Minutes of Main Council

Held in the Community Room on Tuesday, 2^nd October 2007, after the Planning Meeting, at 7.30pm.

In attendance: Frank Smith (Marlow Free Press), Nick Meakin (Maidenhead Advertiser) and PC Val de Haan.

Apologies were received from Cllrs Barnes, Coker, Hewitt and Kellaway. Cllrs Wellman and Brar declared a personal interest in items 9 and 11 on the agenda.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The Minutes of the Full Council Meeting held on the 4^th September 2007 were circulated and duly signed with no amendments.

3. COMMITTEE REPORTS: The Minutes of the Footpaths & Open Spaces Committee held on 18^th September 2007 were circulated and approved with no amendments.

1. Cllr Harris attended the presentation for the Borough in Bloom competition. Cookham Dean won a Bronze Award whilst Cookham Rise and Cookham Village achieved Silver Awards.

5. TO RECEIVE QUESTIONS UNDER STANDING ORDERS 24/26: No questions had been received.

6. FINANCE:: The list of cheques raised in the months of September as listed on Page 521 were approved on the proposition of Cllr Woodbridge and seconded by Cllr Harris.

7. BOROUGH COUNCILLORS’ REPORT: Cllr Stretton spoke of the changes to parking enforcement that will taken over by RBWM from 2008. There will be fifty wardens for the whole Borough and eight of these will work in Maidenhead. RBWM will keep the fines and Cookham should see regular traffic wardens as part of this service. Cllr Stretton also mentioned that RBWM was looking at using CCTV cameras on Cookham Bridge in a bid to assess the weight of vehicles using the Bridge.

8. EMPLOYMENT OF A COOKHAM-BASED PCSO AT A COST OF £15,000 FOR A TRIAL 2-YEAR PERIOD: The Council had recently received a letter from Ms Gregson along with a pile of questionnaires completed at the Police Crime Forum at Pinder Hall last July. The Council also noted the comment from PC de Haan that Ms Grigson had taken the forms from the Forum and only gave the Police a summary of the results. In fact out of 80 completed questionnaires, just 37 had been sent to the Council. The Chairman offered the Councillors the chance to defer this item in order to study the surveys in more detail. Cllr Fry said that he was keen to increase the PCSO presence in Cookham. He had seen the existing two PCSO’s in Cookham and thought they were doing a good job. Cllr Wellman then read out his thoughts on paying for a PCSO. He said that the principle of paying for added police protection was wrong and that if we were not happy with the job the police were doing we should say so. In many ways he would prefer to spend the money on CCTV for the Alfred Major. Cllr Innes agreed with Cllr Wellman. Cllr Brar said that it would not solve the crime problem and the residents already pay enough tax. Cllr Ricardo said that is was unacceptable for only one weekend in four to be covered and that we should write and ask for increased cover at the weekends. Cllr Stretton was in favour of increasing police presence in Cookham and he said that our precept could be increased to cover the cost as it was one of the lowest in the Borough. Cllr Brar asked if the Clerk could get in touch with the other Parish Councils to see whether they had been offered a similar deal. After much debate it was proposed by Cllr Wellman and seconded by Cllr Fry to defer this decision until the Clerk could gather more information. This would also give more opportunity for the public to make their feelings known to the Council. VOTE: UNANIMOUS

9. REQUEST FROM HERRIES SCHOOL TO USE THE JUNIOR FOOTBALL PITCH ON THE ALFRED MAJOR RECREATION GROUND EVERY FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Herries School in Cookham Dean had written to the Parish Council to ask whether it was possible to make use of the Alfred Major Recreation Ground and in particular the football pitches every week. At present the school travels up to a pitch near the Handy Cross roundabout near High Wycombe. The request was to use the pitch every Friday afternoon for fifty children and 3 teachers from 2pm – 3.45 pm. Cllr Wellman said that we should encourage the use of the Alfred Major Recreation Ground but we must point out to the School that they use the Ground at their own risk. Cllr Brar asked whether they had offered to pay for the use. The Clerk replied that the Alfred Major was a public open space but we could suggest that the school makes a donation towards the upkeep of the pitch. The main concern of the Councillors was the drop-off of the children and pick up. There was enough congestion at the entrance near Cookham Rise School and the number of mums picking up fifty children could be a problem in the other entrances around the Alfred Major. It was AGREED to organise a meeting with the school and representatives from the Footpaths and Open Spaces Committee in order to progress this request. In principle the Council were in favour of the idea.

10. COMMENT ON DRAFT PARISH CHARTER BEFORE THE DALC MEETING ON 11^TH OCTOBER 2007: The Charter was approved with just one alteration. On paragraph 2, sub section 2, the Borough Councillors should be invited to speak - instead of being allowed to speak at the discretion of the Council. This was AGREED unanimously.

11. THE IDEA OF AN OUTDOOR FITNESS RANGE AS AN ADDITION TO THE FACILITIES ON THE ALFRED MAJOR: Cllr Piercey felt that the Alfred Major could be better used as an outdoor space and he was keen to encourage outdoor exercise. An outdoor fitness trail would provide free exercise to all. From the range shown with the agenda, Cllr Piercey said that the individual items would have to be carefully selected to keep the moving parts to a minimum and thus reduce the risk of vandalism. Cllr Piercey said that outdoor fitness was very common in America. The Clerk was asked to find out more about the range installed by Sunningdale Parish Council. Cllr Fry said that he was concerned about moving parts on the equipment. The Chairman concluded that the Council should encourage the idea and the debate would be kept open until either the next meeting of the Footpaths Committee or the next Full Council meeting.

12. SHOULD THE PARISH COUNCIL CONTINUE TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CAUSEWAY AS A DRY ESCAPE ROUTE DURING FLOODING?: Cllr Ricardo mentioned three planning applications that had been refused partly because the dry escape route via the Causeway was not considered acceptable. He said that the Council may be liable if the route was used during times of flooding. Cllr Ricardo suggested asking RBWM to officially take over the maintenance and responsibility of the Causeway as they have the resources to look after it. Cllr Stretton said that he had spoken to the Head of Highways, Mr Stephen Brown who confirmed that the freehold and deeds of the Causeway were owned by RBWM as was the Fleet Bridge. The land at the side of the Causeway and the Fleet Bridge belonged to the National Trust. The Clerk was invited to write to Stephen Brown in order to get the question of ownership resolved.

14. CORRESPONDENCE: A list of correspondence and periodicals received during the months of September was circulated with the agenda. These were available in the Parish Office for Councillors’ perusal.