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ON the hottest day of the year so far, Thame’s Festival Carnival stopped the traffic for over half an hour on Saturday, as floats and exhibits passed through the town and delighted the assembled crowds.
The following fete on the Southern Road Recreation ground kept the entertainment going, with fair ground rides, stalls of every description, barbecue and arena demonstrations.
The winner of the walking carnival entry was John Hampden School’s spectacula banana song with a Fair Trade theme, with staff, teachers and PTA members all either dressed as bananas, or wearing yellow and green.
Barley Hill school was second and Thame Guides and Brownies came third.

THAME Co-op’s entry in the Mobile section of the Festival carnival on Saturday, was the best according to the judges, which included the Mayor, Cllr Laver and two members of the Thame Youth Council.
Thame Festival Chairman and Master of Ceremonies, Bob Davies, welcomed the return of the store to the carnival after a break of several years.
The second prize went to Soudbyte Response of Thame.

PLANS to build nine flats and three shops on land behind Newitts in Thame, have been called ?ill-conceived and unacceptable?.
The comments came at a meeting on Tuesday of Thame Town Council?s Planning committee, in a letter from the Thame Conservation Area Advisory Committee, who also said that these, the third variation of such plans, were a repeat of the two previously submitted.
Six letters of objection to the plans, which include three shops fronting the passage way from the High Street through to the Co-op car park, were read out at the meeting. One of them complained about ?an invisible notice? posted in the area about the planning application which the correspondent described as ?deeply suspicious.?
Another letter from Dorcester Place stated that the footpath was too narrow and that parking would put undue pressure on the approach road to the car park.
Another letter, from Hazelton Close, questioned the ownership of the passage and was concerned about deliveries to shops on the site and for the future of several mature trees in the area.
A letter from Lincoln Place expressed concerns about pollution from vehicles and noise pollution and said that large vehicles often queue to unload in the area already.
Cllr Beatrice Dobie said that in her opinion, a good thing about the proposal was that they would ?remove once and for all the portacabins etc? currently collected at the rear of Newitts?, and that she felt that the new plans were ?starting to go in the right direction.?
Cllr Nigel Champken-Woods however, said that in his view: ?Nothing has changed and getting rid of the portacabins etc was irrelevant to this application.?
The Mayor, Cllr David Laver said that whilst he felt car parking would not be such a problem since the SODC car park is not greatly used in the evening, he still felt that the proposed plan contained too many units for that area and did not think that there was room for access to the planned shops in the alley way. He was also concerned that butchery deliveries would increase at the front of Newitts? in the High Street which might itself create problems.
The Planning committee voted to recommend refusal of the plan on the same grounds as the two previous applications i.e. Insufficient parking provision, Traffic and Loading implications, Over-development and unneighbourly.

FOLOWING a public enquiry into objections made to the draft Local Plan for South Oxfordshire, the enquiry?s Inspector has now published his findings which include bad news for Tesco?s.
The supermarket giant challenged the drafts plan?s statement that the size of any retail unit built on the North Street Cattle market site in Thame, should be limited to 2,000 sq m. However, the Inspector concluded that:??there is no current real qualitative or quantitive need for a large new food store in Thame, whether on this site or elsewhere in or around the town. Bearing in mind the competing demands for community uses, the importance of creating a mixed use development in this sustainable central location, and the need for an economically viable scheme to emerge, I am satisfied that an upper limit on the amount of new retail provision is both reasonable and appropriate in such circumstances.?
Tesco asserted that the draft plan underestimated the retail need in Thame and that a new, large foodstore would help to ?claw back trade from Oxford, Aylesbury and the Asda store at Wheatley.?
The Inspector however stated: ??Thame is a relatively small market town serving a rural hinterland and retains a good range of small shops, including specialist food retailers and weekly, plus farmers markets, providing good choise for a centre of its size. Moreover, the latest survey indicates that recent improvements to the food retail offered in thame, through an extension to Waitrose, a refurbishment of the Co-op, and the opening of a Sainsbury?s Local have significantly increased the town centre?s retained proportion of convenience goods expenditure from around 55% in 2000 to about two thirds in 2004.?
The Inspector also addressed objections made to the Draft Plan?s policies on the sensitive Rycotewood site in Thame, including a concern that the existing access would be dangerous for residential or community use, and the suggestion that the policy should require a new access road to the rear of the site.
The Inspector stated in his report: ??there is no evidence to suggest or reason to assume that the scale and nature of the traffic movements generated by redevelopment would lead to a radically different pattern compared to those from the previous uses of the site. Consequently, given the opportunities for a possible separate pedestrian access to Oxford Road, and traffic calming along it, as well as the provision of a package of sustainable transport measures in accordance with criterion V), a separate alternative rear access is not necessary before redevelopment can occur.?
Changes in the wording of the Plan with further reference to Rycotewood, include the statement: ?..to protect the setting of the Prebendal and protect or enhance the character of the conservation area and its setting.?
This statement could have implications for a planning application recently re-submitted for the demolition of a large house at Priest End, and replacing it with a block of flats and associated parking, to which neighbours and Thame?s town council have objected.

A public meeting to discuss concept plans drawn up by the Cattle Market Action Group, will be held next Monday, June 20, at the town hall, beginning at 7.45pm.

The Inspector?s full report can be read on-line on South Oxfordshire District Council?s web site at:
Link

THAME’S Mayor, Cllr David Laver, today officially welcomed a group of students from Bonn, who are staying with their counterparts in Thame.
The teacher in charge of the group is Frau Beate Rosendahl and the accompanying teacher is Frau
Judith Fehmer. Thirty six pupils have been paired with Year 9 and 10 Lord Williams’s School pupils and five older pupils with Year 12 partners. These
five were not however at the Town Hall as they have today started six days of work experience with local businesses. They all come from Friedrich Ebert
Gymnasium in Bonn and this is the 23rd year of the exchange between the two schools.
During their stay in Thame they will all be visiting London and Blenheim Palace, and the younger ones will visit Warwick Castle and New College, Oxford as well as looking round Thame and Oxford city.
At least one family will be taking part in the Thame Festival Treasure Hunt, as printed in the Festival Programme (available from the town hall or TIC).