THE
COOKHAM
SOCIETY
Cherishing the Past
Protecting the Future
What We Do
The Society takes an interest in all matters affecting Cookham. These include planning applications and development, Green Belt, Conservation Areas, public open spaces, roads and parking, bridges, bridleways and footpaths, the riverside, waterways and flood risk, tree preservation, the environment and local services.
Latest News
11th January 2025
A Bitter Disappointment for Cookham
The Society, the Parish Council and members of the public were bitterly disappointed by the decision of RBWM’s Development Panel to grant planning permission for 200 dwellings on the site known as AL37.
The Panel meeting had originally been planned for the 21st of November 2024 but was delayed at the last minute because of a computer error by the Royal Borough. The hearing was rescheduled for the 19th December.
The Society had originally secured speaking slots to voice objections to the design on behalf of its 600 members but when the Panel meeting was moved, the slots did not roll over to the meeting on the19th. The Society was then deeply dismayed to find that it had been shut out of speaking against the plans, as all three speaking slots had been allocated to a single member of the public.
Of course, this development site appears in the Borough Local Plan and so it will eventually be developed. Despite many objections by the Society and others to this sub-standard design, planning permission has been granted. In its present form, it will be just another charmless, characterless, cramped new development, littered with badly parked cars, unusable green space, poor access and with an undesirable effect on local traffic levels.
The only recourse for opponents of approved planning applications is a statutory review in the Courts. There is a six-week time limit on that. At an Extraordinary meeting of its committee on Monday 6th January, the Society considered an expert’s report on the weaknesses of both the plans and the process. Based on that report, it unanimously decided to obtain formal advice from a King’s Counsel about next steps.
Cookham Society Chairman, Bill Perry, said: “The Cookham Society exists to protect the special place which is Cookham and to stand up for its people. They have been short-changed by the planning process for this site. Whatever we can do about this, we shall do.”
To discuss the three large developments there was only seating for around 40 members of the public in the Council Chamber.
14th December 2024
The Cookham Society has been gagged from objecting to three new housing developments totalling 220+ new houses in Cookham. Therefore, more than ever before we need interested parties and previous objectors to attend this meeting this Thursday 19th December at the new start time of 6pm at Maidenhead Town Hall (use the main entrance in St Ives Road).
As you are aware, the RBWM planning panel meeting to decide the 200+ housing development in Cookham was scheduled for 21st November. The Cookham Society had a speaking slot at that meeting and have spent hundreds of hours across the whole committee preparing a pre-panel statement (see below) detailing inconsistencies with planning policy and this application. However:-
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At 6pm, three days before the meeting, RBWM decided that due to a ‘computer glitch’, it should be cancelled and rescheduled for the last Thursday before Christmas.
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Cookham Society have only recently been informed that our speaking slot was not carried over meaning we had to reapply, by which time was too late according to their rules.
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We have been denied a voice at this meeting even though we represent hundreds of households in Cookham.
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The email with the new date said the meeting was for 7pm, we have now found out it starts at 6pm, meaning many interested parties would arrive an hour after the start time and risk being denied access.
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In addition, we have only now been informed that this meeting will also decide the fate of the development of another 20 houses at Strande Park
Although denied our 3 minutes slot to speak at the meeting we trust that the Planning Officers will digest our pre-panel statement to them and change their recommendation to a refusal of the application so a better and fully compliant scheme can be produced. We urge you to read it here.
11th December 2024
RESCHEDULED - NOTE EARLIER START
THE PLANNING APPLICATION TO BUILD 200 HOMES AT LOWER MOUNT FARM WILL NOW BE HEARD IN MAIDENHEAD TOWN HALL ON THURSDAY 19th DECEMBER AT 6.00PM
Please join us to object to planning applications 23/02019 and 23/02022
The Cookham Society, along with the Parish Council and some individuals, has been fighting these proposals ever since they appeared in the draft Borough Local Plan 4 years ago. Since these planning applications were made last year, we have lodged a comprehensive series of objections highlighting the inadequacies of the project and its detrimental effect on our village.
However, despite all that we, the Parish Council and local people have done, the Royal Borough's officers are now recommending approval (with conditions). We still believe the plans should be rejected and we intend to say so on the 19th December. The Parish Council will do so too and we are co-ordinating with it for maximum effect.
The Society only has 3 minutes to voice our opinions on each application and it is vital that we are able to make our views felt. Having members of the public in the gallery in support of our opposition, even if they are not allowed to speak, is a visible expression of local opinion and can have a powerful psychological effect on councillors.
We urge those who are opposed to this development to turn up to support our own Dick Scarff and the Parish Council’s Cllr. Jacqui Edwards in opposing this development on Thursday 19th December 6.00 pm at Maidenhead Town Hall.
11th December 2024
IMPORTANT
THE COOKHAM SOCIETY IS URGING ALL RESIDENTS TO RESPOND TO THE AMENDED BELLWAY HOMES APPLICATION (AUGUST 2024) FOR 200 HOUSES IN COOKHAM (AL37).
Bellway Homes have updated their planning application for the site at Lower Mount Farm, Cannondown Road, Cookham. This is being presented as a response to the many objections from the public, the Cookham Society, the Parish Council and the RBWM’s own highways department. Members will recall that following the public outcry, RBWM rejected the original application.
There is little publicity about this amended application, which the applicant thoughtfully submitted in the summer holiday period! Also there are now so many documents (over 800) to compare to the original application, that we fear few people will have enough time to evaluate it fully and there is a risk that this huge and poorly designed development could slip through without a full response from the local community.
The Cookham Society has looked very closely at the documents and can advise that Bellway Home’s latest application has not addressed our, the Parish Council’s or the public’s objections.
We have noted the following:-
· The revised scheme is almost identical to the original with the only visible changes being a height reduction in a few cases from 2.5 storeys to 2.0, cosmetic tinkering with porches and roofing materials, plus a couple of additional cycle and pedestrian routes. –
- There has been a slight enlargement of gardens to the minimum required size and confirmed bin access. However, Bellway Homes are planning to build exactly the same number of houses, so the site will be even more congested.
· Parking problems do not seem to have been addressed and this plan still features parking with up to three cars parked in lines between houses. There remains just one exit and entry point to Cannondown Road.
· Objections to overall Layout and Design, Site Access, Parking, Foul Drainage, Surface water Drainage, Tenure, Bus Service, Speed Limits, Sustainability, Food Production and Cookham Area Traffic Overload have all been ignored by Bellway.
Cookham Deserves Better Than This.
To date the Society has submitted six very comprehensive letters of objection about AL37 to RBWM planning department. We believe that they provide a detailed analysis of our responses. For convenience you can download and view them here:
1st Objection letter 23-10-2023
2nd Objection letter 14-05-2024
3rd Objection letter 03-07-2024
4th Objection letter 20-08-2024
5th Objection letter 05-11-2024
6th Objection letter 05-12-2024
Make your voice heard too. You can find the applications for this 200-home development on the RBWM planning website using the following link and reference numbers. Please note that for some reason, Bellway have split the development in two, so your objection should reference both, as they are similar designs.
https://www.rbwm.gov.uk/planning-and-building-control/find-planning-application
Ref. No: 23/02019 for160 houses
Ref. No: 23/02022 for 40 houses
You can apply online using RBWM planning portal or email direct to planning@rbwm.gov.uk., in which case remember to include the application numbers and your full contact details. You can also write a letter if you prefer. The official deadline for comments and objections was 5th September, although objections will be accepted up until the deciding RBWM planning meeting later in the year, which we hope many people will want to attend to make their feelings heard. That date is to be confirmed.
Please note that if you submitted an objection to the previous scheme with RBWM, you need to submit a NEW objection to this REVISED scheme. It's not too late, RBWM must take into account any objections received up to the date of the panel meeting.
September 2024
PUBLIC ACCESS OVER ODNEY WEIR -
THE EA RENEGE ON PROMISES
Following long and tortuous negotiations with the EA, we had finally begun to believe that we had their agreement to re-open Lock Island to the public. Regrettably, at our last meeting in July, the EA rowed back on their previous commitment and said that no further progress towards reopening could be made without their building a very tall, steel palisade fence on Odney Common, on the downstream side of the weir.
They said that without it, they would not reopen access to Lock Island and, to add insult to injury, said that nor could they give a commitment to opening, even if the fence was constructed! Stakeholders had previously all agreed that waist-high fencing was all that was needed to prevent anyone accidently falling into the weir channel.
However, apart from the sheer ugliness of the project, the EA face significant obstacles to their proposed fence. Firstly, the fence cannot be screwed into the wall because that would damage the structural integrity of the concrete. Secondly, if the EA build it on the common itself, they will have to obtain prior permission from the Commoners who retain grazing and harvesting rights. They would also need permission from the landowner and finally, they will have to seek the agreement of the Parish Council, whose byelaws prohibit such building work anyway.
Working with the Parish Council and our RBWM Ward Councillors, we will continue to battle the Kafkaesque obstructiveness of the EA.
July 2024
AL37 BELLWAY SEWAGE COULD FLOOD COOKHAM HOUSES
The Cookham Society has identified a major problem with the application by Bellway to build 200 houses at Lower Mount Farm.
The RBWM Borough Local Plan contains a Site Specific Requirement to:-“Ensure that the sewer systems including treatment works will be reinforced prior to the occupation and use of the housing”.
Thames Water recently stated:- “Having reviewed the application and the latest drainage proposals, it has been determined that the existing waste water infrastructure is sufficient to accommodate the proposed flows from this development”.
However, we are aware of one major fault in the sewage system serving this site and that is the Lightlands Lane pumping station which serves the whole of Cookham but is currently only protected by sandbags!
It failed totally in the 2014 floods and again earlier this year. In both floods sewage backed up in the network causing loss of a functioning sewage system and escape of raw sewage. Low lying properties between AL37 and the pumping station are particularly vulnerable to sewage flooding, and this can only be worsened by an additional 200 houses discharging into the sewer system upstream of them.
Regrettably Thames Water confirm that no improvements to the pumping station flood resilience are currently planned and they are reluctant to even discuss technical issues with us.
The Cookham Society has now requested that RBWM forcibly challenge the statement given by Thames Water and ensure that the Site Specific Requirement for the sewer system is fully addressed prior to further consideration of the AL37 application.
6th June 2022
APPLICATION 22/00343 - 25 DWELLINGS ON LAND EAST OF STRANDE PARK
The Cookham Society and many others have objected to this scheme for multiple reasons. Even RBWM’s flood advisors have recommended refusal of the scheme in its present form. We believe that this scheme should be totally withdrawn or very significantly modified by the developer before it is seriously considered for development.
May 2024
PROPOSED CREMATORIUM - THE SOCIETY RESPONDS STRONGLY
Architects Elegy Ltd have recently proposed building a crematorium at Long Lane, Cookham supposedly to serve the RBWM.
In a strongly worded letter to Elegy, the Society rejected the proposal, pointing out:-
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No need for a crematorium was identified in the recent Borough Local Plan
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Even if a need is proven, location in the furthest extremity of the Borough would be more than a little odd, encouraging yet more traffic movements in our area. We suggest a site near the new Oakley Green Cemetery between Maidenhead and Windsor would be more suitable.
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Site access on Long Lane is inadequate especially cars using satnav from the west will use the single track with passing places.
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The site is in a critically important part of the Green Belt where the narrow strip separating Cookham village from Maidenhead town is now under worrying pressure from nearby developments.
Finishing the letter, the Society requested Elegy not to waste our time and their own time in pursuing this inappropriate scheme any further
