Pedestrianisation Of Town Centre Proposal

AMONGST suggestions to safeguard the competitiveness of retail businesses in Thame, is a proposal to pedestrianise the Cornmarket area.
A recent report into the the health of retail businesses in Thame, commissioned by South Oxfordshire Dictrict Council, said that, in common with many other towns across the UK, trading conditions in Thame have: “progressively deteriorated in recent years.
“Consumer spending could continue to shift away from the town unless action is taken to increase its competitiveness and safeguard its future,” says the author of the report, John Lockwood of New Horizon Ltd.
The report looked at the town from a consumer’s point of view and highlighted weaknesses such as “poor quality toilets, traffic issues that mar an otherwise attractive shopping environment, narrow footways causing problems in Buttermarket, a shortage of parking on market days and declining standards in the quality of shop fronts.”
The report goes on to say: “Some of the proposals will involve changes that some people may find challenging but if the town is to capitalise on its assets it must make use of what it has, more effectively.”
It concludes that if implemented, the suggested actions “would assist in safeguarding the future vitality and viability of the town centre.”

Town Councillors and members of the Economic group of 21st Century Thame, are to meet to discuss the implications of the Lockwood report.

To see the full report, see Link