East Thame Resident’s Association are concerned that site recommendations made under the new Thame Neighbourhood Plan will have a disproportionate effect on East Thame and it’s residents.
Thame Town Council is now working on a 2nd Thame Neighbourhood Plan (TNP2), which will need to identify additional land for development. South Oxfordshire District Council’s Local Plan states 339 new homes need delivering in Thame, along with a minimum of 3.5 hectares of employment land as well as space for new retail uses.
Planning consultants working on behalf of the Town Council have recommended potential sites and now the Council are obliged to consult the public on these proposals.
The Planning Consultants recommended that all the employment space should be allocated to the East Thame area opposite residents’ homes. Furthermore, over a third of the new houses due to be built are planned for sites in East Thame.
East Thame Resident’s Association (ETRA) consider the TNP(2) site recommendations to be unfair, flawed and disproportionate.
Duncan Nickless, an ETRA committee member explains “Unlike the first TNP under which new development was spread evenly across the town, the site recommendations for the new plan fall largely on East Thame. Given all employment land and over one third of the allocated houses are recommended to be built in East Thame, this isn’t a Thame Neighbourhood Plan, but a blatant plan to Develop East Thame.”
Of greatest concern for residents are the recommendations to allocate business/industrial sites along Howland Road and directly opposite residential housing. This will negatively impact residents through additional noise and traffic and is completely unnecessary given land could be used further from residential areas.
Given the lack of transparency and the disproportionate effect of these recommendations, ETRA are out explaining likely consequences to residents and urging them to have their say during the consultation period. The Town Council are seeking feedback on the site selections via two public consultation events and a survey which is available via their website until 23 August.
