Minutes of Main Council

Held in the Community Room on Tuesday, 4^th March 2008, after the Planning Meeting at 7.30pm.

In attendance: Cllr M.J. Saunders, Cllr Richard Kellaway, Nick Meakin (Maidenhead Advertiser) and James Nadal (Marlow Free Press).

Apologies were received from Cllrs M. Barnes, M. Innes, J. Hewitt and Jean Stretton. Cllr Harris declared a personal interest in item 11 on the agenda. Cllr Coker requested permission to be released from the constraints of belonging to the Steering Group of the Cookham Plan. The Chairman said that there was no need to make this request because both Cllr Coker and Cllr Barnes had been appointed as representatives of Cookham Parish Council.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The Minutes of the Full Council Meeting held on the 5^th February 2008 were circulated and duly signed with no amendments.

3. COMMITTEE REPORTS: The meetings of the Adoptive Acts Committee held on 19^th February 2008 were circulated and approved with no amendments.

1. Cllr D. Fry had attended his first Parish Conference at Windsor Guild Hall. He had found it an interesting meeting and mentioned the third runway at Heathrow consultation. The message was that even though the consultation was closed, it was not too late to write to the local MP and Terry Gould at RBWM. Cllr Fry detailed various other items of interest. Full minutes of this Conference will be available in due course.

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

6. FINANCE:: The list of cheques raised in the month of February as listed on Page 597 were approved on the proposition of Cllr Coker, seconded by Cllr Stretton. Cllr Coker commented on the very reasonable price charged by the electrician for the new chapel heaters.

7. BOROUGH COUNCILLORS’ REPORT: Cllr Stretton spoke of the car wash that had been erected at the back of The Crown pub. Enforcement had been called in and the car wash had been dismantled but left behind much rubbish. The new pedestrian crossing in The Pound, outside Spencers, was under way. The complaints about the enforcement of parking restrictions in Cookham High Street was moving towards settlement. RBWM would be sending a form to invite the residents and businesses to state what improvements they would like to see. This could lead to residents parking and altering the advertised parking and waiting times. Cllr Stretton also said that the third runway at Heathrow had been fully discussed at RBWM and all were against it. Cllr Brockwell reminded Cllr Stretton that the cats eyes in Maidenhead Road still needed replacing.

8. DONATION OF A NEW BENCH ON THE CAUSEWAY: Cllr Ricardo said that the National Trust had asked the Parish Council to replace the bench on the Causeway some time ago. The Parish Council had refused and he had decided to replace the bench himself. He said that it was a low maintenance bench similar to the one at Cookham Station. He formally requested that the Parish Council take over the insurance and maintenance of this bench. On the proposition of Cllr Coker, seconded by Cllr Wellman, it was AGREED (with one abstention) to accept the donation. Cllr Fry wished to record a vote of thanks to Cllr Ricardo.

9. TO WITHDRAW THE MAIN PROPOSAL DOCUMENT FOR THE COOKHAM PLAN: Cllr John Stretton read out his definition of The Cookham Plan as it currently stood. He said that rather than being a finished Plan, or proposals for the future of Cookham, it was more like a wish list. He mentioned the two conflicting reports from the Housing and Development Working Group and also said that the Parish Council had not got all the papers. Indeed, those Councillors without computers had not had access to any of the Working Group material to date. Cllr Stretton mentioned the danger that RBWM would not take notice of any Cookham Plan if the residents did not stop their campaigning. For this reason, he proposed withdrawing the complete proposal document until the whole Council had the chance to carry out a proper evaluation. Cllr Coker mentioned that valuable work had been carried out by the individual Working Groups. This work should be preserved at all costs. Cllr Wellman queried how it could be taken out of the public domain when it had been available for this length of time. He also stated his reservations about doing the Plan at all. Cllr Coker said that some good information was available in the Village Healthcheck document. Cllr Stretton also reiterated how few residents had actually read anything more than the main proposal document. Cllr Fry had queries on some of the figures from the questionnaires which seemed to differ from the main proposal document. Cllr Brar said that there some good things in the Plan that had been over-looked with all the complaints. Cllr Kellaway queried what would be discussed at the Annual Parish Meeting on 11^th March if this document was withdrawn. Cllr Coker said that the Council could still accept the material from the Working Groups. It was felt that there would still be enough interest for the public to come to the Annual Parish Meeting and make their views known. On the proposal of Cllr Stretton, seconded by Cllr Woodbridge, it was AGREED to amend the agenda item to: “Withdraw the main proposal document for The Cookham Plan until the Parish Council has discussed it.” VOTE: IN FAVOUR = 3, AGAINST = 3, ABSTENTION = 5. Cllr Woodbridge used his casting vote to support the motion.

10. TO DISCUSS THE PROPOSALS TO BE SUPPORTED IN THE COOKHAM PLAN: Due to the decision of item 9, this item would not be necessary.

11. TIMETABLE FOR FORMAL REVIEW OF THE COOKHAM PLAN: The Clerk circulated some ideas for how the review could be carried out. The Annual Parish Meeting was the ideal time to show residents how the Parish Council intended to move forward with the review. It was also agreed that this would be the time to address any gaps in the Plan by adding new groups such as gypsies, youth and heritage. The Councillors would look at the Clerk’s ideas and respond by the end of the week.

12. FORMAL APPOINTMENT OF MARLOW ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY (MAS) TO EXCAVATE THE CEMETERY EXTENSION: Some initial costings had been provided by Colin Berks of MAS. There was concern that the costs could mount up if anything was found. Cllr Wellman said that the Council should try to get sponsorship. Cllr Fry queried whether 106 monies could also qualify. Cllr Ricardo said that he was “staggered” at the costs. Cllr Stretton proposed to accept the costs in priniciple and give the go ahead for MAS to carry out their searches. This was seconded by Cllr Fry. VOTE: IN FAVOUR = 8, AGAINST = 2. ABSTENTION = 1.

13. PARKING IN COOKHAM VILLAGE: Cllr Ricardo said that a meeting of residents had been held to discuss parking but this was an issue that affected the whole village. Cllr Stretton said that he had received 26 letters from residents and businesses in the High Street. They had been most articulate as to how they would like to solve the parking restrictions. Their proposals were now in the process of being looked at by RBWM with a view to making the necessary changes. Cllr Stretton hoped that this would be sorted out by the end of June. Cllr Ricardo also mentioned the cars parked by the bus stop made it difficult for the elderly to be seen by the bus.

14. CHAIRMANS SUBMISSIONS: The Chairman said that the documents for the Heathrow third runway consultation had been received that day in the Parish Office. He said that the item would be on the agenda of the meeting on 18^th March. The Clerk mentioned that there was a complaint from Rhian Sturdy about dangerous parking outside Countrystore and the Station. This complaint had been passed on to the PCSO’s. The Clerk also assured Councillors that she would send out web site details for all the other consulations currently being discussed.

15. CORRESPONDENCE: A list of correspondence and periodicals received during the month of February was circulated with the agenda. These were available in the Parish Office for Councillors’ perusal. The Meeting closed at 10.12pm.