Thame and Great Haseley
Amending the parish boundary to include land currently in Great Haseley parish.
Impact on district and county council boundaries
Any change to the parish boundary would impact on both the Thame and Haseley Brook District Wards and both Thame and Chinnor and Chalgrove and Watlington County Divisions.
Thame Town Council proposed the change.
Great Haseley Parish Council object to the change for the reasons set out in the engagement summary document.
Summary of other responses
Details of the responses received are set out in the engagement summary document.
To consult on a proposal to make no change to the parish boundary between Thame parish and Great Haseley parish.
Thame Town Council put forward the proposal for the following reasons:
· Thame’s Cattle Market, once relocated, would be within the Thame parish, rather than Great Haseley which would be the case with the current parish boundary.
· Potential for Thame to have more influence over future development in this area if its Neighbourhood Plan area was also extended to include it.
· Within the proposed new parish boundary is a live Reserved Matters planning application for employment land that currently falls under the parish of Great Haseley. This would be dependent on / serve predominantly Thame’s facilities and people but Thame currently would not receive any support to manage the impact on its infrastructure. By moving the parish boundary, Thame would be eligible to receive developer contributions to offset the impact of the development on Thame’s infrastructure.
Great Haseley Parish Council has responded to each of these points in its consultation response letter dated 25 April.
Officers do not consider that a change to the boundary address the criteria set out in the terms of reference for this review. Whilst Thame’s Cattle Market has planning permission to relocate to a site in Great Haseley parish and there is planning permission for an employment site, also within Great Haseley parish, adjacent to the proposed cattle market site, these are not considered reasons to change the boundary. It is the case that these sites lie closer to Thame than the village of Great Haseley. However, within rural areas it is normal for a parish area to comprise a number of hamlets, business and other facilities over a large area of land. Thame Town Council’s proposed boundary change extends well beyond the area impacted by these planning permissions. Neither of the sites impact on the identity and interests of the local community or the effective and convenient representation of local residents in Thame to a greater extent than those in Great Haseley.