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 Anger over Parish Plan

 

Wednesday 6 February 2008 

(click on photo for larger image)

Copyright Brilliant TV


Parish Council meetings don't usually attract much attention, but on Tuesday night over 70 members of the public crowded into the community Hall on High Road to let the Cookham Parish Council know the strength of feeling to the proposed Cookham Plan. 

People Gather for the Meeting in the Community Room

Sadly nobody from the Plan's committee attended to defend the Plan.
 
Indeed any benefits there may be hidden in the Plan are overshadowed and compromised by a recommendation for development of a road and housing on the Poundfield site.
 
This has been successfully fought by the village for over a generation and in the last twenty years went as far as Cabinet level when Michael Heseltine the then Secretary of State rejected the plans. The Cookham Plan calls for a road across Poundfield and housing including affordable housing.

Parish Council Chairman Pat Woodbridge Addresses the Meeting

What was clear from the people who attended the Council meeting was the continued strength of village opposition and the emergence of new determined Cookhamites who are concerned at the threat to the democratic process.
 
Among the issues raised was a request to clarify the consultation process - the answer from the Parish Council left many baffled. It was disclosed that the Cookham Plan's Housing committee's report was rejected by the Plan's chairman and a second report has been prepared without the approval of the
many people on the Housing Committee.

Martin Coker on the Housing Committee Explains the Two Versions

The Parish Council  revealed it had paid £5,000 towards the cost of the Parish Plan with other monies coming from other bodies, but that no statement of accounts had been received by the Council to show how or where the money has been spent.

Lots of Questions Were Asked

The Parish Council meets for its AGM on March 11th in Pinder Hall when there will be one item on the agenda - The Cookham Plan. Residents are encouraged to attend and voice their feelings - "politely please" said the Parish Council Chairman Pat Woodbridge "without personal animosity".

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