11/04/13…….Be a part of it as Thame makes history!

IN exactly three weeks from today, Thame will be the first community in the country to vote on a Neighbourhood Plan that includes specific sites for development. To mark such an historic stage in planning history, Nick Boles MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Planning, Department for Communities and Local Government, will be visiting Thame for the second time, on Saturday, April 27, in preparation for the Neighbourhood Plan referendum on May 2, 2013.

The Minister, escorted by the Town Mayor, Cllr Nigel Champken-Woods, will be wandering around Thame between 12 noon and 2pm visiting shops and businesses, ready to answer questions – and pose for photographs.

The 15-year plan for Thame is the first neighbourhood plan to allocate sites for future development of an additional 775 homes, three hectares of new employment land and up to 5,700 square metres of new retail within the town centre. It also sets out potential locations for a new community facility, plans for new and improved connections in and around the town and new and improved open spaces.

Planning Minister Nick Boles has said: ?Neighbourhood Planning is an incredibly important new right and one that provides a real opportunity for people to bring about the homes, shops and facilities they want to see to make their community thrive.?

Supporting this view, the Mayor added: “Local people are being given the opportunity to vote on a plan that has been put together by the community. It is giving Thame a say in what happens in the local area rather than a plan that has been developed to serve the whole district.?

The next stage in the process is the referendum where the community has the final say on whether a neighbourhood plan comes into force. If more than 50 per cent of people voting in the referendum support the Plan, then South Oxfordshire District Council will use it to help it decide planning applications in Thame.

“Your vote counts!” concluded the Mayor.