Cookham Parish Council Public Meeting on Marsh Meadow
(20th September 2000)
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There was quite a turnout for the special public meeting called by the Parish Council on Marsh Meadow at Cookham Rise School. Tony Prichard, Chairman of the Council, opened the meeting and Geoffrey Copas was the first to speak. He said that as landowner of the meadow he and his family wished for it to remain an open space for the villagers of Cookham. He went on to say that if he had been a resident he would have voted against the car park based on the misinformation that had been printed, such as hot dog stands, disturbing the vole habitat and lighting across the Moor. He went on to say that all this was totally untrue and that people should not be swayed by information that they had read.
A question was then asked of the two Borough Council representatives, Caroline Dwyer and Chris Wheeler, about lighting the car park. The audience was told that this would consist of 9 single and 5 twin four metre high lights which would give sympathetic lighting and enhance the greenery around. When asked about the Cookham Society suggestion of only lighting half the car park, the Council representatives said that this was not a feasible proposal.
Mr McCaffery a resident from the High Street stated that he had seen no evidence of a need for extra parking and was always able to park his car. This was backed up by Alan Brown, from Churchgate, who said that he felt that in fact there was too much parking available. The Borough Council representatives were then questioned about the actual increase in parking places, Chris Wheeler replied that the new car park would take 90 cars as opposed to the old one which held 80 vehicles. However there would be a space for an ice cream van and six disabled slots, along with the reduced parking around the War Memorial there would actually be no extra parking places created.
Elizabeth Runnacles from Cookham Dean said that the people of Cookham Rise and Cookham Dean had not been included in the consultative document distribution. She said she did not know if the Council felt that they were above it or below it in importance. When she had asked one of the Borough Councillors about this he had said that it was no concern of people from Cookham Dean. She then brought up the problem of security and actually policing the area. She pointed out that the hard pressed Thames Valley Police would not be able to look after this extra work.
When asked about the cost of the car park, the Council representatives said that £77,000 had been earmarked for the project. Mrs Runnacles commented that this seemed to be rather a small sum. Caroline Dwyer said that they could not get an accurate figure as this was expensive and not worth doing until the planning application had been accepted.
John Bowley, Chairman of the Cookham Society, then stood up and gave a brief history of why and how the Cookham Society had been involved in supporting a new car park. He explained that discussions had been going on since 1996 and the Society had come to the conclusion that there was no alternative to Marsh Meadow. After a questionnaire sent out to members in January 2000, the majority had said that they were in favour of a car park on Marsh Meadow, in principal, and so the Society had decided to back the plan. David Callund, from Oveys Farm in the High Street, pointed out that the number of people in the survey had only been about 10% of the members, which was a very small group on which to make this decision. He said that he had been a past chairman of the Cookham Society. A discussion ensued on who actually wanted extra parking, one Cookham resident said that a lot of the shops were not those that would be visited by local people anyway and were not much use to the village. Unfortunately none of the shopkeepers was given an opportunity of replying to this statement.
Bob Purcell from School Lane, who said that he had lived in the village for 30 years, asked everyone to consider the supporting document to the planning application of which there were five major points that had been brought up in favour building in the Green Belt. He pointed out that these were not really credible.
Peter Eva, Chairman of a local National Trust Committee, then spoke on behalf of the Trust to say that the Trust was against access across the middle of the Moor, as had been proposed in the planning application. He said that there would be another National Trust Meeting in October, but felt that this attitude would not change.
Jonathan Miall from the village then pointed out that from a planning point of view at least five points from the Council's own Local Plan were being contravened, with regard to Green Belt, Conservation Area, views from the Thames etc.
Mrs Dianne Evans, who lives off Mill Lane, went through the various points in the supporting document in detail and pointed out that they could very easily be discounted. When the Chairman said that she had had long enough speaking, the audience asked that she should continue.
Margaret Cubley, Chairman of the local CPRE (Council for the Preservation of Rural England) pointed out that England had lost 95% of its meadows in the last few years. People were saying it is only one acre in Cookham, she pointed out if all the Parish Councils in the London area said this, it would have a devastating effect on the Green Belt and then one acre would become two acres and so on. She said that the various groups such as the CPRE, Ramblers, RSPB, Open Spaces Society and many others were fighting to keep the small areas of space that were left and that leaflets were being printed to encourage people to travel by train and public transport. She also pointed out the problems of congestion in the busy summer months. As the car park would be hidden and there was only a one way road, no one would know if there were places to park or not. The result would be, if the car park were full, people would turn round and come back across the Moor and meet others trying to get in, which would cause tailbacks and general chaos. She asked if the Council was going to put up a spaces available sign, to overcome this.
Peter Eva then stood up and said that he was speaking for himself and not for the National Trust. He said that he had been a District Councillor in the past and was horrified at the waste of time and money this exercise had been. He also said that he would oppose it with his all his might and would be prepared to take it right through to the Secretary of State if need be.
A question was asked of the Council why had they not looked elsewhere for parking, the Council representatives explained that there was not enough money in the budget to do this.
Elizabeth Runnacles stated that she had received a letter from Theresa May, Cookham's MP, who had stated her opposition to the car park. She added that the Stanley Spencer Gallery received 16,000 visitors a year and in a questionnaire put out by the Gallery not one of them had mentioned a parking problem. The Council representatives, when asked about access for coaches, replied that they could use the Sutton Road car park. This was met with laughter.
In summing up John Bowley, as Chairman of the Cookham Society, said that there were several things that the Society did not like about the plans such as the problems of security and the lighting, but in general it seemed the best way forward. He then went on to say that Marsh Meadow could be protected as Geoffrey Copas had suggested that the villagers of Cookham should buy Marsh Meadow from him.
The meeting finished with Jonathan Miall making the suggestion that the money could be better spent in improving the current car park.
The Parish Council then had their planning meeting. Each Councillor was asked to make their comments. These were mainly based on comments that already been brought up earlier in the evening. Councillor Ind also pointed out that this was the habitat for owls and bats and also Marsh Meadow was a wet meadow, so the lighting and parking could adversely affect this. He said that this proposed car park was urban development being placed in a rural setting. Councillor Jean Stretton had prepared a document against the car park which she read out, this included the fact that the car park was in the flood plain and that special circumstances for encroachment into the Green Belt had not been proved. Councillor Michael Wellman then proposed that the Council should reject the planning application, the reason for the rejection was based on Councillor Stretton's report and the comments made by the other councillors. This proposal was accepted unanimously, with no abstentions.
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