COOKHAM PARISH COUNCIL

 Minutes of a Meeting of the

 COOKHAM PARISH COUNCIL

PRESENT: Cllr D. Fry (Chairman);

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

M-L. Kellaway, R. Piercey, D. Ricardo, Jean Stretton, John Stretton,

H. J. Woodbridge and M.Wellman.

1.                  APOLOGIES AND DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: Apologies were received from Cllrs M. Brar and M. Barnes. Cllr Ricardo declared a personal interest in item 3 of the Part Two agenda along with Cllrs Wellman, Piercey and M-L Kellaway.

2.                  APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The Minutes of the Full Council Meeting held on the 5^th January 2010 were circulated and duly signed with several amendments. On Page 918, Cllr M. Wellman wished to clarify that the precept of £92,000 was unchanged for the 2010-2011 financial year. On Page 919, item 10, Cllr Ricardo asked to change the speed limit in School Lane to 20mph. The Minutes of the Extra-Ordinary Meetings held on 5^th January 2010 were circulated and signed with one amendment. On Page 921, Cllr Wellman asked for the words “pro-rata” to be added to the Office Assistant’s salary.

3.            COMMITTEE REPORTS: There were no Committee Reports this month.

4.            REPORTS FROM OUTSIDE BODIES:

1.         Cllr Hewer attended a meeting of the Cookham Youth Project and the recent Stakeholder’s Meeting at the Town Hall.

2.         Cllr Fry attended the Stakeholder’s Meeting and noted that the Clerk had circulated information to all Cllrs from this meeting. It was possible that the time allowed for speaking at MDC meetings may change to allow Parish Councils three minutes instead of two. The Council could also set up an electronic alert when an application is made outside the parish boundary but is still of concern under “Spheres of Mutual interest”. Cllr Fry also spoke of the monies allocated to the Millenium Path from the planning application at Stiefel Laboratories. This information was then brought up-to-date by Cllr John Stretton who said that if the path was not viable, the £50,000 could be used for other projects such as the gardens near Maidenhead Bridge.

5.             QUESTIONS UNDER STANDING ORDERS 24/26:  There were no questions for this meeting.

6.            FINANCE: The list of cheques raised in the month of January as listed on Page 933 was approved on the proposition of Cllr F. Hewer and seconded by Cllr Woodbridge.

7.         BOROUGH COUNCILLOR’S REPORT: Cllr John Stretton said that the investigation in to the crossing on Lower Road had been delayed by the bad weather in early January. The speed monitoring was due to start in ten days time. The Marlow Flood Alleviation Scheme had been objected to by RBWM and was now in the hands of Wycombe District Council who were due to make a decision at their Planning Meeting on 24^th February 2010. There was unlikely to be any movement in the Green Belt Consultation until after the election. A total of four trees were replaced in Burnt Oak plus an extra tree had been planted in Wakelins End. Cllr John Stretton spoke briefly about the allocation of 106 monies going to projects that would support the local infrastructure. The Town Hall had announced that Council Tax for RBWM residents would fall by 4% for the 2010-2011 financial year.

8.            INSTALLATION AND COMPUTER SUPPORT COSTS FOR THE NEW EQUIPMENT: Cllr Coker said that the computer on the web-site of Hewlett Packard has been discontinued but there are still up to twenty machines available for purchase. The Clerk raised her concern that this new equipment would not be supported in any way by RBWM. She said that the decision to purchase the equipment must be made with a full costing of the installation costs and any support programme once the system was in place. Over the past few years, Cookham Parish Council had paid £600 to RBWM for full software and hardware support. The Clerk acknowledged that this was expensive but felt that the RBWM Support Desk and engineers swift response was invaluable in helping the Council to maintain a fully-functioning Parish Office. The agreement would even offer a replacement computer if needed. The Clerk was concerned that using an outside company may be more cost-effective but questioned whether the service would be comparable. Cllr Coker said that customer care kits can be brought. Cllr John Stretton said that the hardware should be guaranteed for three years. It was AGREED to put the computer support item on the agenda of the next meeting once some costs could be sought.

9.            APPROVAL OF MR BARRIE DANCER AS INTERNAL AUDITOR FOR 2009/2010 AUDIT:  On the proposition of Cllr John Stretton, seconded by Cllr H J Woodbridge, it was AGREED to appoint Mr Barrie Dancer as internal auditor for the 2009-2010 internal audit.

10.            RBWM LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK CONSULTATION FOR MAIDENHEAD TOWN CENTRE AREA ACTION PLAN:  It was AGREED that this consultation was more appropriate for individual responses. Cllr Ricardo commented that the proposals would not make him wish to shop in Maidenhead.

11.            CHAIRMAN’S SUBMISSIONS: The Chairman announced that he had arranged for Mr Paul Blissett from RBWM to visit the Parish Council Office on Monday 8^th March 2010 at 11pm to give some training on using computers to look at planning drawings. Cllr ML Kellaway volunteered to speak on behalf of the Parish Council for the application at Babham’s End, School Lane, Cookham village.

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

The Meeting closed at 9.50pm.