Category: More News

TODAY, June 23, police have made two further arrests as part of an ongoing murder investigation following the death of a 20 year-old man in the town yesterday.

The two men arrested today are a 19 year-old from Oxfordshire, and another of the same age from Buckinghamshire. Like the 15 year-old arrested yesterday, both men remain in custody on suspicion of murder.

 A number of road closures and ‘scene watches’ remain in place at this time, and the the police have repeated their appeal for information, mobile phone, dashcam or CCTV footage of around the time of the incident to contact them on 101, quoting reference 1152 22/7/20 or alternatively, information can be reported online anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

UPDATE: 01:40 -23/7/20 – A 15-year-old boy from Oxfordshire has been arrested on suspicion of murder. He remains in police custody.

POLICE have requested that the public do not share video footage of an incident in Thame yesterday evening (22/07) following the murder of a young man in the town.

An appeal from Thames Valley Police following the launch of a murder enquiry, reads:

“At around 7.05pm today (22/7) a man was found with injuries in Chinnor Road, Thame. Sadly a 20-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin have been informed and will be supported by specialist teams.

“Currently police would like to speak to a group of young men who were seen in the area at the time of this incident.

“Senior investigating officer, Detective Inspector Mike Roddy of the Major Crime Unit, said: “We are in the very early stages of this murder investigation. Our thoughts first and foremost go out to the family of the man who has sadly died. It is really important that anyone with information about what happened, comes forward.

“Although the details of what exactly has happened are unclear at the moment, we would like to hear from you if you saw anything suspicious this evening in Chinnor Road or Essex Road and the surrounding areas.

“We know there were a number of people in the area who will have seen this unfold and may have even caught some of the incident on video.

“Please do not share this video on social media, but instead share it with police. A man has died in this incident and if you have footage or pictures this could be very traumatic for the family and friends of the man who has died.

“We know this will be concerning for the community but there will be an increased police presence in the area. Feel free to approach these officers if you have any concerns.

“Road closures are currently in place in Chinnor Road at the junction with Queens Road, Dormer Road at the junction of Garden City and Cotmore Gardens at the junction of Cotmore Close.

“It is expected these roads will be closed for several hours so please avoid the area and thank you for your patience.

“If you have any information you think might help, please call 101 quoting the reference URN 1152 (22/7) or make a report online.

“If you would prefer to remain 100% anonymous, please contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”

A resident of Cotmore Close reported seeing a car on its roof close by, forensic officers on the scene and police officers entering a near-by flat.

THAMES Valley Police have released CCTV images of two boys officers would like to speak to, following an incident of criminal damage in Thame.

Between 5pm on Thursday, June 2, and 11am on Friday, June 3, offenders smashed a security camera and light causing damage, at the Thame Barns Centre in Church Road. The offenders approached the property from the rear via the cricket field and car park.

Investigating officer PC Ben Atkinson based at Didcot police station, said: “I am appealing for anyone who recognises any of the individuals in these images to get in touch as they may have information that could be vital to this investigation.

“You can get in touch with us using our online form or by calling 101, quoting reference number 43200164580. Alternatively, you can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously via their website or on 0800 555 111.”

ELLIE Roberts-Day, a pupil of Lord Williams’s School, Thame, stole the judges’ hearts with her entry to the Stoke Mandeville Spinal Research (SMSR) Design a Wheelchair with the WOW Factor competition, and has been announced as the Secondary School category winner.

The competition, open to both Primary and Secondary school pupils, saw a variety of entries from young children across Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, including submissions from Lord Williams’s School, Sir William Ramsay in High Wycombe, and Bruern Abbey School in Bicester.

Ellie, whose creation was inspired by her ‘Nanna’ who has MS and is confined to a wheelchair, said: “Usually I don’t enter competitions like this but when I saw this I decided to spend some time doing this activity. The reason is that my Nanna has severe MS and relies fully on her  wheelchair. However, her wheelchair is very restricting to what she can do and so she gets really upset and frustrated that she can’t do things that everyone else can, considering she likes to be independent.”

Ellie added: “Thank you for running this amazing competition. I just wanted to do this for my Nanna, and also to donate to others like her as I think everyone deserves to have their freedom and I know that my Nanna will get hers.”

SMSR’s Charlotte Minoprio commented: “We simply fell in love with this design and the poignant story behind it. On behalf of everyone involved with Stoke Mandeville Spinal Research, I would like to say a big thank you to all those children who entered the competition and their schools. There were some incredible entries which truly showed off what amazing young talent there is out there. A big thank you also to George David Estate Agents, for kindly sponsoring our competition prizes and helping with the difficult task of judging!”

The two competition winners from the Primary and Secondary school categories receive a £50 voucher for WHSmith. In addition, each winner’s school will be offered a free, interactive disability awareness assembly with an SMSR Ambassador.

All competition entries are now available to view via the Charity’s Facebook page @lifeafterpara.

To find out more about the work of Stoke Mandeville Spinal Research, please visit  www.lifeafterparalysis.com

THAME social landlord, Soha Housing, is continuing to offer a wellbeing telephone project for its older residents, providing additional support during what is still an unsettling time.

Alertacall, which already provides the Housing Proactive housing management service to Soha, called over 750 residents across Oxfordshire at the start of lockdown. On offer was a call from Alertacall daily or weekly to help alleviate some of the isolation of the sudden imposition of social restrictions.

“We wanted to offer an extra reassurance to our residents which we could put in place quickly and which would allow us to target our support where it was most needed,” said Jayne Sharp, Independent Living team manager at Soha. “Extending our relationship with Alertacall was the obvious solution.” she added. “

Soha has been using Housing Proactive for three years. Residents press a button on a special telephone once a day or more to pick up news and information. If the button isn’t pressed before an agreed time, the resident is called by the Housing Proactive team.

“When it hasn’t been a matter of just forgetting”, explained Jayne, “but a resident in need of assistance, Housing Proactive has simultaneously notified us and, in some cases, got emergency help.” The phone also has one-touch connection to the Soha call centre to order repairs or address any other housing-related concerns.

Benjamin Lambert, Head of Client Relations at Alertacall, commented: “Over the last three years, Alertacall has built up a fantastic partnership with Soha. When their housing team contacted us to see if we could make reassurance calls to help promote resident wellbeing during the lockdown, we knew we were well placed to offer the staffing resource required to make this happen.

“The feedback from residents has been very gratifying and our team is able to see at first hand the difference we are making to those we speak to regularly.”

ALL eyes will be on South Oxfordshire this week as the district becomes host to the first ever online ‘virtual’ public hearings for a Local Plan examination.

The South Oxfordshire Local Plan 2034, first became the subject of national interest after the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government in October last year took the unusual step in issuing a Holding Direction preventing the district council from taking any actions in relation to the adoption of the plan, meaning councillors couldn’t formally discuss, debate or vote on the subject. And then in March this year, the Secretary of State issued a second Direction to instruct the council to progress the plan through to adoption by December 2020.

The council first began working on the plan six years ago, and since the draft plan was published by the then Conservative majority administration, local elections in May 2018, saw a change of administration to a coalition of Liberal Democrats and Greens. The new council then made a move to either scrap the draft plan, or change it to better reflect the changing mandate as they saw it, given by the electorate to the winning parties, to act on the previous council’s declaration of a Climate Emergency. Oxfordshire County Council and some others feared that if the plan was not in place by the end of this year, thousands of pounds of infrastructure funding promised for the county would be lost.

The housing numbers and the location of the key sites , particularly those on Green Belt land, proposed for housing have also been subject to debate throughout the production of the plan. Another area of discussion has been how much of neighbouring Oxford’s unmet need South Oxfordshire should cater for.

These are all topics that will be discussed during the examination hearing, which gets underway at 10am today, Tuesday, July, 14, and will be publicly available to view live on the council’s special YouTube channel. A link to the YouTube channel is available on the council’s Local Plan examination webpage at www.southoxon.gov.uk/examination. For data protection reasons, the council will not be able to make recordings available after the event, so the best way to stay up to date with the hearings is to watch them live.

Other topics that the independent Planning Inspector, Jonathan Bore will chair discussions on include whether or not the plan takes a sound approach towards the Green Belt, if the plan’s infrastructure policies are sound, and if the plan takes a proactive approach to mitigating and adapting to climate change.

The full list of topics to be discussed is available in the Agenda document on the council’s Local Plan examination webpage, as is a Programme setting out when each matter will be discussed by the participants. The examination hearings are scheduled to run for four weeks.

Cllr Anne-Marie Simpson, Cabinet Member for Planning at South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “This controversial plan has been subject to much discussion and debate, and it is right that it has – Local Plans everywhere have an impact on the lives of local people, and our communities have actively engaged in this process throughout. We’ve worked very hard at the council to assist the Planning Inspectorate to provide an effective system to allow hearings to go ahead virtually during the COVID-19 restrictions – it is not just a first for us, but a first for the country. Being able to watch online from home may help people who wouldn’t normally go to a formal planning meeting engage with our local plan examination. I would like to encourage anybody with an interest in issues that will affect their communities to tune in.”

NB You can read previous posts on this subject HERE

HOWARD Webb, a former Chartered Civil Engineer with Thames Water, was welcomed as the new president of the Rotary Club of Thame & District at a virtual club meeting, on June 24.

Howard has taken over from Peter Allen who served as President during the 2010-2020 Rotary year. Peter said: “Despite being in lockdown for the last three months, the Club has had a very successful and enjoyable year.  We increased our membership through the recruitment of younger members into our new Phoenix Club, we supported local organisations with their work in the community and we helped to organise the Christmas tea party for senior citizens in Thame.”

Peter added: “Our main fundraising event – the Thame Swimathon – raised the record amount of £8,000 for local charities. The Club was pleased to award Marius Ciortan with a Sapphire Paul Harris Award in recognition of his work for the Club over many years in organising the Swimathon.”

Howard Webb, the new Club President, moved to Thame in 2014, and joined Thame and District Rotary Club the year after. He enjoys singing with the Oxford Welsh Male Voice Choir and playing golf.

Howard said: “I hope to guide the Rotary Club through this difficult year with an active social life, an increasing membership, and by continuing to develop practical and financial support for local charities.

“I would offer a warm welcome to anyone looking to join a friendly, outgoing club which is part of a worldwide organisation, offering unlimited opportunities to make a difference.”

The club meetings will continue online via Zoom for the foreseeable future. Guest speaker talks will also take place online. Members of the public who wish to attend speaker meetings will be able to request access to these events.

To find out more about the Rotary Club of Thame & District or Phoenix Community Club or to join, please visit www.thame.rotary1090.org or www.facebook.com/thamerotary or www.facebook.com/phoenixcommunityclubthame  

PROBABLY the most important document to affect the future of life in Thame, will be presented to Thame Town Council, next Tuesday, June 14, and the public are invited to attend.

On the agenda for next week’s Town Council Meeting, after almost five years in the making by the RSA Thame Group, the Thame Green Living Plan will be presented to the council for it’s approval.

So, why a Green Living Plan? 

Under the heading ‘A way to think globally’, the Green Living Plan website explains:

“The Earth is undergoing a climate emergency and we need to act now, but with such a big challenge it can be difficult to see where to start or how to get involved. We can make a difference globally if we each strive to improve the environment around us.”

How local people would be able to get involved

The Green Living Plan is split into five main focus areas which, when the actual Action Plan can begin, volunteers will be able to engage with the activities they care about most strongly. These are:

Spaces and Routes
Energy and Efficiency
Water and Drainage
Waste and Reuse
Air and Environment

What next?

If accepted by the town council, the Green Living Plan will the the first of its kind and will inform the revision of the Thame Neighbourhood Plan which is about to get underway.

Tuesday’s meeting will be held virtually on Zoom, joining from 7:15pm, and members of the public who would like to watch the meeting, can request a personal Zoom link by emailing info@thametowncouncil.gov.uk  

PLEASE NOTE the joining password will be sent to you after 4pm on July 14, and you must also be on the electoral role to join the meeting.

Find out more about the Thame Green Living Plan HERE

SOUTH Oxfordshire’s Green Party Councillors have condemned Conservative attempts to delay the 2021 local elections.

Against the backdrop of a forthcoming government White Paper on the future of local government, Oxfordshire County Council’s Conservative leader has proposed that county elections should be delayed until 2022, claiming that this will “support a vibrant local democracy.” (ED. The local elections have already been delayed from May this year, to May 2021)

Robin Bennett, Green Party Councillor for Berinsfield and South Oxfordshire Green group Chair, said: “Green Party councillors welcome the opportunity to offer proposals to improve local accountability, such as strengthening the role of Neighbourhood Plans in deciding where development should be approved, and ensuring greater democratic oversight of the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP), but these discussions should not stand in the way of normal democratic timetables.

He continued: “Local government reorganisation could offer an opportunity to strengthen local decision-making and put community well-being ahead of the relentless pursuit of economic growth, but this transparent attempt to stifle democracy is not the right way to go about it. Democracy delayed is democracy denied.”

NB You can view the full Agenda for the OCC meeting on Tuesday, July 14, 2020 HERE