Chris recently spoke at a House of Commons select committee extolling markets and their benefits to the local community and is passionate about keeping the markets in Oxfordshire alive and vibrant.

So get your thinking hats on and if you want to be part of the fun day and do something different this summer and want to promote your group or charity, then contact Chris Hurdman on 07966202494 or email chrishurdman@btinternet.com for an application form.