Category: travel

SPEAKING at the annual, Thame Town Meeting last night (28/03), ex Mayor of Thame, Cllr Peter Lambert, compared Park Street to ‘a ploughed field’ before asking County Cllr Nick Carter, when the street’s pot holes were going to get fixed.

“I live at the end of Park Street,” Cllr Lambert, Landlord of The Cross Keys pub, continued, “and it’s getting so bad now that I regularly see cars swerving to avoid potholes, including those outside the primary school; this is becoming a very dangerous spot.”

But Cllr Carter was unable to offer him much hope, stating that Park Street was not a top priority of the county council and that it was his understanding that any major work was unlikely, but that some patching was due to be carried out sometime between September and December.

Cllr Carter went on to say that there are 4,000 miles of roads needing repair in the county and that the problem was mainly due to ‘an enormous decrease in government grants for roads last year. “In that context,” he went on, “I am trying to make sure Thame has a fair a shout as possible but there are some more, very heavily used roads that are used more.

“Patching is the best we can hope for,” he concluded.

Thame resident, Matthew Robinson, stated that he, and others in the town were ‘fed up with the neglect of the roads’ and that ‘it was about time Thame’s voice was heard.” He had done some research, he said, into various sources of government funding, including a Pothole Action Fund. (LINK Government allocates £1.2 billion roads funding to councils) Read Matthew’s full statement HERE

Cllr Carter responded: “Rest assured that if there is a pot of money, then Oxfordshire County County Council will be bidding for the maximum amount it could get!”

Town Cllr Mary Stiles pointed out that not only cars are affected by potholes, but that they are dangerous for cyclists too. “We want to encourage people to cycle more,” she said, “not put them off riding their bikes because of the state of the roads.”

The Town Clerk, Graham Hunt said that the town council was just as concerned about the state of the Parish’s roads and that every day people go into the town hall to report problems. He reported that the town council was in discussion with the county council about taking over responsibility for car parks, and that TTC was currently looking at transport issues as part of a Transport Plan (see LINK) which could present opportunities to feed back to the county council to get something better for Thame. “However, there is no magic wand,” he said, and thanked Matthew Robinson for his research, adding that the town council will keep looking for answers.

Useful links – Oxfordshire County Council’s Fix My Street weblink HERE
Government’s ‘Report a pothole’ website: LINK

FOLLOWING the first public meeting to talk about the progress of Thame’s Transport Plan Working Group (TPWG), Thame’s Town Clerk is now asking for help from the community to plan the future of travel and transport around the town.

In a message aimed at those who attended the meeting on February 28, but with a wider message for everyone, the Town Clerk, Graham Hunt wrote: “Thank you for your continued interest in the work of the Transport Plan Working Group (TPWG). For those of you who were able to attend the first meeting of the TPWG, thank you all for your specific contributions on the night. For the benefit of those newly involved, we attach the Thame Travel Plan – discussion paper June 16  (as prepared as input to the Green Living Plan by the RSA Thame Group). This, along with various other inputs, provided some of the basis for the four proposed frameworks for the TPWG to work within (Walking & Cycling, Traffic Management, Public Transport and Parking provision).

“The meeting on Tuesday (28/02) confirmed again the complexity of what we are trying to achieve and in particular the significant overlap with the good work already underway by the RSA Thame Group as they draft the transport aspects of the Green Living Plan (Ed. A project that forms part of the Thame Neighbourood Plan), working with the Green Living Plan Working Group (GLPWG).

Deciding and co-ordinating responsibilities

“The TPWG Terms of Reference (LINK HERE) confirms the need to ensure basic responsibilities are allocated between the various Working Groups. As we drill down, there will be some aspects that the RSA Thame Group take forward, with or without TPWG support, as an integral part of the Green Living Plan. Others will be more of a collaborative effort and in other cases there will be items that the TPWG moves forward on its own. Whatever, it is essential that we establish agreement of which group is responsible for what as we progress.

“In the same way that our Market Town Co-Ordinator, Becky Reid, has taken on the chairmanship of the Town Centre Working Group (TCWG), Graeme Markland, our Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Officer, will now take over from the interim Chairman, Cllr Bob Austin, in taking a lead on the TPWG and ensuring relevant co-ordination (in agreement with TPWG members) and allocation of responsibilities. Some will also overlap with the work of the TCWG and he will work with Becky on those. Graeme already has regular meetings with the RSA Thame Group and is involved in the GLPWG which will also help.

Volunteers & comments needed to help take the next step

“The next step is to seek all of your further input into the four TPWG frameworks. Are they the right set? How will they work together? Is there anything that needs adding to them? We would welcome any written comments, so that they can be refined further. There was some progress in establishing separate leaders (on behalf of the TPWG aspects) for each of the four frameworks – if anyone else wishes to volunteer to have a greater lead role then that would be appreciated too. If you don’t have time for that, then it would be good to at least know which of the four frameworks you would most like to be involved in – it could be one, two, three or all four of them. Can everyone please just spend up to 15 minutes over the next week or so to reply in some way…[I have set replies to go to Graeme by default as he will be co-ordinating from now on].

Money is there – help Thame to spend it wisely!

“There were 47 attendees at the first meeting. That was amazing. Other towns are jealous of the way that so many people want to get involved to find ways of making our town even better than it is. I know that by working together (and also engaging even more with the District and County Councils in this area) we will make Thame a better place, with the appropriate infrastructure to support all its residents, workers and visitors. There is significant funding we can call on – let’s get it spent wisely, based on all our inputs.”

OXFORDSHIRE County Council has given Notice of Temporary Traffic Order for Thame, warning of a two-week road closure on the B4012 Thame Park Road. The Order reads:

Prohibition of Through Traffic – Date of Order: 27 February 2017 – Coming into force: 6 March 2017.

This Order is being introduced because of carriageway investigation works
which are anticipated to take 2 weeks to complete.
The effect of the Order is to temporarily prohibit any vehicle proceeding or
waiting in the whole length of Thame Park Road.
Appropriate traffic signs will be displayed to indicate when the measures are
in force.
The alternative route for traffic is via the A40 London Road, Tetsworth to
Milton Common A329 to Thame relief road, A418, B4012 and vice versa.

This Order will remain in force for a maximum period of 18 months or until the
works have been completed whichever is the sooner.
Traffic Regulations Team (Ref JaC/T4683) for the Director for Environment &
Economy, County Hall, Oxford OX1 1ND. 0345 310 1111.

ROAD re-surfacing work at Essex Road, in Thame, has had to be postponed from November 2016, because residents did not remove their vehicles as requested.

THIS WORK WILL NOW BE CARRIED OUT ON MARCH 11, 2017  and not on March 4 and 5, 2017, as previously scheduled. Traffic lights will be controlling traffic and delays are expected.

Contact: Oxfordshire County Council Highways for more information. https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/content/contact-highways

THE A418 Aylesbury Road between Cuddington Road and Churchway, Haddenham, Dinton, has now been reopened after a crash at around 15:30pm last evening (January 13).

The road was closed in both directions. Three vehicles were involved but injuries I not thought to be life-threatening according to police officers at the scene.

A new bus service to bring shoppers from Watlington to Thame market on Tuesdays, will begin operating from summer, 2017.

The new service will be provided by the Oxfordshire Comet using the ITU fleet of minibuses. This service to Thame will start on Tuesday, August 16, and will replace the old 124 service that stopped running at the end of July, 2016. It will follow a similar route to the old 124 route.

The Oxfordshire Comet uses county council vehicles that normally take children to school and adults to day care centres. Oxfordshire County Council’s transport planning team identified the times of the day when they weren’t being used and are making them available to residents.

Full details can be found HERE