Cookham is more than just about Poundfield

Your readers will be well aware that the proposed but withdrawn Cookham Plan, drawn up under the auspices of the Cookham Parish Council, has caused major local controversy.

And yet readers would be forgiven for believing that the only contentious recommendation was for transport and housing development on Poundfield.

Your own paper correctly reported the local hostility to these proposals expressed at the parish council AGM recently and only last week you reported that the Steering Committee was disbanded in the wake of local pressure.

However, Cookham is not just about Poundfield and your readers need to be aware that there were several other recommendations in the plan which also attracted substantial local opposition.

The plan recommended changes to car parking on the Moor and especially for the building of a new access road from Sutton Road to the rear of Holy Trinity School.

These are equally contentious proposals and although villagers have petitioned parish councillors and spoken out at both parish council and Cookham Society meetings on both these recommendations, they could be forgiven for believing that their views seem to have been largely ignored.

If local politics is to be respected, it should be made quite clear that the wider views of Cookham are taken on board and should not be seen to be just a 'Poundfield Protection Society’ as it is currently perceived by many.

JOHN WAGSTAFFE
Sutton Close
Cookham