22//04/13…..Neighbourhood Plan means Thame can ‘manage expansion’

DEAR Editor, I should like to respond to Ms Warren’s recent letter in the local press. Most of us would share Ms Warren?s concern that the imposition of 775 new houses over the next fifteen years is a threat to the unique character of Thame, but she seems to have missed the point that this is the very reason for our Neighbourhood Plan.

The houses are coming whether we want them or not, but at least the Plan gives us a chance to manage this expansion in a way that seeks to protect everything that we value in our community. One of the fundamental principles in establishing the Neighbourhood Plan is the overwhelming sense of community that Thame has to offer, a community that we wish to preserve.

Thame Town Council did not acquiesce to the government?s housing numbers, rather fought tooth and nail over a period of two years opposing the housing allocation in the South East Plan. Admittedly, some larger councils chose not to accept the housing figures, favouring locally determined housing numbers but, despite their opposition, have subsequently had them imposed anyway. Through the Neighbourhood Plan, we can exercise some control over where the houses go and can resist the burden of a single large estate on the edge of town.

None of the proposed sites in and around Thame are designated as ?Green Belt? land, or subject to any national landscape designation (such as Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). The sites are simply open countryside, granted valuable in its own right, but not subject to the same constraints as Green Belt/AONB.
That said, the Neighbourhood Plan was methodical in grading landscape value and seeking to avoid development on higher value landscape areas. Of the land available around Thame, the allocated sites are the least versatile and valuable in agricultural terms.

It would be impossible to accommodate 775 houses in Thame without utilising some greenfield land, and we are further restricted in the choice of sites because Thame is surrounded by the flood plain. The addition of 775 homes inevitably means developing greenfield sites and one of the early consultation findings was an aspiration to move away from the high density, town ‘cramming’ and ?garden grabbing? that we have seen in the last decade, and a move back towards lower density schemes with decent sized gardens, off-road parking, and good standards of privacy.

Vaughan Humphries
Cornmarket, Thame