Thame Neighbourhood Plan 2: Information for Referendum

Frequently Asked Questions	Myth Busters
What is Neighbourhood Planning?	The Road to Referendum
Who Can Vote?	What’s in the Plan?

Referendum Announcement

South Oxfordshire District Council has announced the date for a Referendum relating to the adoption of the Thame Neighbourhood Plan 2 (TNP2).

On Thursday 6th February 2025, Thame residents will have the opportunity to vote in the single-question Referendum. Voters will be asked:

Do you want South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Thame to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?

Residents will have the option to put a cross in the ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ box on the ballot paper.

If the majority of people vote ‘yes’ in the Referendum, then SODC will adopt the Thame Neighbourhood Development Plan 2 and it will become part of the suite of planning policies used by the District Council to help shape and determine planning applications in Thame.

If the majority of people vote ‘no’ or the vote is tied, then planning applications will continue to be decided without reference to the TNP2.

What is Neighbourhood Planning?

Neighbourhood planning was introduced under the Localism Act 2011 to give local communities more control in the planning of their neighbourhoods. Neighbourhood Plans give new rights and powers to local communities to help shape new development in their area.

Neighbourhood Plans also enable communities to develop a shared vision for their neighbourhood and deliver the sustainable development they need through planning policies relating to the development and use of land.

After four consultations and more than 1,600 sets of comments, the final draft of Thame’s Neighbourhood Plan 2 (TNP2) was submitted for independent examination in June last year, where the examiner recommended that it proceed to referendum.

History of TNP2

Thame’s Neighbourhood Plan 2 began development in 2021. It builds on its predecessor by focusing not only on guiding development in new areas but also guiding changes within established parts of the town, such as the retention of parking spaces in the Town Centre, proposals for a budget supermarket in the Town Centre, a new community centre, and new public parkland and accessible spaces.

Who Can Vote?

A person is entitled to vote if at the time of the Referendum, they meet the eligibility criteria to vote in a local election for the area and if they live in the Referendum area. The eligibility criteria are:

• You are registered to vote in local government elections; and
• You are 18 years of age or over on Thursday 6th February 2025

If you are not registered, you won’t be able to vote. You can check if you are registered by calling SODC’s Helpline on 01235 422 600.

If you are not registered to vote, you can go online to www.gov.uk/register-to-vote with your national insurance number by midnight on Tuesday 21 January 2025.

Find Out More

• You can find specific documents about the Thame Neighbourhood Development Plan 2 at: www.southoxon.gov.uk/thame

• For more information about voting and the arrangements for this Referendum, please contact SODC’s Helpline on 01235 422 528 or email: elections@southandvale.gov.uk

Referendum Announcement	Myth Busters
What is Neighbourhood Planning?	The Road to Referendum
Who Can Vote?	What’s in the Plan?

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Why Should I Vote?

A: Neighbourhood planning was introduced under the Localism Act 2011 to give local communities more control in the planning of their neighbourhoods. Neighbourhood Plans give new rights and powers to local communities to help shape new development in their area.

Q: We’ve already given support. Why do we need to vote in the Referendum?

A: The Thame Neighbourhood Plan has been subject to 4 rounds of consultation and has been scrutinised by residents and businesses and experts across many fields, such as Historic England, the Environment Agency and local flood risk specialists, school planning teams, etc. It has been examined and approved by an independent planning specialist.

However, this isn’t enough. Neighbourhood Plans are unique in needing the majority of local residents to vote for them. Only then can the document be fully used when judging local planning applications.

Q: Why are you proposing to build homes in the flood plain?

A: All of the homes proposed in TNP2 would be built away from the flood plain. As part of the planning process the developers will have to prove the homes will not be at risk of flooding from any water source between now and the next 100 years, even after taking into account the much higher rainfall events expected due to climate change.

Q: Will new development increase the flood risk for existing homes in Thame and villages downstream?

A: New roofs, roads and patios add hard surfaces that will shed rainwater. Any development will have to have means of capturing and storing this water on site and slowly release it at a rate that would not be greater than if it the development had not happened.

Developers will be asked to provide sufficient storage for an extreme 1-in-100 year rainfall event, with a large allowance added (typically 30-40%) to cope for increased rainfall due to climate change. This should ensure neighbouring houses and communities downstream of Thame will not see any change to their flood risk.

Q: We’ve just seen in the news that flood risk is growing across the country. Has this Plan taken account of the latest information?

A: The most up-to-date information available was used in developing the Plan. The Environment Agency releases new flood risk maps roughly every 5 years, with improvements made as technology improves and information is received. The new maps have yet to be published.

However, the Plan is future-proof in this matter and any current or future planning application would have to take account of the latest information and advice. This means that while the sites chosen in the Plan have been considered capable of being used by the Environment Agency and other flood specialists, the very latest information will be used to check there will be no new or altered risk.

Q: Our doctors and schools are overflowing. Why are we building more homes?

A: The houses were allotted to Thame by the District Council through their District-wide Local Plan for houses and jobs. The local education and health services had input into both the District’s Local Plan and Thame’s TNP2 and did not object to the numbers of homes proposed for Thame, meaning we cannot stop these homes being built on those grounds.

When developers put forward planning applications for the sites in TNP2, the health and education services will ask for money to make sure they can provide services to the occupants of the new homes.

Q: What about sewage? The existing treatment works in Thame can’t cope and are polluting the local river.

A: Thames Water are legally obliged to connect services to developers. However, they will and have, made comments to planning applications noting improvement works are needed.

The Environment Agency are monitoring Thames Water’s activities and have also commented on the need for new facilities. Both are calling for no new large developments to be allowed to be occupied until improvements have been made to the Thame Sewage Treatment Works. Some improvements are already in the pipeline for 2025.

Q: Water pressure is already low at Oxford Road. Won’t adding more houses make that worse?

A: Thames Water have asked for time to allow them to provide improvements to the local network of pumps before any new houses are allowed to be occupied. This could improve the water pressure for the existing housing, too.

Q: Are you building on what was protected open space at Oxford Road?

A: Oxford Road had a reserve site kept for future housing and education needs. These areas were unknowingly underlain by archaeology of national significance.

Through TNP2 it is proposed to use some of the land that was made available to walk through (but not on) for housing, while re-providing open space on the area kept for archaeology. There will be no net loss of open space and large areas have now been proposed as publicly usable parkland.

Q: Traffic is already a problem for Thame. Will the new homes and industrial areas make this worse?

A: TNP2 has worked to identify where and how new footpath and bicycle paths can be provided to make it easier for people to walk and wheel to key locations such as the Town Centre.

People will still need to use cars and buses, though, and the Highways Authority have stated they are content that the development TNP2 proposes can be delivered without causing disruption. When each site comes forward for planning permission they will be scrutinised again to test the impact on the local network. Developers will likely be asked to contribute to local road, bus and walking and cycling projects, too.

Q: Why aren’t existing trees and wildlife being protected?

A: The District have tree and ecology specialists who agree what trees and habitats should be kept on development sites. Where trees and hedgerows, etc. are lost, planning rules mean the developers have to provide more planting and habitats than what was lost to leave sites better off for nature in the longer term.

Furthermore, the specialist officers recommend native trees and plants for play, landscaping and amenity areas and that rainwater runoff is held in natural pond-like features rather than storage tanks.

Q: What happened to the bicycle route to Haddenham and Thame Parkway? This was given support in the first Thame Neighbourhood Plan.

A: Legally, TNP2 cannot plan outside of its boundaries but does give it strong support as a project. Oxfordshire County Council will be able to ask for funds from developers in and around Thame to help deliver the cycleway and similarly, Buckinghamshire Council will seek funds from developments in Haddenham. It remains the intention of both those Councils to build the cycleway and provide an onward connection into Buckinghamshire’s Greenway network.

Q: Why are you building on agricultural land? This should be kept for food.

A: There isn’t enough used, or brownfield land to provide for the housing and employment needs allocated for Thame. There also appears to be little difference between the sites put forward for development around Thame in terms of their quality and uses.

Referendum Announcement	Frequently Asked Questions
What is Neighbourhood Planning?	The Road to Referendum
Who Can Vote?	What’s in the Plan?

MYTH BUSTERS

Myth 1: The new housing will not get insurance because of the flood plain.

Fact: The new housing will be in areas judged to be at lowest risk of flooding from rivers, like most of the homes in Thame.

Myth 2: There has been insufficient consultation with local residents when preparing the Plan.

Fact: The Plan has been Examined by an independent planning expert who has judged dozens of neighbourhood plans. The Examiner has stated he was satisfied the Plan has complied with the required regulations and had an inclusive approach in seeking the opinions of all throughout the process.

Myth 3: The Environment Agency has objected to the development at Oxford Road because of flood risk.

Fact: The Environment Agency has informed the developer of the detailed information they need to be presented with before the Agency can approve any submitted flood risk assessment. The site includes the areas of housing as well as the proposed public open space and footpaths. Until this information has been provided the Agency must continue to object.

Myth 4: We do not need more employment land, there is no unemployment in Thame.

Fact: There are very few opportunities for Thame businesses to expand or growth in Thame or nearby. Without viable long-term sites businesses will have to plan to move away. Between 2011 and 2020, our working age population grew by over 1,200 people but our employment land did not.

Myth 5: The land swap at Oxford Road only benefits the developer.

Fact: The land swap would not have been needed but under the area reserved for more housing and school use nationally significant archaeology was found that must not be disturbed.

Myth 6: The Plan is anti-car and is getting rid of car parking.

Fact: The Plan recognises that Thame is a market town that serves nearby residents and visitors. The Policy on parking looks to keep all town centre parking and would only allow its loss where up to date surveys prove the Town Centre has capacity. Even then, the loss would have to be accompanied by improvements to the public realm, such as new green areas and providing better provision for those with mobility difficulties.

Myth 7: Because of windfall development (applications for housing away from sites identified within plans) TNP2 would build more homes in Thame than we need to.

Fact: A great deal of work went into making sure the District Council had an accurate and up-to-date list of what houses had been gained or lost through new build, demolition, conversion and sub-divisions in Thame.

The Plan has taken into account all homes completed, sites under construction and with planning permission up to 1 April 2023 when, to make sure everyone was looking at the same figures, the tally was frozen. Almost all houses built since then would, therefore, have already counted towards supply. The numbers we have left to deliver (143) are, therefore, balanced either by the allocated sites in TNP2 or those sites already on their way to being delivered.

Referendum Announcement	Myth Busters
What is Neighbourhood Planning?	Frequently Asked Questions
Who Can Vote?	What’s in the Plan?

The Road to Referendum

Referendum Announcement	Myth Busters
What is Neighbourhood Planning?	The Road to Referendum
Who Can Vote?	Frequently Asked Questions

What’s In the Plan?

To find out more about Thame’s Neighbourhood Plan (TNP2), take a look at the specified documents:

The specified documents can also be viewed at:

Reception South Oxfordshire District Council Abbey House Abbey Close, Abingdon OX14 3JE	Mon to Thurs 8.30am to 5.00pm Fridays 8.30am to 4.30pm
Reception Thame Leisure Centre Oxford Road Thame, OX9 2BB	Mon to Fri 6am to 10pm Sat to Sun 7am to 5pm

If you need help accessing the specified documents, please contact the district council’s neighbourhood planning team on 01235 422600 or email planning.policy@southandvale.gov.uk.

Supporting documents:

Examination documents:

Examination Arrangements
Clarification Note
Town Council’s response to the Clarification Note
District Council’s response to the Clarification Note
Savills response to the Clarification Note (additional representation, illustrative map)

Frequently Asked Questions	Myth Busters
What is Neighbourhood Planning?	The Road to Referendum
Who Can Vote?	What’s in the Plan?