Pro Tesco group delivers pledges to Thame’s Mayor
THE pro-Tesco group, Thame Needs Tesco (TNT) this morning presented 600 ‘Pledges of support’ to Thame’s Mayor, Nichola Dixon.
From L to R – Peggy Long, Rachel Lester, Mayor Thame Nichola Dixon and members of Thame Needs Tesco
The presentation is the latest in the battle for the Planners’ ears, over a planning application by Tesco to build a supermarket, a petrol station and office accommodation on the DAF site, off the Thame by-pass. Last week, another group opposed to the plans, Thame Centre First, delivered a 3,000 signature petition to the Town Clerk, Graham Hunt (See LINK)
The Pledge forms collected by TNT and signed individually by local residents after a comprehensive door-knocking exercise by members of the group, calls on the planning authority, South Oxfordshire District Council, to recommend approval of Tesco’s application (Full application details HERE)
On the pledge forms, TNT lists five main benefits they believe the plans offer for Thame. These are choice, competition and value-for-money shopping; encouraging local people to shop in Thame, rather than other nearby towns; 200 new jobs; maintaining business use and valuable employment on the Howland Road site and better pedestrian, cycle and bus links with other parts of Thame
Spokesperson for TNT, Rachel Lester, said: “The town council will be meeting next week to discuss the Tesco application, so we wanted to make sure that every member is fully aware of the support that exists in the town. Everyday folk in Thame want their views to be taken into consideration, so we were pleased to present the Mayor with copies of the 600 plus pledges that we have collected, and have lodged in support of the plans.
“We hope the town council will take the right decision and recommend the application for approval.”
Members of both Thame Needs Tesco and Thame Centre First will be among those speaking at the town council meeting next Tuesday, August 25, at 7.30pm in the town hall.
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Interestingly, I was sent out yesterday to do some shopping, and decided to test out the range at Sainsbury’s using the shopping list my wife had given to me. Out of 30 items, the only one I wasn’t able to obtain was a butternut.
Geoff, I’m not sure where your stat of “50% of the residents do not have their needs met by the current stores in Thame” comes from, but that’s certainly not my experience.
All this fuss for a Tesco. Not so sure why. Yes we need more parking if that’s the case might as well do park and ride but that’s not what Thame is all about. We have a lot of individual shops and a lot of coffee shops and hair dressers. But Thame is a strong community and a lot of shops will not benefit from a tesco as we have Waitrose co op sainsbury and a little marks Spencer’s. And 10-15 min drive to a tesco in princes risbourogh. Or Aylesbury where there is more than enough supermarkets. I can’t see why people want to make Thame like Aylesbury. I can easily jump on a bus or in my car which keeps the bus company in service. I can get all my essential from Thame and like any other I can shop online or have a trip to Aylesbury to get everything else. NO TO TESCO. Next we will have a Aldi lidl. We already have dominios just need McDonald’s and kfc and we are there
Much was made by Centre First on Radio Oxford yesterday about the Neighbourhood Plan specifying a smaller square footage than the Tesco plan. What they don’t understand is that the Tesco opportunity is about quality not quantlty. You may find it strange I mention Tesco and quality together! What I mean is that 50% of residents do not have their need met by the 3 stores in Thame. You can go on adding the wrong type of retail space for ever but it only works if it provides the quality Thame people need. The current stores do not provide the complimentary products nor do they meet the price needs.
3000 signing an anti Tesco petition is not clear resident support at all. Most of those signatures are from the cartel of self interest.
As I have stated before anyone can collect 3000 signatures but It does not represent the majority of the population of Thame and the surrounding area which well exceeds that number by many many thousands.
Thame Town Council will support this anti Tesco campaign because they have no choice. They have always been supportive of the business cartel by the long term councillors that make up the council.
SODC will be the decision makers and they will hopefully look at the bigger picture as the development of Thame has only just started. Thame Centre First is sadly stuck in the past.
We need tescos. That is all.
Hugh.
That is because a no vote will always achieve a stronger response. There is far more vitriol with nimbys
So we have 3563 anti-Tesco vs 753 pro-Tesco. These being made up of 3000 signing the anti-Tesco petition and 653 the anti-Tesco ePetition and 600 pro-Tesco pledges and 153 the pro-Tesco ePetition.
I’d say that’s a pretty big majority for the anti-Tesco lobby, despite the “comprehensive door-knocking exercise”!
I’d be interested in the council’s view on how they can respect the clear wishes of the residents and avoid being overruled by SODC again!