An Oxfordshire neighbourhood plan has become embroiled in local row over a campaign to remove a site allocated for development in the adopted strategy.
Thame Town Council, which drew up the plan with the help of consultancy Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design, has announced it is taking legal advice over comments made by the campaigners.
The Thame Neighbourhood Plan made provision for some 775 new homes and allocated seven sites including one known as The Elms in Thame town centre, which is near a conservation area and a park and was provisionally earmarked for 45 dwellings.
A local campaign group called Save The Elms has set up an online petition asking the Town Council to ‘remove Elms Field… from the Thame Town Plan by holding a second referendum’.
The group claimed on its website that the Elms Field site was ‘quietly slipped’ into the plan ‘under questionable circumstances’ and called on local people to sign its petition to oppose an application by developer Rectory Homes to build 45 homes on the site. The petition has received 895 signatures.
In a statement the town council said: ‘This is a very difficult and stressful time for those being accused of gross misconduct without any foundation and the town council is taking legal advice about the defamatory statements and will continue to resist taking part in the media circus’.
It added: ‘Being in the plan does not automatically mean that the site will be developed nor how many units will be built. This will all be decided through the planning process.’
The town council also noted that the neighbourhood plan was endorsed by an independent examiner and successfully passed a local referendum organised by South Oxfordshire District Council.
Its statement added: ‘The reality is that everyone had some aspect of the plan they found difficult to accept or did not agree with, but the democratic vote was taken based on open and accountable information that required an understanding and an appreciation of the effect of the 775 units on all the residents of Thame’.
The district council stated: ‘The council is satisfied that the Thame Neighbourhood Plan is a well-prepared plan. There were good opportunities for the residents of Thame to make their views known to the town council during its preparation and to have their say through the referendum in May 2013.
‘There is no provision in the neighbourhood plan regulations to hold a second referendum, so any changes to the plan would need to follow the full plan-making process. Unless there has been a change in circumstances since the plan was prepared, the council does not see a need for the plan to be reviewed to alter the site allocations, and a further referendum held.’
