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Parish Talks on 106 Funding
(31 March 2005)
The Annual
Parish Meeting took place on Tuesday 29th March
at the Community Room in High Road and was so popular that chairs had to
be borrowed from the Parish Council office. Even then some people
had to stand. Wine and nibbles were availbale before the meeting,
putting everyone in a happy frame of mind.
Pat Woodbridge the Chairman of the Parish Council then reported on the Parish Council activities over the last year He also said that the Parish Council is working on a strategic plan for the Cookhams which will cover up to the period 2010, and that he would welcome any suggestions from Cookham residents. (Cookham.Parish.Council@RBWM.gov.uk)
The main reason for the interest from so
many residents was a discussion on
development within the Cookhams.The presenter was James Fox from the Royal Borough
who looks after 106 funding.
Under
Section 106 of the 1990 Planning Act planning authorities have the power
to enter into voluntary agreements with developers to ensure certain steps
are taken which will assist the development to take 
place, ameliorate
adverse impacts, or fulfil other policy requirements.
The aim is to ensure community benefits are secured through
developments. Developers are asked to give a contribution to the
Royal Borough 106 fund so that local communities can benefit from
development in their area.
The presentation was given by James Fox of the Royal Borough, who is the Royal Borough's 106 officer. He explained what 106 was. It did appear that so far £1.4m had been collected, but very little had been achieved apart from a playground in Cookham. The presentation was followed by a question and answer session. James Fox confirmed that 100% of money raised in Cookham would go to Cookham. Tom Denniford, a previous Borough Councillor, then asked why had money from Cookham gone to Furze Platt. James Fox replied that Furze Platt was considered to be part of the 'Parish' of Cookham. Liz Kwantes asked if money from Furze Platt would go to fund activities in Cookham in that case. The reply was not very clear, but it seems that it would not.
Several
individuals stated that they felt the system was bribery and
corruption. Developers could get planning permission by contributing
to 106 funding. Geoffrey Copas stood up and said that he had built a
stockman's house and was asked to give money towards the 106 funding if he
wanted planning permission. He said it was blackmail, it seemed that it
was a case of pay up or go to appeal on your plans. James Fox was
asked how much had been given to environmental projects, it appeared there
were none so far. Pat Brockwell asked how many projects had come to
fruition and the answer again appeared to be none.
The final part of the meeting was open forum where comments about unreasonable industrial units being allowed in a rural area such as Cookham was unreasonable. Geoffrey Copas also said that it was important to support initiatives for recreation facilities for young people. The general feeling of the meeting was that 106 funding was not working and that it should be reviewed. It seemed that the money was just sitting in a bank account and doing nothing for the local communities for which it was intended.
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