02/02/12..UPDATE: Residents want more of a say in Neighbourhood Plan

UPDATE: Since this report, a meeting has been arranged for 6.30pm on Tuesday, February 28, for Thame Residents Associations to meet with Tibbalds and Town Councillors to get an update on the Neighbourhood Plan. END

FOLLOWING a meeting with the Government Minister in charge of communities last week, the Chair of a Thame residents Association has asked for more of a say before the Draft plan is published.

Barry Yates, the Chair of the Oxford Road Residents Association, was one of the community representatives who spoke at the meeting last Wednesday (25/01), called to enable Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, Minister of State for Communities and Local Government, the opportunity to see how Thame’s Neighbourhood Plan was progressing.

Speaking after the meeting, Barry Yates said: “Whilst we as Residents Associations fully embrace the Neighbourhood Plan, we have felt that there has been a slowness in the feedback from the consultation, a lack of publication of a timetable going forward and a general feeling of a certain opaqueness.

“We have therefore asked for a meeting with the town council and Tibbalds, the consultants who are leading on the formation of the Neighbourhood Plan, and all the representatives of the Residents Associations, as soon as possible, to make sure that our views are taken into consideration before the Draft Neighbourhood Plan is finally formulated.

“Yes, we were all NIMBYS initially but we have been working together for the good of the town, and as we represent a good chunk of the population of Thame, we have offered to help communication between the town council, the Consultants and the people of the town.

“Hopefully we will hear very soon when the meeting can take place.”