The Cookham Plan
People and Places Group
Sport, Leisure and Open Space
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The Cookham Plan People and Places Group Sport, Leisure and Open Space |
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Cookham’s main asset is the rural setting with the natural beauty of the countryside, the riverside and surrounding open spaces. These encourage outdoor pursuits such as walking and cycling in relative freedom on and off the roads and lanes.
An assessment of the quality and usage of sports and leisure in the Cookham villages showed a mixed picture of available venues well used, established playing fields with limited facilities but importantly no central sports facility.
Maidenhead and Marlow provide facilities within 3 or 4 miles for public for swimming pools, indoor Health Centres and Sports Clubs for Rowing, Athletics, Rugby, Hockey, Bowls and Tennis (in public parks).
Cookham’s main outdoor sports and recreation facilities include the Alfred Major Playing Fields, plus members only clubs for golf (Winter Hill), cricket (Cookham Dean), football (Cookham Dean at Alfred Major), and sailing (Cookham Reach).
The facilities at the Alfred Major Playing Fields are much the same as in past years. Several public meetings have been held in recent years to discuss ways and means of developing a sports centre on modern lines, but lack of funds and some resistance from local residents have hindered any progress. A similar problem was met when a children’s playground was suggested in Cookham Village, which currently does not have one. The use of the Playing Fields is governed by Byelaws and Covenants. It is the responsibility of the Parish Council to manage and maintain the recreation area and the Playground. There is no full time supervision of the area to guard against unruly behaviour and vandalism, a problem which has escalated in recent years.
There are few, if any paved walkways around the perimeter. There is no provision for car parking in the recreation ground. Other open spaces could be considered for alternative sports and recreational use if the Alfred Major resource poses insuperable problems. There is no provision in Cookham for public access to Bowls and Tennis, nor swimming and Athletics. It would be difficult to visualise all or most of these incorporated into one open space. A study of recent developments in nearby villages (2 good examples are Westmorland Park near Bracknell, and Hazlemere near High Wycombe) show clearly that with cooperative planning, Lottery funding combined with public and private money, it was possible to develop a modern central Sports Centre with a fully equipped Pavilion shared by cricket and football Clubs with provision for Bowls and Tennis courts.
Issues and Concerns
The high level of Community artistic, musical and social activities is not matched by a comparable level of opportunity for sports and recreational participation by adults and young people. This is due to a lack of suitable recreational open spaces.
A significant proportion, around 1,000 of the population (19%), is under 16. Little provision for sports and recreation has been added or developed in the Cookham area during the last 25 years particularly for young people (apart from playing fields for the three Primary Schools)
There is a fully equipped children’s play area in the Alfred Major field, but no similar facility in Cookham Dean or in Cookham Village.
The issue on the Alfred Major Playing Fields is whether it can serve the purpose of 70 years ago, when it was donated as a sports and recreation ground for local residents. The present recreational facilities are these: a children’s play area, a multi-surface court for netball and basketball, 2 football pitches (leased by Cookham Dean Football Club). Further land space is somewhat restricted: - 2 acres of land are fenced off for playing fields for Cookham Rise School (part owned and part leased), and 1 acre allocated for allotments. Cookham Dean U10’s Football Club are actively pursuing the possibility of extending the changing facilities on the site.
Key Findings
Indoor venues are available and provide facilities for organised groups for badminton and health and fitness activities; aerobics, Pilates, yoga etc. The latter activities are thriving.
All three Cookham Schools have playgrounds and open playing fields. Effectively, these are not available for regular use by local residents, for reasons of health and safety.
Action Plan
In order to address both the local demand for playing-field space at Alfred Major, and the need for more formal sports areas, it was agreed to propose that the flat land in the Green Belt adjoining the existing Cricket Pitch should be used and include car parking. It is recognised that the intrusion into the Green Belt is a very sensitive matter, but we believe this to be a permitted use. The natural open boundary of sloping land between Cookham Rise and Cookham Dean should not be used.
Where levies are raised by the Local Authority on development, the Parish Council should be involved in deciding local spending