Residents Associations
Residents’ Associations are vital in shaping the services the council provides to residents in Thame. Members work together to improve housing and environmental standards in their area and increase a sense of community amongst their neighbours. Thame’s various Residents’ Associations have played a key part in shaping the town for the better, becoming heavily involved in the development of the Thame Neighbourhood Plan.
In this section you can find out the Residents’ Associations in Thame recognised by the Town Council and how you can go about setting up a Residents’ Association if you are not currently represented by one.
Thame’s Residents’ Associations
East Thame
- Contact: Bob Austin, Chair
- Email: bobaustin60@googlemail.com
- East Thame Residents’ Association – Website
- East Thame Residents’ Association – Facebook
Chiltern Vale
- Contact: Jamie Pfeifer (chair), Kelly Inglis (secretary)
- Email: jamiestyles@yahoo.com, kellyld@hotmail.co.uk
Lea Park
- Contact: Mark Goodall, Chair
- Email: lpra.chair@gmail.com
- Lea Park Residents’ Association – Website
- Lea Park Residents’ Association – Facebook
Moreton
- Contact: Tina Fegent
Seymour Court
- Contact: Mike Ashford, Chair
- Email: mikeashford90@gmail.com
Thame Park Estates
- Contact: Mark Broun, Chair
- Email: thameparkestatesra@gmail.com
- Thame Park Estates Residents Association – Website
Victoria Mead
- Contact: Trustees of VMRA
- Email: victoriameadra@gmail.com
Setting up a Residents’ Association
Most residents’ associations are set up by a few volunteers who want to make a difference in their local area. To find people in your area who may be interested, you can begin by putting up notices near your home, in local shops and places such as the Post Office, library, GP’s surgery, nursery, pub or community centre.
Encouraging involvement
When organising your group, there are some basic things you should think about to encourage everybody to become involved. For example, you should try to:
- arrange meetings to suit as many members as possible
- develop an equal opportunities policy
- avoid using stereotypes
- give everybody the right to express an opinion and respect their views.
You don’t need to do all of these at your first meeting, but as a group you should agree on how you think you can deal with each of these issues.
Establishing the association
In order to launch your association, you’ll need to call a public meeting for everyone in the area, and elect a chair, secretary and treasurer and other committee members. You’ll also need to draw up a constitution outlining:
- your aims
- the criteria for membership
- the geographic area you represent
- how the committee will be run
- when your meetings will be held.
If people are reluctant to form a committee and accept office bearer positions at the first meeting, you could set up a steering group initially to work on the contents of your constitution and then when people in the steering group feel more confident, they can call a public meeting to elect office bearers formally and adopt the constitution.
Registering the association
In order for Thame Town Council to involve your organisation in local issues, you will need to register with us. To do this, you will need to provide us with the following information:
- A copy of your constitution
- The names and contact details of the committee members and office bearers
- A description of the area the association covers
- A statement setting out how your group will represent its members
To keep us up to date with your activities, we ask that you send us copies of minutes from your AGM each year.
More Information
For more information about launching a Residents’ Association, please call us on 01844 212833. Additional information can be found on the following websites: