Our major recommendations
The Moor Car Park and Marsh Meadow
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Throughout our consultation process, the issue of the shortage of parking in Cookham Village and the unsightliness of the present car park on The Moor has been raised with us. The latter is of great benefit to visitors, but of little use to Cookham Village. We are aware of the history of alternative proposals. We believe that it would greatly improve the appearance of The Moor, an important local feature, if the car park could be moved to provide parking closer to the shops and restaurants in the High Street. It could then serve both the needs of visitors to the area and of the residents of Cookham Village.
Accordingly, we recommend that a new car park be constructed on Marsh Meadow in the south-east corner. We suggest that vehicular access should be across the (widened) existing track in the middle of The Moor, and that there should be pedestrian access via the south-east corner. We recommend that it be included within flood protection proposals. We recommend that the widened access should intrude into The Moor as little as possible, and that the car park should be screened from the river, with lighting at low level, so as to be as unobtrusive to neighbours as possible. We recommend that C.C.T.V. (Closed Circuit Television) cameras be included to aid security.
If it proves possible in future, we recommend access to this car park via the Fire Station site, in preference to the existing access across the moor (see Public Safety).
We recommend that the existing National Trust car park should be restored to moor and its entrance reverted to farm use only. We are aware of the considerable financial implications of these proposals, which affect privately-owned and common land.
We are aware of the parking problems of some local residents. It may be appropriate to introduce some reserved spaces on the recommended car park for residents with parking permits, for which a charge would probably have to be made.