‘Bureaucratic buffers’ in the way of Thame’s progress

THAME Town Council is becoming increasingly frustrated with, what one Councillor has described as, it ‘hitting beaurocratic buffers’ in attempting to move forward the town council’s actions and policies for the town.

A meeting of the town council’s Neighbourhood Continuity Committee (NPCC) last night, Tuesday, May 22, discussions around the town council’s Sports Strategy, buses, the future of the Cattlemarket site, future housing numbers for Thame and progress towards a Community Land Trust to provide affordable housing, drew expressions of extreme frustration with the district and county councils, and government departments, obstructing progress in these areas.

Money for sports clubs held up

Important questions that need answering about spending money already allocated for Thame’s new sports facilities, including the new cricket club pavilion, money for the swimming and hockey clubs, and new changing rooms at the rugby club, are still awaiting an answer – after seven changes of the officer responsible at South Oxfordshire District Council!

Cllr Helena Fickling said: “Because of continual changes in personnel, we seem always to be taking one step forward and two back! It some cases, it seems to be a case of a higher up level of obfuscation and obstruction.”

One piece of positive news was shared by the Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Officer, Graeme Markland, who had written to the new, relevant Officer at SODC about items in the methodology of the Thame Sports Strategy, and had received a response asking ‘how can we help you?’ and a meeting has been set up.

Transport projects delayed

In a verbal report from the Transport Plan Working Group of the NPCC, the Town Clerk, Graham Hunt, said that the town council was receiving more and more suggestions from the public about what the council should be doing, such as a 20mph speed limit on the estates, speed limits on the Ring Road, pot-holes, unblocking footpaths etc, but it, the town council, needed resources from Oxfordshire County Council to do some of these things.”

The NPCC Chair, Cllr Bob Austin, said: “There seems to be no coherent plan from OCC; all we can do is keep a list.”

Referring to investigations into the provision of a local, ‘Hopper bus’ for the town, Cllr Bob Austin said: “It would seem that we are faced with lethargy from Oxfordshire County Council over the Hopper bus. We are being held up by the lack of action by others.”

Future of  Thame Cattlemarket site

It was reported from the Community Facilities Working Group (CFWG) that the relevant department at SODC had been chased ‘yet again’ about future plans for the Thame Cattlemarket site, once the cattle market moves out when its lease on the site ends. In response to a comment that there were rumours of SODC making unilateral decisions about the site, Cllr David Dodds, who is also a district councillor, responded: “Nothing has been decided about the Cattlemarket at district council level to my knowledge.” (SODC’s current Local Plan includes ‘ a mixed-use development on the cattle market’)

Cllr Mary Stiles said that some members of CMag (Cattle Market Action Group) who have been lobbying for a large community centre-type facility on the site, had visited Community Centres at Chesham and Radley to see what provision other towns had provided for their communities.

Slower progress for revised Neighbourhood Plan 

On the subject of the revision of the Thame Neighbourhood Plan, Thame Town Council says it, and other parish councils with which it has been sharing problems and ideas, faces ‘frustration’ over a lack of information sharing by SODC Officers and the stalling of the completion of the district council’s Local Plan to 2033 (delayed by a possible revision of housing numbers and a re-appraisal of SODC’s preferred sites for housing developments).

Expressway

Following a recent meeting with other parishes and lobby groups concerned about the route of the government’s proposal for a new Oxford to Cambridge Express Way, Thame Town Council representatives that attended spoke of their surprise that that neither they, nor most of the other parishes at the meeting, had heard anything about a consultation exercise that was apparently carried out two years ago. Ian Stewart MP was at the meeting as the Government’s ‘Expressway Champion’ to hear questions and idea about the proposal. (His full title is Government Champion for the Oxford-Milton Keynes- Cambridge Arc and member of Transport Select Committee)

This lack of inclusion in a consultation constituted ‘a serious mis-communication’ suggested Cllr Bob Austin, presumably held up at District Council level, having failed to ‘trickle down’ to the parishes. Whether this had been deliberate or not, he was unsure. Cllr David Dodds reiterated Iain Stewart’s reassurance that there are currently no plans for a route and that it was unlikely to go South of the area because it must include Milton Keynes.

Spanner in the works for Thame’s affordable homes ambitions

Finally in this litany of frustration at delays and non-communication from above, came a report that Thame’s ambition to form a Community Trust and build affordable homes for local people, had ground to a halt because the release of funding agreed by SODC for a ‘Needs Analysis’ for such a project had been held up for several weeks because of a change of personnel in SODC’s Housing Team.

“We now have new people to convince of our case. It’s very frustrating,” said Cllr Bob Austin. “We wait and hope for a positive response. Meanwhile, we can see from the planning applications coming in that local people are trying to create homes within the bounds of their own properties in Thame for their relations.

“It may be that we will have to do this ourselves or may be even get together with other towns.”

High cost of living locally affecting personnel retainment

District and Town Cllr, David Dodds explained: “There is a new chief executive at South Oxfordshire District Council who is restructuring all departments at the council. Some Officers have left; there always has been a big turnover at SODC, partly due I suspect to the high expense of living in the area having to work at Milton Park. It is very difficult for some people.”