Council vows to be tough on Thame fair negotiations

THAME town council has promised to be tough with the Showmens Guild, when drawing up a new agreement for the operation of Thame fair.
At an Extraordinary meeting of the full council on Tuesday (15/04), the Clerk, Helen Stewart, warned councillors that all other council business “will have to go on the back burner” as officer time to work on the council’s new responsibilities for the September fair’s smooth running, its policing and safety, will incur considerable costs – costs that will have to be passed on to the fairs itself. This, apparently is how St Giles’ fair in Oxford and others are run.

Because of the recent Review of Fairground Safety (2001) legislation, the town council has to now take full responsibility for ‘best practice’ as layed out by the Health and Safety Commission, and will have to employ 16 Security Officers, and council officers will have to be present the whole time the fair is operating.

Some fairground ride operators have apparently been known to use spray paint to falsify the agreed placement lines of their equipment or to move their rides once the fire service, which is the enforcement body and advises where the rides should go, have gone. Others have pushed to the legal limit the size and weight of their attractions for a town centre location.

Cllr Rob Parker said: “All this puts us in a high risk situation. If anthing goes wrong, it will be our responsibility.”

“We will have to be tough,” said the Clerk, “or we will be opening ourselves up for claims and problems. But if we don’t take this responsibility, the fair won’t happen!”

A new agreement between the Showmen’s Guild and the Town Council must be in place before the September fair, 2009.

Photo: Thame’s Town Clerk, Helen stewart