21/10/10….Robin Gibb joins Thame housing development controversy

THAME residents, Bee Gee Robin Gibb and his wife, Dwina Murphy-Gibb, have joined the fight to question why Thame Town Council has decided to switch its preferred site for the allocation of 530 homes to a site on the edge of the town.

Site F, currently a pig farm on the Oxford Road out of Thame, has consistently been ruled out by public inquiry inspectors in previous Local Plans and, as recently as June 2010, was deemed unsuitable by South Oxfordshire District Council?s planning professionals.

Mrs Murphy-Gibb said yesterday (20 October 2010): ?Many of my fellow residents of Thame have expressed their real concerns about the lack of consultation, the very short period for comments to be made and the way that Thame Town Council suddenly decided to change its option to Site F, which is in an isolated site on the north-western edge of our town.

?Anyone reading the web site of Thame Town Council, the local internet newspaper Thamenews.net and our two local newspapers The Thame Gazette and The Oxford Times, cannot fail to understand the utter frustration that people feel about a consultation which affects the future of our beautiful town. To say residents feel totally let down is a massive understatement.

?Many people are asking how was this decision reached? Why weren?t the people of Thame consulted before they asked South Oxfordshire District Council to go out to consultation on these two sites? Who are members of the town council?s working party on the core strategy? Is it right that these decisions were taken in private rather than public meetings? These questions needed to be answered.

?The best way for people to find out what is happening is to make a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and this I have done today.?

SOURCE: Press release