28/10/10……AMENDED 29/10/10…Town council vows to fight core strategy ‘every step of the way’
SEE last paragraph for amendment.
HAVING made its views very clear on proposals for increased housing development on the edge of town, Thame Town Council has said today that it will ‘challenging the premise of the Core Strategy itself, every step of the way.’
*SEE LATEST VOTING FIGURES FOR SITE D OR SITE F BELOW
Claiming to represent the views of local residents, the council says on its website that it has: “…no option at this stage but to accept the approach being taken by South Oxfordshire District Council about future housing development in Thame.”But, it continues: The number of dwellings plus a one-site allocation are both inappropriate for the town. Dispersing smaller developments within the boundary of the town would make it much easier for the new property owners to be integrated into the community.
“Left with just the two site options on the table, D and F, it was suggested at Full Council on 26 October that the Town Council should respond that neither site is appropriate. This, however, would give the District Council carte blanche to allocate its own preference, which to date has been site D.
“The Town Council has always objected to D, being of the opinion that the best of a worst case scenario for accommodating 700+ homes would be Site C. This opinion is still held, but with the number of dwellings being allocated to Thame now reduced to 530, it brings Site F back in for consideration.
“Based on the 530 allocated at this time, the Town Council, after much debate and a close vote, decided that Site F was the preferred option if it had to accept a one-site allocation.”
SITE D HAS IT SO FAR
IN THE TOWN COUNCIL’S POLL, the number of votes cast up until 16.45 hrs today are: for site F (238), and for site D (256), but local people can still express their preference at the town hall until tomorrow at 16.30 hrs when the public consultation ends and all the polling slips and comments will be delivered to SODC.
