COOKHAM PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of a Meeting of the

 COOKHAM PARISH COUNCIL 

PRESENT:  Cllr H.J. Woodbridge (Chairman); M. Barnes (Vice Chairman)

Cllrs: P. Brockwell, M. Coker, D. Fry, G. Harris, F. Hewer, M. Innes,

M-L. Kellaway, R. Piercey, D. Ricardo and M.Wellman.

1.                  APOLOGIES AND DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST:

Apologies were received from Cllrs Jean and John Stretton. There were no Declarations of Interest.

2.                  APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The Minutes of the Full Council Meeting held on the 3^rd March 2009 were circulated and duly signed with one amendment. The Minutes of an Extra-Ordinary Meeting held on 17^th March 2009 were circulated and approved with no amendments.

3.         COMMITTEE REPORTS: The Minutes of the Adoptive Acts Committee held on 17^th March 2009 were circulated and approved with one amendment. Cllr Kellaway attended this Committee Meeting. 

4.         REPORTS FROM OUTSIDE BODIES:

1.         Cllr Fry attended a Maidenhead Borough Planning meeting where he spoke in favour of the planning application at Butts Legh in School Lane. The final decision was to defer and delegate. Cllr Fry also attended a meeting of the Marsh Meadow Management Committee. 

2.         Cllr Kellaway attended a meeting of the Parents Participation Group. Future events include an evening on Alzheimers Disease. Cllr Kellaway also attended the first meeting of the re-vamped Neighbour Action Group. Topics included theft from cars and speeding. The next meeting was Tuesday 5^th May.

3.         Cllr Hewer attended a meeting of the Cookham Youth Project. She said that the Club was committed to working with older children however this was affected by the RBWM’s late invoicing for the youth worker.

Cllr Coker asked the Clerk to write to Maidenhead and Marlow Passengers Association with his details.

5.         QUESTIONS UNDER STANDING ORDERS 24/26:  No questions were received.

6.         FINANCE: The list of cheques raised in the month of March as listed on Page 793 were approved on the proposition of Cllr Wellman and seconded by Cllr Innes.

7.         BOROUGH COUNCILLORS’ REPORT: There was no report due to the absence of Cllr John Stetton.

8.         ADOPTION OF PARISH CHARTER: A copy of the Parish Charter had been circulated to all Councillors. Cllr Wellman could remember a similar Charter back in 1999 that was never signed up to. The Parish Charter was not a legally binding document. It was AGREED that Cllrs Brar and Brockwell would bring it up at the next DALC meeting and see how many other parishes were signing up.

9.         LDF CORE STRATEGY AND THE STRATEGIC HOUSING LAND AVAILABILITY ASSESSMENT  These two items were discussed in much detail. The LDF Core Strategy was a wide-ranging document consulting on future planning and house-building in both the urban areas and protected areas such as Green Belt and Conservation. The SHLAA seemed to be consulting on specific sites in the Green Belt put forward by land owners and developers. The Councillors were alarmed at the large amount of Green Belt land in the Cookhams that was earmarked as potential development sites. In total, approx. 125 hectares of land was listed – an area similar in size to Cookham Rise. This information had not been easy to find on the internet and the maps were not published clearly to show the boundaries of the sites. The Councillors voiced concerns that members of the public would respond to the LDF whilst not fully understanding the information in the SHLAA. Cllr Fry proposed a vote of thanks to The Cookham Society for their work on this consultation and their initiative to write to all members of The Cookham Society in order to publicise this consultation. The Chairman agreed that the Clerk should write to thank the Society.

            The Clerk reminded the Councillors that these Green Belt sites were in addition to all the brown field sites listed –including sites such as Hedsordene which had been turned down on Appeal.

            Cllr Hewer was concerned about the work that had not been done such as the vacant and derelict properties.She queried the action of RBWM to consider so much Green Belt land when they had the authority to take over derelict properties.

            It was AGREED that the Consultation Committee, aided by Cllr Hewer, would draft a response from the Parish Council – not only on the content of the consultations but the way the project had been conducted.

10.       THIRD SITE FOR POSSIBLE INCLUSION IN THE GREEN BELT: RBWM was still consulting on sites that the Parish Council may like to see put back into the Green Belt. It was somewhat ironic that a new site: 0.5 hectares at the end of Berries Road was the third proposal when over 125 hectares was listed for potential development in the SHLAA. The Clerk was asked to write to RBWM to accept this third site. It was

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also noted that Poundfield had been taken off the list for new Green Belt sites for the time being – without any explanation from RBWM.

11.       CHAIRMAN’S SUBMISSIONS: The Chairman spoke to raise concerns over the tone of the recent reporting in the press and the term “secret meetings” when the Council had used the time to work through the new submissions for The Cookham Plan. The Chairman reminded the Councillors that all meetings were advertised but the Council could legally use Standing Order 68 to exclude the public and the press if the nature of the topic made this necessary. All the findings from these meetings had now been published.

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

The Meeting closed at 9.55pm.