19/12/11…Sainsbury’s Community centre inadequate says action group

THE following letter has been sent to Ann Ducker, the Leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, members of the Thame group, CMAG – Cattle Market Action Group:

CMAG
thamecmag@yahoo.co.uk
www.thamecmag.co.uk

13.12.2011
Dear Ann, Recently Sainsbury?s has sent a leaflet, marked PUBLIC CONSULTATION, to residents, businesses and community groups of Thame and surrounding villages entitled ?A new Sainsbury?s for Thame?.At least 14,500 of these leaflets have been distributed.

The plans shown on this leaflet include a community building; we are writing to tell you that we are concerned that the needs of the community have not been accurately represented on this plan.

The Cattle Market Action Group (CMAG) working group met with Sainsbury?s consultants GKA and let them know that the proposed community building was too inflexible and far smaller than is needed by our current member groups. Additionally, we believe that there is insufficient parking available to the centre.

CMAG has campaigned for a community building of 1200 sq. m floor space on two floors, which can be viewed on our website www.thamecmag.co.uk. This Sainsbury?s building is approximately329 sq m gross (212 sq m for a hall and 117 sq m for toilets/kitchen etc), which is smaller than either Chinnor or Haddenham village halls.

We strongly believe that a community building on the cattle market site will serve as a hub for the town and surrounding villages; it also complies with the SODC Core Strategy, which states that the Cattle Market should be redeveloped for mixed use. The building currently proposed by Sainsbury?s, could not achieve this goal, particularly as we are expecting 800 new residences in the town.

We note that Sainsbury?s are aiming to submit a planning application in the near future. At that time the discussion will be in the domain of the wider community and will involve other relevant parties. We look forward to bringing discussions forward at that time.

Best wishes

Dr. Helena Richards, CMAG secretary

cc.Judith Nimmo-Smith
Angie Patterson
Matt Prosser
David Dodds
David Bretherton
Ann Midwinter
Mike Welply
Helen Stewart
https://www.thame.net