Thame Town Council To Look At Future Of Fair

FOLLOWING a petition and complaints about Thame’s annual fun fairs in the town centre, the town council is to consider its future.
Local residents have complained about noise and air pollution from generators, public announcements and amplified music, to South Oxfordshire County Council’s Environmental Health Department.
Principal Environmental Health Officer, Craig Miller,
speaking at a meeting of the town council’s Culture and Leisure committee last night, said that the council needed to think about whether the agreement between it and the Showmen’s Guild was being adequately controlled, whether Control Orders needed to be used to strengthen stewarding of the events, to think about whether the scale of the attractions and rides are having a detrimental effect of residents in the area, and to consider ideas about alternative locations.

He suggested that the council could consider adding conditions to the agreement, for example, stopping the noise etc earlier in the evening.
The current agreement between Thame Council and the Showmen’s Guild is due to be re-negotiated in 2008 and there is to be a meeting involving the police and the Town Clerk next week to discuss the fair.

Although Cllr Beatrice Dobie said that she could hardly hear the noise from the fair where she lives in Bell Lane, Cllr Nigel Champken-Woods said that he could hear it 3/4 of a mile away in the Lee Park area.

Cllr Adam Buckland, who runs a hairdressing salon business in the Buttermarket, said:”When the fair is here, the town shuts down for a week. It effects businesses, commuters and residents. It would make sense to look into an alternative site.”

“You, the council, hold the key,” said Craig Miller. “I can only help you with the controls which I will do in any way I can.”

Photo: Copyright- Iain Fairweather