COOKHAM PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of a Meeting of the PLANNING COMMITTEE held at the

PRESENT:            Cllr H.J. Woodbridge (Chairman),

Cllrs M. Brar, P. Brockwell, D. Fry, G. Harris, J. Hewitt, M. Innes,

M.L. Kellaway, D. Ricardo and Jean Stretton.

ALSO PRESENT: Chief Inspector Jim Templer, Frank Smith (Marlow Free Press) and Nick Meakin (Maidenhead Advertiser)

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PRESENTATION FROM CHIEF INSPECTOR JIM TEMPLER

Chief Inspector Templer outlined in detail the recent offer for the Parish Council to fund an additional PCSO who would spend the majority of their time working in the Cookham parish. The presentation began with a brief outline of the status of policing in the Thames Valley. Every arrest takes 2-3 hours of paperwork which means that the police force are less visible. Chief Inspector Templer said the PCSO’s were a good addition to the police force. The areas they would focus on would be reassuring the community, developing a relationship with the community, ticket enforcement, anti-social behaviour, under age drinking and much more. The PCSO’s would work in shifts to cover from approx. 8.00am to 2.00am. They would work on foot or bicycles and sometimes in cars. Cookham already has two PCSO’s - but they worked within our neighbourhood area which extends as far as White Waltham. Our PCSO would be Cookham-based officially for 50% of the time but Chief Inspector Templer said it would in practice be virtually all the time. The police had to reserve the right to call on all personnel in exceptional circumstances such as a major incident in another part of the Borough or if crime went over the parish boundaries. If one of our existing PCSO’s resigned, the police would not charge the Parish Council until that post was filled and our PCSO was back to being Cookham-based again. After the presentation, the Councillors were invited to ask questions. A summary of the answers follows:

• Training would take 5 weeks to complete and the PCSO’s would have 4 weeks leave annually.

• A project was in hand to try to promote the Specials in addition to the PCSO’s.

• The PCSO’s would work 40 hours a week in shifts. A shift pattern would be worked out to suit the needs of this community.

• The PCSO’s would often work as professional witnesses in local crime.

• PCSO’s are recruited from the age of 16 years.

• They would have to complete very little paperwork. Apart from time spent in briefing, their hours would be spent in the community.

• They could be involved with speeding checks.

• Cookham would be the first parish to take up this offer.

Cllr Ricardo ended the session by stating that he was appalled at the project. He stated that he paid enough in Council Tax and did not feel he was getting the service that he paid for.                              

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The Chairman thanked Chief Inspector Templer for taking time this evening to meet with the Parish Council.

OPEN FORUM – No members of the public were present.

1.                  APOLOGIES AND DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: Apologies were received from Cllrs M.Wellman, R. Piercey, John Stretton and M. Barnes. Cllr Brar offered apologies from Cllr Coker who was working. There were no Declarations of Interest.

2.                  PLANS CONSIDERED & DISCUSSED:

3.      NEW PLAQUE FOR THE TARRYSTONE AREA INCORPORATING BOTH THE WORDS FROM THE BROKEN PLAQUE AND THE INSCRIPTION ON THE BACK OF THE TARRYSTONE SEAT:  The Clerk presented the Council with an idea for solving the broken plaque and the inscription on the back of the Tarrystone Seat. The plaque was the property of Dr Phillips who lived in The Dower House. He had suggested that the Parish Council may like to repair the plaque on their insurance. However, because the plaque is not Council property, the insurance would not cover the cost of any repairs or replacement. At the same time, the Tarrystone Seat has now been cleaned by Neil Johnstone of Lamb & Co. He had an expert to look at the inscription on the back of the seat. Although it would be possible to re-carve the lettering, Neil was concerned about the crack in the seat which revealed itself after the cleaning. It was his recommendation that re-carving could make the crack worse – and as it is a public seat, we would run the risk of either repair or fencing off from the public. The idea of having a replacement plaque with both inscriptions would solve the problem. The cost of the plaque would be covered in part by the allowance for the re-carving of the Tarrystone Seat. The Parish Council have allowed £493.50 inc vat for this work. The plaque in granite with the lettering in gold leaf would cost £775.50 inc vat with £95 inc vat for installation. It was AGREED to go ahead with the one plaque. VOTE: IN FAVOUR = 9, AGAINST = 1.

4.      CHAIRMANS SUBMISSIONS: The Clerk reminded the Council that the DALC meeting was approaching and was corrected by Cllr Brar who said it had been moved to October. It was agreed to include the Parish Charter on the agenda of the next Full Council Meeting.

The meeting closed at 9.00pm.