Letters Oppose New Library Plan

THE plan to demolish the Pied Pedaller toy shop in Thame, and build a new library, is not supported by everyone in the town and this week, two separate letters have been sent to the ‘powers that be’ expressing objections.

Thame Cattlemarket Action Group, CMAG, has written to the county council voicing its concerns. The letter, addressed to John Hamilton, Oxfordshire County Council’s Principal Planning Officer, reads:

“I am writing on behalf of the Thame Cattle Market Action Group regarding the application by the County Council to knock down the existing building in North Street, currently the Pied Pedaller toy shop and replace it with a library.
From speaking to some of our members and other members of the public we would like to voice the following concerns.
1. This site is limited in size, as a building with no ?elbow room? either side, it will always have limitation of light. Thame?s population is inevitably going to grow in the next few years as outlined in the SODC core strategy document. As the population increases, it is likely that the town will outgrow the size of this library again. There is also little potential for adaptability to this building to accommodate changes in requirements of a library in future.
2. There is no parking for this planned library, although it is close to the market place parking, there is very little parking on Tuesdays and often no free spaces all week as shoppers use the market place car park. This will inevitably limit the amount the library will be used.
3. This plan does not concur with the advice from the National Library guidelines where a library should be part of a mixed use space.
4. Our concern is that this move will be a short-sighted approach to the problem and thus a lost opportunity to provide an excellent library for Thame.
5. There is an ideal site on the current livestock market site which we know the farmers mart wish to vacate. This site is owned by SODC and is an ideal site to develop a much needed community centre along side a library such that parking and visitors can be shared as well as running costs. We advocate a combined approach between Oxfordshire County Council and South Oxfordshire District Council to find a way to build a new library that is purpose-built with enough light, good access and its own parking, it would be worth the wait.”

The Financial Director of ToyZone, which owns the Pied Pedaller, Ed Tilley, told ThameNews.Net today: “This is a very emotive issue in the town and there are a number of people who believe we either have closed or are just about to close. In addition to our original petition containing over 2,000 names, we have received a petition from the children of Barley Hill school containing almost 300 names. I attach a letter from Emma Fotherby, a young customer of the Pied Pedaller which we all found very charming.

“We have agreed with OCC to extend our lease at the Pied Pedaller. Unfortunately this is only a temporary extension to 30 September with the landlord having the right to break from 30 April. This lease is far from ideal for ourselves and, as previously mentioned, we will lose money if we do not have Xmas trading. However, we believe there is such uncertainty over the whole issue that it would be wrong of us to leave Thame at the expiry of our current lease on 31 January. We continue to believe that the siting of the new library at 3 North Street is not in the best interests of the town. We also believe that any planning permission to change the Pied Pedaller from retail to non retail would be in direct contravention of the SODC planning policy for Thame town centre.”

Emma’s letter, which is illustrated too, reads:

“Do not destroy our toy shop because we have all ready got a library down the bottom of North Street. The toy shop is the only one I know of in Thame and the toy shop has everything I can use for buying presents for my friends.”