18/11/11….’Thame Town development vultures gathering..’

Dear Editor, Your readers may be interested to note that prospective Thame Town development vultures are gathering to pick over the corpse of the South Oxfordshire District Council’s Core Strategy, as evidenced by the disproportionate numbers attending the Government Inspector’s Hearings held on November 3rd regarding Thame.

The demise of the Core Strategy is not, of course, a forgone conclusion. With the increasing pace of Thame Town Council’s Neighbourhood Planning Process, brought about by Thame being chosen as a “Front Runner” pilot scheme in Whitehall, previous developers, who were formerly dropped out of the Core Strategy frame, are once again considering their opportunities.

This seems to be reflected in the Thame Town Plan Working Group’s options document, which is being displayed at the “Drop-In” consultations currently in Thame Town Hall today, Friday 18th, and Saturday 19th November.

This document appears all very laudable but residents should note that the common denominator for each of the four approaches listed contain the prospect of moving the Lord William Lower School to the fringes of Thame alongside the Oxford Road. The implications of this suggestion raises a number issues, not least the increase in the numbers of parents who will have to ferry their children across town to school through the congested conservation area of the Lower High Street and Priest End, including also those dwelling in many new homes.

The numbers of dwellings detailed in this “Town Plan” at 800 to 850 are seriously under-estimated, as these values mostly reflect the present Core Strategy requirement and it is likely that a further 300 to 350 housing units will become available through “Windfall” planning applications brought about by the very same property developers mentioned previously. This further increase was generally accepted as likely by those attending the Inspector’s Hearing of November 3rd.

Quite apart from this the cost of building new fully equipped school buildings is likely to far exceed any gains made from developing the land presently associated with the very successful Lower School. The extra costs would inevitably fall upon the Council Tax payers in the area if the County Council somehow manages to justify the expenditure against the grain of public sector financial economies.

Readers may also note that land up for development adjacent to the school site, the Bowls and Tennis Club, will almost certainly be included in this area of development. With this in mind, it might pay the officers of the Town Council to review any association the Council may have with parties who could be acting on behalf of clients whose land properties are being suggested in the Working Group’s options document.

Yours sincerely
Raymond W L Powell
(www.thamewatch.org.uk)