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IN a very unusual move, Oxfordshire County Council today voted to accept an invitation from the Minister responsible for housing, Robert Jenrick MP – if he were to send it – to take over the production of South Oxfordshire District Council’s Local Plan 2034.

The Liberal Democrat and Green coalition that has led the district council since May’s local elections, believed that the 28,500 new homes figure in the plan drawn up by the previous Conservative SODC administration, was excessive. So, they sought to amend the Local Plan back in October, to reflect more the climate emergency and fewer homes that they, the new administration, say they fought and won their mandate on in the May 2020 General Election.

Tetchy Councillors

After presentations from CPRE, several SODC Councillors, including their Leader, Sue Cooper, and a young mother of two, followed by an ill-natured at times, lengthy debate, the decision came with a vote of 39 for, 16 against and 4 abstentions. Two of the abstentions to the motion, to accept the invitation from the Minister, came from Thame and Chinnor’s County Councillors, Jeannette Matelot Green and Nick Carter.

Some County Councillors, mainly LibDems, held the view that it would be undemocratic to take the Local Plan away from the SODC, the designated Planning authority elected in May, elected with a mandate to look again at ‘excessive’ housing numbers in the plan and lack of consideration for Climate Change coming down the line. Others though, mainly on the Conservative and Labour side of the argument, were of the view that withdrawing and delaying the plan was wrong of SODC and the only way to get it through, and to get the £368 million infrastructure fund for itself to spend, would be to take over from SODC, if the minister asked it to.

There was much debate as to the legality of the Minister’s proposed action and whether the county council would put itself at financial and/or legal risk by taking over the plan. Many Councillors veered off into what a good plan should contain eg more social housing. but eventually a vote was taken and the final result was to accept the Minister’s invitation, if it came.

Afterwards, Cllr Sue Cooper said: “I regret the decision made by the county council today, and would like to thank those who came to the meeting to support the principle of local democracy and decision-making. We wish to continue working constructively with the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government and Oxfordshire County Council to keep local plan making with South Oxfordshire.

“We would like to know more about the Secretary of State’s suggestion to propose changes to the plan through the examination process, with the aim of putting our plan at the forefront of the latest bold and far-reaching thinking on the climate emergency, rather than being the last of the environmentally damaging plans.

“Our preference remains to discuss the mechanism to propose such changes in a face-to-face meeting with the Secretary of State, as he agreed in parliament in response to a question from Layla Moran MP. We are yet to hear back from the Secretary of State on our request to hold this meeting.

“If we are prevented from withdrawing this plan and working on a new one ourselves, we must at least be able to uphold the principle of local democracy by proposing improvements.”

Writing on OCC’s Facebook page, Ian Hudspeth, Leader of the council, wrote: ““This is a very unusual position we find ourselves in. It is something that neither I nor Oxfordshire County Council have proactively sought.

“I thank county councillors for taking part in today’s debate and the vote that followed. The only way to have local input in to the progression of South Oxfordshire’s Local Plan was for us to take the difficult decision to accept an invitation if this is received from the Secretary of State.

“This way forward would give the very best opportunity for South Oxfordshire residents to feed into the process as it evolves, as well as seeing the many infrastructure benefits that it could provide. By not progressing the Local Plan we could lose £368m for much required infrastructure.

“We have a strong and longstanding partnership with our partners at South Oxfordshire District Council on many issues and we want to maintain that for the benefit of people of South Oxfordshire.”

Oxfordshire County Council has not yet received an invitation from central Government.

PREVIOUSLY: Link HERE

VISIT 21st Century Thame’s Volunteers Fair on Saturday, February 15, and pick up FREE hedge trees and/or small trees for gardens.

There will be six different types of hedge trees to choose from. Apart from the Thame Trees Plant 2020 stall, there’ll be an assortment of local organisations offering the opportunity to get involved with one of the many local organisations that do so much for our sense of community, our environment and those more vulnerable among us here in Thame.

Go along and find out about 21st Century Thame, Thame Carnival, Thame Tidy, Thame Museum, Girl Guides, Scouts, OX9ers, Thame Youth projects, Thame Art Crawl, Oxfam, Music in the park, Thame Climate Action, Taste of Thame and others….

Refreshements will be available including a Cake Sale in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, and children will be encouraged to have a go at racketball, table tennis and squash on offer at Raquests Fitness Centre, which is hosting the event.

At the Volunteers Fair, you could:
1. Pick up a tree to plant in your garden (part of #ThameTrees)
2. Meet the leaders and other volunteers of over 10 different voluntary organisations from around Thame
3. Have drink in the Racquets bar and chat through what opportunities there

Come on – join in – and continue the work of making Thame a great place to live, work and visit.

The Volunteers Fair runs from 12 noon through to 4pm.

DO you have the gift of time to give to an enjoyable and rewarding activity?

Thame and District Day Centre meet at Thame Town Cricket Club on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30am to 2:30pm and are open for 50 weeks of the year.

They provide a day out with plenty of refreshments, a two-course meal and a variety of entertainment for people from Thame and some nearby villages, who are elderly, frail, or perhaps isolated. They first opened nearly 30 years ago and currently have about 60 members and a small waiting list.

This wonderful service is dependent on the commitment of an excellent team of volunteer drivers and Day Centre helpers. They need helpers to support the managers with serving drinks and lunch, organising activities and entertainment and providing a friendly, sociable atmosphere with time to listen and chat! They also need volunteer drivers who can use their own cars for an hour in the morning and/or afternoons to pick up their members and take them home afterwards. A clean driving licence and an empathetic and friendly manner is all that is needed and mileage expenses are paid. If you are an entertainer, speaker, singer or even magician, they can always accommodate your skills in the Centre. Expenses or your standard charges can be paid if they are within budget. Volunteers with particular skills e.g. manicurist, hairdresser, chiropodist or craft worker would be most welcome to enhance the members’ day out.

Whether you have just a few hours or the whole day to spare, please consider helping out and call Gillian Coleman on 01844 212080 for an informal chat.

SOURCE: Thame Town Council’s news letter

BOTH South Oxfordshire and the Vale District Councils, have called for zero carbon homes in a joint respose to the Government’s Future Homes Standard Consultation which ended yesterday.

In their response, the two councils have agreed with the move to produce clearer standards and guidance in line with the recommendations of the Hackitt Review, and that restructuring the guidance so that it is clearer about what is expected of the home builders and developers in complying with the requirements would be a positive step.

However, although supportive of the intention of the targets being proposed, both Councils felt strongly that the Government should be ‘far more ambitious’ with their targets and timescales in the move towards constructing zero carbon houses, and in their expectations of local authorities, housing developers and homeowners.

The standards proposed in the consultation document however, are lower than those for London, setting out carbon reduction targets 25% lower than those detailed in the 2016 London plan – a fact pointed out to the government in a recent letter to the housing Minister, from the Mayor or London, Sadiq Khan.

The Future Homes Standard is currently under consultation and is due to come into effect in the latter half of 2020, covering England only. In its current form, it includes a goal to reduce the carbon intensity of new builds by 75% by 2025, which will be delivered through fresh mandates for housebuilders on triple glazing, low-carbon heating systems, onsite renewable generation and energy-efficient building fabrics. The 75% target is down from an initial proposal of 80%.

Last year both councils declared a Climate Change Emergency. At South Oxfordshire District Council, they have set a date of 2030 by which they expect to reach carbon emissions of net zero or near to net zero. At Vale of White Horse District Council, they are aiming for a 75% reduction in carbon emissions in the district by 2030.

To read the whole statement from the two councils, click HERE

THAME Tree Plant 2020, 21st Century Thame’s latest initiative, really has taken root – and planted its first trees.

A team of six local people planted 30 assorted young trees, including Hornbeam and Bird Cherry, on land close to Thame belonging to a local resident, to form an eventual copse.

The Thame Tree Plant 2020 project is for 21st Century Thame to commit towards the 1 million trees Woodland Trust mass tree planting campaign — part of National Tree Week and the Big Climate Fightback. The project is pledging to plant 500 trees around Thame in 2020, aiming to raise upwards of £3K from local businesses and other donors, to purchase the trees.

Visit the Thame Tree Plant 2020 webpage, to find out more about this ‘green’ initiative, and find out how you can take part by either donating cuttings from your own trees, joining voluntary tree-planting days, like that held last Wednesday, or to make an offer of land that you like to see planted with young trees.