AS ThameNews.Net is off on holiday for two weeks, here is a news-in-brief-type round-up of interesting quotes and news outstanding for this week. We’ll be back as from Monday, August 2.
* Chief Executive of SODC, David Buckles, who gave his annual report to Thame Town Council recently, has said that: “The ball is in Thame Town Council’s court” as to whether it wants to purchase the Old Market House in the Upper High Street. The two authorities have to-date been unable to agree a price. The town council has aspirations to provide a youth drop-in centre in the basement, which has in the past had problems with leakage from the public toilets above.
* On future housing development, Mr Buckle told town councillors said that: “Thame is not a location that we will be looking at for any significant additional housing. It is more likely to be in the hundreds rather than the thousands.”
* The District Council is about to embark on a debate about the future of rubbish collection, because it must make some crucial decisions, i.e. Wheelie bins or not, taking more out of the black bags, particularly food waste – by November when the provision of the service intil 2017 goes out for tender.
* SODC has no plans to re-introduce the Saturday morning waste skip that used to visit The cattlemarket, but Mr Buckle told councillors (particularly Cllr Owen Davies who raised the issue): “We are going out to public consolation so if there is a big public demand, we must look at it.”
* On the backlog of Planning Enforcement cases, Mr Buckle said that his authority had reduced the number outstanding from 1000 to 400, adding that: “We do not have the resources to look at every case and so have decided to prioritise. We ask ourselves, ‘Does it matter?’ and in some cases, not making a decision is making a decision! Listed buildings are our priority. Now it is not the ones who make most noise that we look at, but instead what harm it is causing.”
* He pleaded patience for action on the Lockwood Report which looked at ways of improving Market towns like Thame, because of a lack of resources including the vacancy for a new Economic Development Manager which was proving hard to fill. He said that Wallingford, which has acute problems following the re-location of Waitrose away from the town centre, would be first on the list. However, eventually it would be a case of SODC “sitting down with the Thame Town Council and coming up with a priority list of what can be invested in that’s best for the town.”
* Talking about the possibility of a Cycle path between Thame and Haddenhanm, Mr Buckle said: “I am sure it is something we would be willing to put some money into, but someone has got to get it off the ground.”
MORE TO COME
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