27/10/10…..Thame Mayor’s vote decides option for housing
FOLLOWING a split among Thame Town Councillors, the Mayor’s casting vote decided the vexed question of where the council thinks a new housing development should go in the town – if we have to have them.
At its meeting last night (26/10/10), the town council considered its formal response to South Oxfordshire District Council’s consultation on proposed changes to the Core Strategy, and whether the 530 new homes allocated for Thame should go on site D or TTC’s hitherto preferred option, site F.
After a very lengthy debate, during which the soundness of SODC’s methodology and judgement at coming up with numbers and its preferred site, Site D, was questioned, the council made its decision.
Basically, on the proposed changes to the Core Strategy, the council voted to oppose the 530 homes allocated to Thame, saying that the four week consultation was not long enough and that following from the reduction from 800 to 530 homes, other sites had not been sufficiently considered. On the advice of its Planning Consultant, Jake Collinge, the council would suggest in its response that only 280 would be appropriate, and the council’s preferred location for these is Site C.
On the thorny issue of where the homes should go if the town had to have the full 530, as its fall-back position the council finally voted for Site F, after a vote of six for and six against meant that Mayor Adam Buckland’s casting vote tipped the balance. There were two abstentions. Cllrs David Bretherton and David Dodds who are also District Councillors.
It was revealed during the meeting that from the responses received so far, following the distribution of voting sheets at the public meeting held on
Monday, 205 residents preferred site F, and 225 preferred site D. Some preferences were ignored because they did not include a name or postcode.
The pros and cons of both site D and site F were fully aired at the public meeting. In its Thame Assessment, available on SODC’s website, the district council states the following about site C:
