26/04/13…..Thame Neighbourhood Plan ‘is a pretty good deal’ says resident
DEAR Editor, Peter Webb?s letter to you published yesterday about the Thame Neighbourhood Plan challenges the basis on which the Neighbourhood Plan has been developed because, he says, it stems from a now defunct Quango. If there is no valid basis for the plan then SODC should publicly state the council?s present position. I quote from Mr Webb?s letter:
??. the plan (in inverted commas), assumes that Thame must find space for 775 new houses as required by SODC. That is its core element.
?This is unacceptable considering the source of the figure. I suppose it all started with the not-much-revered John Prescott?s desire to concrete over southern England, but the 775 figure originates from the assumption by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) that South Oxon must find room for some 3000 new homes. SODC were given the job of allocating these across the district and dumped 775 on Thame. But, SEEDA is, or rather was, a QUANGO which was wound up by the present government in, I think, March 2012. Its figures were based on an assumption of increased immigration – whereas current policy is to reduce immigration.
?It is surely illogical that the defective forecast of this defunct agency should remain in place.?
It really would help to see an official reply to this claim.
Speaking personally and having followed this issue as much as I?ve been able, it is my impression that the Plan is a pretty good deal. I quote from a Newsletter I received from East Thame Residents Association,which details some of its own reservations but says that ?rejection of the Neighbourhood Plan would bring further difficulties and uncertainties in its wake?. We believe, on balance, that a Yes vote is the best way forward.?
That?s my personal view as well. We live in an uncertain world. Developers have huge resources and and can bide their time. Power, money and bureaucracies tend to get their way. Why leave things wide open for what could be much less suitable and out of scale for Thame? This isn?t defeatism. It?s realism.
The Neighbourhood Plan is pretty good bird in the hand. There could be vultures in the bush.
Norman Brand
Fanshawe Road
Thame
