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Your Parish Council Candidates 

(6 July 2008)

Residents of Cookham Rise will be given the chance to vote for a new Parish Councillor on Thursday 10th July due to the resignation of John Hewitt who was voted onto the Council at the last Council Elections in 2007. The Polling Station is at Pinder Hall, Lower Road, and will be open from 7.00am to 10.00pm.

There are three people standing for the one place, which is something that has not happened for many, many years. It is good that there are people interested in helping their community. Parish Councillors not only all work very hard, but also are volunteers, none of them being paid.

The three candidates have to live in the area of Cookham, two are standing as independent candidates and one is standing as a Liberal Democrat. 

The candidates are:

click here for a link to the Maidenhead Advertiser article

Nigel Topping 

Nigel is well known in Cookham and has lived in Cookham Rise for thirty years having originally come here from Lancashire.  He is a very active member of Cookham Bridge Rotary of which he was a founder member. Nigel along with his wife Jackie have been on the Management Committee of the Pinder Hall for over twelve years, several years of which he was chairman and is currently vice chairman.

Nigel retired in 2004, having worked in the car industry with BMW and Mercedes, allowing him to spend more time on one of his many hobbies, golf.

Nigel states his main aims, if he were to be elected:

• I believe that development is slowly but steadily reducing the quality of life in Cookham.  In particular, I want to preserve the green areas and boundaries of Cookham and I am opposed to building on Poundfield and Marsh Meadow. 

• I will listen to residents concerns and work diligently on their behalf.  As someone who is recently retired, I have the time and energy to devote to this. I will try and ensure that the Council hears, understands and acts.

• I should like to see more facilities for young people.

Fiona Hewer  
Fiona Hewer lives on Lower Road with her partner Rob. She runs her own local environmental business advising companies on how to deal with the effects of climate change. She is the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Cookham Parish Council By-election.

She enjoys baby-sitting her niece and nephew and taking long walks. She is a National Trails Volunteer, reporting on the Thames Path between Cookham Lock and Boulters Lock and is a member of Friends of the Red Kites in the Chilterns. Fiona is a cricket fan. She used to turn her arm over a bit for Reading Ridgeway Cricket Club, but is more of a spectator than a player now.

Fiona was encouraged to stand for the Parish Council by Mandy Brar. She sees serving on the Parish Council as a great opportunity to serve her community.

Fiona's approach to serving the Parish Council would be to:

• represent the community from within, by living in the Cookham Rise Ward

• applying her environmental expertise to parish work

• using good business practices to deliver value-for-money

Specifically she is opposed to:

• building on the green belt

• charging £29 for collection of green (garden) waste from homes

• building homes in the flood plain

And is in favour of:

• bringing Community Wardens back to Cookham Rise

• improved traffic calming measures on Whyteladyes Lane

• CCTV in Station Approach and on the Alfred Major Recreation Ground

Beryl McNeaney 
Beryl , now a grandmother of four, was born and brought up in Cookham and went to Cookham Dean Primary School, she still lives in Cookham Dean in Dean Lane although she did move away to West London for a while when she owned a pub.

Beryl is very passionate about the village and feels that she knows what is going on in the area which would be extremely helpful in her role as a Parish Councillor. She is particularly concerned about the village being overdeveloped and listed buildings being lost. 

Mrs McNeaney says she would be a good councillor because she always knows what is going on in the area.

Her main concern is about the village being over-developed and listed buildings being lost.

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