50 years ago

IN a bid to preserve living space, South Oxfordshire District Council’s planning committee has decided that no more residential property in Henley should be released for conversion into offices. This bombshell was dropped by Councillor Roy Sadler at a meeting of Henley Town Council’s planning committee on Tuesday. A policy statement issued by the district council points to the erosion of town centres by office development.

The state of Henley’s public toilets is causing concern. South Oxfordshire District Council, which took over responsibility for them on April 1, is having difficulties finding men for the job. A council spokesman said that quite a few of the former lavatory cleaners had been transferred to other jobs and there had been hitches in organising a mobile team to do the work.

A strike by dustmen on Friday means that dustbins in Sonning Common, Peppard and Harpsden have not been emptied for three weeks. The strike was by workers at the Pennyroyal depot at Goring Heath after eight of the men expressed dissatisfaction with their wage packets the previous day.