16/05/13… Tradition, recycling, rubbish, dog bins & more – News roundup

THE long held tradition of Thame town councillors standing to speak at council meetings, was consigned to the past this week when Thame Town Council changed its Standing Orders to the effect that councillors will no longer be required to stand to address meetings through the Mayor in the Chair. Only Cllr Don Butler insisted on standing when his turn to speak came round.

A FORMER Mayor of Thame, has this evening been elected as the first Independent Vice Chair of South Oxfordshire District Council. Cllr Anne Midwinter has represented Thame South Ward on the district council since 2003. Anne has been a stalwart of the local British Legion and the Thame Show and has been deeply influencial in the work of local housing associations.

THAME Town Council is beginning to plan how it will take the Thame Neighbourhood Plan forward, and announced at its AGM on Tuesday (May 14) that it will hold regular Neighbourhood Plan Monitoring meetings to which the public will be able to attend.

THE rate of recycling in South Oxfordshire is beginning to slip, warned the District Councillor largely responsible for taking SODC to the top of the national league for recycling rates. Cllr David Dodds told the town council on Tuesday: “All though we are still doing reasonably well in the district, there are slightly worrying signs that recycling is beginning to edge down.

“The fact that food waste is slightly down could be a good thing, in that people are not wasting so much food. The main concern is that residual waste, that which goes to landfill, is slightly up. Soon that waste will be going to an incinerator to produce electricity, but we need to make sure that everyone keeps up the good work.”

CLLR Dodds also announced that the next ‘deep clean’ operation will take place in Lea Park, in Thame. His fellow District Cllr, David Bretherton, made a plea to Cllr Dodds that Towersey Drive been given priority for a deep cleanse.

DURING the Notice of Motions section of Thame Town Council’s AGM, Cllr Mary Stiles asked the