Good and Bad News From the Annual Town Meeting

Notes From Thame Town Annual Meeting.

AROUND 80 local electors took the opportunity to air their views and ask questions of town councillors and Thame Partnership members, at a lively Annual Town Meeting on Tuesday, April 26, at Thame town hall.
The speakers included Inspector Stewart Dunbar, who described how the new ?Neighbourhood Policing? would work; Peter Todd, the Chair to the Board of Trustees of the Citizens Advice Bureau, who appealed for more support for the CAB; Bob Davies, Chairman of the Thame Festival Committee, again appealing for more local support for the Festival and Keith Slater, Chair of the 21st Century Thame Partnership, whose talk was entitled, ?How can we put the ?community? back into Thame??

The Mayor of Thame, Cllr David Laver, welcomed everyone to the meeting and summarised some of the achievements of the past year, including the VE/VJ Day celebrations, the re-dedication of the War Memorial by the Bishop of Oxford, the Christmas event and the St George?s Day Festival, and payed tribute to all the volunteers and groups who work for the town.
In thanking councillors and council staff for their support during the year, he highlighted some of the achievements of council committees including approving a budget and plan for improving the Memorial Garden and the establishment of an Information Point at the One Stop Hall following the closure of the Tourist Information Centre.
He said that he was glad to have seen the plans for an extended Meadowcroft Care Home approved which meant that the facility would stay in the town, and that the Open Spaces Working Group will be looking at the refurbishment of the Churchill Crescent Play area and Elms Park.
The Mayor spoke of the complex processes, involving many agencies, in the Museum project and looked forward to its opening in the near future and congratulated the town clerk, Helen Stewart on the work she had put into negotiations to release the Windmill Suite for community use. ?We hope that the necessary infrastructure can now be put together to allow this to happen,? he added.
The Mayor regretted that the council was unable to find a suitable site for the youth shelter but said that: ?Fruitful discussions with local residents had led to the formation of a Southern Road Recreation Working Group to look at the problems in this area. Cllr Laver applauded the involvement of young people in the form of the Youth Council, saying that their contribution indicated how much community involvement there is in the town.
?I think we are a happy, healthy and thriving community,? he said.

Mr Eric Crouch pointed out that the arrangements for the Windmill Suite as a community facility were only for 18 months and asked the Mayor about any future plans for permanent Arts and Leisure facilities in the town, to which Cllr Laver replied: ?We are no further down the road in providing a dedicated Arts Centre.?
He did, however, state that the developer had indicated that any new development on the Windmill Road site (Thame United?s old ground) would include a new function hall-type building for community use that would be built before any demolition of the Windmill Suite (Ed. or Phoenix Suite as it apparently will be known).
Mary Stiles said that she assumed there would be public discussion about any replacement for the Windmill Suite and was told that the developer was working with the town council and SODC.
The Mayor mentioned the feasibility study that is to be carried out into increased facilities at Town Farm football pitches, which could see Thame United finding a new home there.

District Cllr David Dodds then presented his report, referring to the adoption of the 2011 Local Plan, after much consultation and inspection procedure, explaining that this will be replaced by a ?Local Development Framework? .
Cllr Dodds mentioned