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
25th October 2025
What's Going On in the Field behind The Pound?
We have had lots of people asking what is going on in the field behind the Pound which is part of the Village Conservation Area and also a designated Green Space.
So, work began a couple of weeks ago to erect a 'Hay Barn'. This came as a surprise to many people including RBWM Planning who refused 2023 application 23/01985/AGDET stating that prior approval to build was required, so it was not granted. There is some dispute over whether the applicant received the decision in time. Now while RBWM Planning decide what to do, the huge structure is almost complete!
In the last few days a second structure has appeared. This one is to replace the existing dilapidated Cattle Barn and was covered by 2024 application 24/02128/FULL which was approved. It appears to have been moved forward from the original footprint, however the Society has checked the Google Earth 2021 and can confirm it is in the correct position.
Before the old Cattle Barn was installed in the centre of this field it offered a beautiful view towards Cookham Village. The combined structures are unsightly and mostly block that view. Our HISTORY page is dedicated to the past 50 years of Poundfield history. It includes old photos and videos which we believe illustrate why it was, and still is, so important to the village.
6th September 2025
24/02904/FULL - THE CREMATORIUM AT LOWER MOUNT FARM
The Blot On The Landscape has been Withdrawn
Brilliant news. This is a sensible decision and all the campaigning and letter writing over the last 18 months has finally paid off. It was a ridiculous application that was totally unsuitable to this location.
19 July 2025
THE COOKHAM NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN HAS BEEN APPROVED
The CNP - which is a planning document specific to Cookham – achieved a majority endorsement in the referendum on 17th July 2025. It will help strengthen the planning system to resist unwanted development in our area. The turnout was nearly 25%. The Cookham Society Committee backed the adoption of the CNP and thanks go to Bill Perry and The Parish Council for driving forward this important plan.
The Cookham Village Design Statement (VDS) was jointly sponsored by the Cookham Society and the Parish Council. Since its formal adoption as a Supplementary Planning Document in 2013, it has done much to help protect our lovely village. However, a Neighbourhood Plan has the advantage of having much more weight in the determination of planning issues than a VDS. Fortunately, the VDS is incorporated as an Appendix in the CNP and consequently its role will continue and be strengthened.
Where the area of a Neighbourhood Plan is the same as that of a Parish, the Plan must be initiated and led by the Parish Council. Accordingly, the Parish Council set up a working party in 2020 to create a draft and specialist consultants were appointed to guide the process. The Society (and other local groups) were invited by the Parish to have a seat on the working party committee, and we have been fully involved throughout the five years of consultation, discussion, drafting and redrafting of the document. The result is a Plan that complies with all the legal planning requirements and it has been approved by an external examiner.
Legal planning restraints significantly limit what can be included in a Plan. This means that some issues the working party wanted included have been excluded and the wording of other sections of the document are not as the working party initially wanted. Despite these limitations, the Society believes that adoption of the Plan will help us protect the village from inappropriate development.
Approval of the CNP brings an additional benefit in its wake. Once adopted, it entitles the Parish to a take a significantly larger proportion of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) which is paid by developers to RBWM when they carry out building projects. This would mean substantially more money for the Parish to use on important Cookham projects.
The referendum version of the Plan along with other information and back- up documents can be found on the Parish website: https://cookham-pc.gov.uk/neighbourhood-plan/.
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
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.