Lack of ‘partnership’ working threatens Thame’s future

THAME could miss out on thousands of pounds worth of funding for regeneration if the relationship between town councillors and the rest of its partners in 21st Century Thame, cannot be improved.
The split came into sharp focus on Tuesday, when the town council’s Policy and Resources committee was scheduled to consider a list of proposed projects that the partnership had drawn up, from which to select those to go forward in a funding application to SEEDA, the South East Economic Development Agency.

However, it soon became clear that some councillors were not happy that their own particular ideas seemed not to have been taken on board when drawing up the list. Councillor Nigel Champken Woods was particularly concerned that a town-wide Wi Fi scheme was still on the list when his understanding had been that the feeling of the partnership’s Steering group had been to reject it. He questioned whether certain paid officers within the partnership had a disproportionate level of influence within it.

After what became a long and sometimes vehement outpouring of bad feeling, in which most councillors nevertheless praised the work of the volunteers in the partnership, the Mayor, Cllr Don Butler, seemed to sum up what is behind the apparent lack of cohesion in 21st Century Thame, when he said: “The control should be from here (the Council).”

21st Century Thame itself, which was formed out of the Market Town Health Check five years ago to oversee the resulting Thame Vision and Action Plan, seems always to have struggled to accommodate the differing views of what ‘partnership working’ means between elected members and volunteers.

Cllr Adam Buckland told the committee: “We cannot go on like this. There are some good things happening in the town and there are a lot of good people with some good ideas who need to be encouraged. We need to harness that enthusiasm. The council cannot do everything.”

The committee was not happy that the list of proposed projects did not include any business plans or suggestions of where the match funding needed would come from.

It was agreed that the Town Clerk would contact the district council representative on the partnership, Economic Development officer, Caroline Woods, for her view on whether the partnership was able to provide such information before it, the Policy and Resources committee, could consider taking a view on the proposed projects.