Viewpoint: Fragile Cookham green gap must not be compromised

Fragile green gap must not be compromised

It is difficult to conceive how damaging the unwanted crematorium development would be to our local landscape.

This is not merely a problem for Cookham, but also for Maidenhead, whose residents on the north side of the town will be confronted with its impact on their views towards Cookham Dean and their enjoyment of the paths and lanes in the vicinity, including Stanley Spencer’s ‘Bridle Path’.

The need for such a facility in this area is marginal at best and it is likely that much of its use will be taken up with so-called ‘Direct Cremations’, as extensively advertised on television, for the benefit of people who may live miles away from here.

The fragile gap between Cookham and Maidenhead is an important local asset for both communities and we must not allow it to be compromised by commercial interests seeking to exploit it for their own gains.

TOM DENNIFORD

President – The Cookham Society

Please seal repairs

It’s nice to have the potholes mended promptly but please can they be sealed otherwise it's a complete waste of time and money.

MARY-LOU KELLAWAY

Cookham Parish Councillor

Concerned by changes to Travelodge building

I support development and investment in Maidenhead.

Our town centre needs businesses to thrive, jobs to grow, and buildings to be safe.

Fire safety remediation at the Travelodge on King Street is both necessary and welcomed.

However, this application goes further than safety works. It proposes a clear change to the building’s appearance.

A feature green wall, previously promoted as a positive environmental feature, is to be removed with no meaningful replacement.

That represents a net loss of greening in a prominent town centre location.

There is also concern that an existing advertising board, which has been the subject of resident complaints for years, could become a permanent feature as part of the new façade.

That would add unnecessary visual clutter to a key gateway site.

Supporting development does not mean lowering standards.

Gateway buildings must be well designed, durable, and add to the townscape, not detract from it.

Calling this application into committee is about balance.

Encouraging investment while applying proper scrutiny when the design is not right.

Good development should move quickly. Poor design should be challenged.

Councillor GURCH SINGH

Lib Dem, St Mary’s

Dangerous precedent should be challenged

I recently took time to watch the hearing, before a licensing panel sub-committee, that considered the renewal of the sexual entertainment venue (SEV) licence for the business formerly known as The Honeypot.

This licence has a chequered history.

It was unanimously refused renewal by a sub-committee on May 17, 2024 only for that decision to be reversed by officers without any referral back to another meeting of elected members.

That panel was made up of two Liberal Democrats and one Conservative, i.e. politically balanced, as required under the constitution ‘whenever possible’.

However, the latest panel was made up solely of Liberal Democrats. Officers have asserted the ‘whenever possible’ loophole as a justification for this significant departure from constitutional procedure.

Their argument was that only councillors trained for SEV hearings could be chosen.

It is claimed that such training was arranged and delivered by an external barrister, paid for by you and me.

However, only Liberal Democrat councillors were invited, making an unbalanced panel an inevitability.

These facts, taken together, could suggest to a reasonable person that RBWM never intended this panel to be balanced and that its decision was pre-emptively predetermined by the political leadership of the council, in cahoots with the paid service.

Using the same technique, officers could contrive a situation in which only Liberal Democrat councillors could sit on planning, overview and scrutiny and who knows, perhaps even full council itself.

I hope all your readers can see that the dangerous precedent set here must be challenged.

Whether such a challenge will be forthcoming remains to be seen but even if it isn’t, residents should know that the renewal of one of only two SEVs licences in the whole Borough has been so badly bungled that it has cost, to date, at least six years of licence revenue, possibly more. That’s more than £30,000!

Plus we now must pay for this barrister’s time!

For a cash-strapped council, we sure can splurge. I wonder if those same Liberal Democrats know how to fix this particular mess?

JOHN BALDWIN

Boyn Hill

W In response, the Royal Borough said: “The council routinely commissions specialist legal training for members serving on regulatory panels, including licensing, to ensure they are fully equipped to carry out their statutory duties.

“Ahead of the sexual entertainment venue (SEV) licensing hearing on January 12, training was provided to all councillors who sat on the licensing and public space protection order (PSPO) subcommittee.

“Attendance was determined by members’ availability, not political affiliation.

“Until recently, the panel included representation from outside the Liberal Democrat group; however, changes in councillors’ political affiliation – after the panel was appointed for this application – altered the composition at the most recent meeting.

“Panels are required to include members from multiple political groups where possible, and they must be quorate and properly constituted, which was the case for this meeting. 

“The council remains committed to ensuring that all regulatory decisions are made impartially, transparently, and in accordance with the law.”

Socialism, Lib Dems,

and the blame game

The arrival of the Maidenhead Herald on my doormat last week took me back 70 years to my time as a morning paper boy, delivering the now defunct, socialist Daily Herald (first published in 1912, until it died a natural death in 1964).

Reading beyond the title, I realised that it was published by the Lib Dems.

Then it made sense, as they have appeared to be rather more socialist than liberal since their formation following the breakdown of the SDP/Liberal alliance in 1988.

(The local Liberals were so upset that they fielded their own candidate in the 1997 general election).

This helps us understand why both parties, rooted in socialism – Labour nationally and their offspring Lib Dems locally – keep blaming the Conservatives for their current travails.

They both appear to have forgotten that in the recent national and local elections, the people were discontented with the Conservatives and voted them out, hoping that by voting the socialists into power, matters would improve; we are still
waiting.

For us Maidonians, the monument to the last administration is the modernised end of the High Street, following the demolition of the old cinema eyesore, and its replacement by a thriving riverside area, reconnecting the Town with the River Thames.

Since then, absolutely nothing.

Yours in both sorrow and anger.

CHARLES HOLLINGSWORTH

Maidenhead

For-gotten grammar?

I have considerable sympathy for the Anyanwu family for their loss and the way they want to remember Sean. It's just your report which reads ‘Sean died having gotten into difficulties…’

Are we in the USA now?

I don't expect this sort of English from a newspaper of your reputation.

Come on Maidenhead Advertiser, you gotta do better than that.

IAN SMITH

Belmont Crescent

Maidenhead

A marsupial mystery

I hope one of your readers can help me identify a venue and time to see a film much talked about on the radio, when the nominations were revealed the other day for this year’s Academy Awards.

Although it stars Leonardo DiCaprio and gained many nominations, I have been unable to find a cinema showing the curiously-titled, ‘Wombat Laughter – a Mother’.

JAY FLYNN

Moneyrow Green

Holyport