COOKHAM PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of a Meeting of the

 FOOTPATHS & OPEN SPACES COMMITTEE

PRESENT:       Cllr G. Harris (Chairman)

Cllrs M. Innes, R. Piercey: D. Ricardo, M. Wellman and

H. J. Woodbridge.

1.                  APOLOGIES AND DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: Apologies were received from Cllrs M. Barnes, M. Brar and D. Fry. Cllrs M. Wellman and R. Piercey declared a personal interest in item 2a on the agenda. Cllr G. Harris declared a personal interest in items 4b, 4d and 4e on the agenda.

2.            ALFRED MAJOR GROUND:

a):            Approval of charge to CDFC for use of the Junior pitch: Cookham Dean Football Club had verbal approval to use the Junior pitch for their under 12’s football team for the 2008-2009 season. However, the Club were also using Council-owned goal posts that were normally put away in the winter. The Clerk advised that the auditors would wish to see some form of charge made for both the pitch (which had benefited from 106 developers contributions) and also for the use of the goal posts. The Clerk also confirmed that she had not received any dates for any matches so far from the Club. Cllr Piercey said that the under 12’s team would play every other Saturday. Cllr Woodbridge suggested a charge of £10 per game. It was felt that this would be difficult to administer. Cllr Wellman proposed a charge of £2 per child which would work out to approx. £25 per game. This would be a hire fee for the pitch and goals. This proposal was seconded by Cllr Woodbridge.

VOTE: IN FAVOUR = 4, AGAINST = 1, ABSTENTION = 1.

3.            FOOTPATHS:

There was nothing to report for this meeting apart from noting that Joe Stoneman had carried out works on FP60 from Bourne End viaduct to Cockmarsh incorporating the path in front of The Bounty public house.

4.            ALLOTMENTS:

a)            Review of the skip at Cookham Dean allotments: Cllr Fry had left a note to say that the skip had been a success and that the allotment holders were keen to have one every year. Some asbestos had been located which Cllr Fry would take to the tip.

b)            Approval of draft tenant’s agreement for all allotment holders: The draft had been circulated prior to the meeting and the Clerk reminded the Councillors that this tenant’s agreement had been based on the agreement used by RBWM. It was agreed that that a clause would be incorporated to ban the presence of butane gas bottles, combustibles and any form of compressed air or gas. Allotment holders would be responsible to take any aerosols home and not left unattended on the allotment sites.

            The internal auditor had also suggested to the Council that they may wish to consider limiting the allotment holders to 20 poles. The Councillors were divided on this but Cllr Wellman proposed that this should be dealt with as a separate issue. This was seconded by Cllr Innes.

VOTE: IN FAVOUR = 4, ABSTENTION = 2.

c)            Approval of draft tenant’s agreement for the keeping of chickens on Cookham Dean allotment: On the proposition of Cllr Woodbridge, seconded by Cllr Wellman, it was AGREED unanimously to accept the draft agreement for the keeping of chickens at Cookham Dean allotments with no amendments.

d)         Draft risk assessment form: This had been suggested at a Finance Meeting by Jon Fisher. The form was considered by the Councillors to be easily incorporated into the annual tenancy agreement as agreed above. It was also doubtful whether the allotment holders would bother to complete the form. It was decided not to have a separate risk assessment form at present but to incorporate any risk measures as part of the annual tenancy agreement.

e)         Letter from a resident: Cookham Parish Council’s policy is to never discuss unsolicited correspondence. Cllr Woodbridge stated that this letter should never have come to the table.

5.            BRITAIN IN BLOOM: The Clerk had received the judge’s comments but it was agreed to defer this item to the next meeting of the Footpaths Committee due to the lateness of the hour.

The Meeting closed at 9.50pm.