Opposition to Thame housing development grows

AS the closing date for the district council’s public consultation on its Core Strategy to 2026, the ‘Preferred Options’ document, opposition is mounting to a proposal for 850 new homes for Thame (option D)close to Cuttlebrook.

At a meeting of Thame Town Council’s Planning committee last night (28/04/09), residents and town councillors firmly let their feelings be known to representatives from SODC.

REASONS FOR OBJECTION

A resident of Moreton, Helena Fickling, made several points, including the following, many of which were restated by councillors:

? The Council (SODC) has not given clear reasons why the preferred options in the initial consultation A and F were not chosen and the least preferred option, D, was chosen. This omission also means the approach is inconsistent with National Policy. The choice of Site D would appear to be either arbitrary or swayed by the sophisticated presentation made by RPS on behalf of its client Banner Homes.

? In choosing site D the Council ignored the advice of their own landscape consultants, Machin Bate Associates, who expressly recommended against using site D West ?we recommend against development of this site due to its visual impact on well used [footpath] links between Thame and Moreton and on the valley landscape of Cuttle Brook? in their report (at page 29*).

? Site D borders Cuttle Brook nature reserve and the wider Cuttle Brook valley. In the words of Machin Bate Associates report: “Not only should it be protected for landscape and ecological value but it also has considerable potential as a local recreational resource?[and] would severely compromise the gap between Thame and Moreton? We therefore recommend against development in this area.” (report page 30.)

? The report glosses over the lack of capacity in the primary schools, Lord Williams School – redrawing the catchment area will destroy the cohesion of the district around Thame in Bucks as well as Oxfordshire and the capacity of the Local GPs – what Bucks PCT says is not the same as the experience of the doctors.

Ms Fickling concluded: “It seems that SODC would like to appear to be consulting us and is going through the motions, but are they really listening? Will they act on what we say? It does not seem like it.”

CHILTERN VALE RESIDENTS FEAR MORE FLOODING

Mr Keith Parsley, Chairman of the Chiltern Vale Residents’ Association, said that his association feared Thame would be “swamped” by such a large development and feared further flooding due to ‘run off’ if more houses were build in the area. He added that, in his opinion, Thame had already had its fair share of housing development and that any more was “unjustifiable.”

He said that the town already had insufficient leisure facilities and lacked the infrastructure to support such a large number of additional houses.

“We must protect our market town, of which we are all proud, with all our efforts,” he concluded.

DISTRICT COUNCIL RESPONDS

Caroline Emery, speaking for SODC, said that her and her team were constrained by the South East draft plan when it came to the number of new homes needed to be built in the region and that they were currently refining the options as a result of consultations, including liaising with infrastructure agencies.

It was explained that option D was chosen after carrying out full appraisals including bio diversity and education, and that the site has good access to the town centre which it is thought, would be more likely to encourage people to walk and cycle to town.

It was also explained that there was no intention to build right up to the Cuttlebrook Nature Reserve but to create landscaping to form a recreation area or extension to it.

THAME COUNCILLOR QUESTIONS WHOLE PROCESS

Cllr David Dodds said that he was not at all convinced by the numbers, and questioned what the whole process was doing to benefit local communities. He questioned where the people were going to come from to live in the proposed houses and where the jobs were going to come from.

“We need to be planning for communities,” he said, “not just providing houses.”

“These proposals will change Thame forever,” he concluded, “and I am not prepared to let that happen.”

NO ONE WANTS MORE HOUSING IN THEIR AREA

The SODC officers admitted that everywhere they go around the district, people are objecting to new development in their area. But in defence of the proposed numbers, explained that statistics show a marked decline in the size of households in the country due to divorce, people living longer and that there is a need for economic growth in our area which is important for the economy of the country. All these factor will necessitate more homes being provided in the district.

Replying to a statement from Cllr David Bretherton that develolpment on more, smaller sites might be more acceptable, Ms Emery and her colleague said that it was more difficult to provide facilities in piecemeal developments.

The closing date for the consultation is Friday, May 1, 2009.

Visit the District Council’s web site at: LINK

To find out more and how you can get involved visit www.southoxon.gov.uk/corestrategy or phone planning policy on 01491 823725.

Photo: Farm land near Thame, similar to that proposed for a new housing development (for illustrative purposes only)