11/06/10….Disagreement over CPM car park plans

AN extension to the car park at Thame’s biggest employer, caused a heated debate at Thame Town Council’s planning committee meeting recently.

CPM, based in Aylesbury Road, Thame, wants to expand its car park, which currently floods frequently. Cllr David Dodds said that he feared an extension would make matters worse by displacing the water somewhere else. Cllr Nigel Champkin Woods disagreed however and thought that the porous material proposed for the extension would not cause a problem. He added that an extension would anyway take car parking away from the surrounding roads when it was not raining – a lack of parking in these streets has often been the focus of disgruntled residents unable to find parking spaces because they are taken up by CPM staff.

The Chairman, Cllr David Bretherton, used his casting vote which led to a resolution to express No strong views on the proposal, but to express concerns over drainage in the area and leave it to the professionals at SODC to decide whether to approve or not.

IMAGE: For illustrative purposes only (NOT CPM car park)