UPDATE: Council set to ‘Object’ to The Elms

UPDATE: THE town council has today announced that: “Having considered the contents of the report and further assessed the recommendation to issue a “ holding objection”, at the meeting on September 30, the recommendation will be amended to ‘Objection’ without the word ‘holding’. The council has also pointed out that in this particular case, its Planning Consultant, Jake Collinge, has had nothing to do with the ‘Application Assessment’ referred to below, but was authored by Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design.

TWO planning applications that have attracted considerable objection in the town, are to be considered by Thame Town Council to decide whether or not to recommend ‘holding objections’. One is a plan to build 45 houses on land at The Elms, off Upper High Street, Thame, and the other for alterations to Elms Park itself, next door.

Meadow land at ‘The Elms’ where a development of 45 new homes are proposed

The Town Clerk, Helen Stewart, told Thame.Net: “The Town Council has concerns in relation to the original plans. However, subject to addressing these, the Town Council may be in a position to support it through amended plans.”

The main concerns are summed up in the conclusion of an ‘Application Assessment’ report , which will be discussed at the meeting on Tuesday (30/09). It states that the assessment has:

“.. identified that harm/ loss will be caused to the significance of The Elms as a listed building, in particular through the loss of openness and the loss of a mature parkland tree on the application site. There is also a loss of openness to Elms Park, which will potentially cause harm/ loss of significance to the conservation area.

“The development proposals include a number of potential public benefits for Thame, such as the public open space, new footpath/ cycleway linkages and an open space link between Elms Park and the new public open space for but at present the design of the scheme would not successfully realise these benefits.

“The development proposals also fail to take opportunities to enhance the appreciation of The Elms as a listed building in its setting, in particular in relation to possible views that could be created for users of the new links.

“At present the harm/ loss caused by the development proposals is not outweighed by public benefits.

“The development proposals also fail to comply with policy in a number of other respects, most notably in terms of affordable housing.”

The report on the second application, for changes and additions to Elms Park itself, states: “The application does not currently demonstrate how improvements to Elms Park might potentially mitigate some of the impacts of the proposed development at The Elms. “

The agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, with links to the relevant reports, can be read here: LINK  Catch up with all the back stories on this topic here: LINK