24/04/13…….Childrens’ safety issues raised at Thame town meeting

TWO separate safety issues were raised by residents at last night’s annual Thame Town Meeting, one concerning Harrison Place, Lea Park, and the other the entrance to Elms Park in Park Street. The Chair of the the Lea Park Residents’ Association, Angela Wilson, described how young cyclists and skateboarders were ‘hurtling’ into the road in the Harrison Place area of Lea Park.

When the Mayor, Cllr Nigel Champken Woods replied that the council would make finding a solution to the problem one of its priorities in the next administrative year, another resident asked for it to be dealt with ‘as a top priority now’ pointing out that these were young children between four years-old and nine affected.

The same resident said that he had written to the council three times about the problem, including copying in the Mayor on one of the emails, but had received no response. “This is not acceptable,” he concluded. “This is a safety issue and the council should take it seriously.”

The Mayor replied that he had not seen any correspondence but offered to talk to the resident about the matter outside of the meeting.

The second safety issue, also involving possible danger to children, involved the on-going debacle about the the missing, side access gate at the entrance to Elms Park, in Park Street, Thame. (See LINK and LETTERS PAGE )

Richard Jeffries, who lives opposite the park entrance, said that he had sent four correspondences to the council dating back to July, 2011, with what he called, ‘unsatisfactory results’. He wanted to know why the gate had not been installed as per the council’s original plan.

The Mayor replied that it had been four years since the gate had been changed, since when several RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) inspections had been issued, stating that the risk level at the site was low. “We intend to address the issue,” said the mayor, and promised that the council’s CLR (Culture, Leisure and Recreation) Committee would be considering the matter at its next meeting in June, and would look into the possibility of installing a barrier there.

Mr Jeffries concluded by offering to help the council implement the solution.

MORE from the Thame Town Meeting tomorrow