Angry residents in uproar at plan

Cookham's Parish Council's community room was overflowing as about 100 locals packed in, leaving many standing as numbers vastly exceeded the average attendance.

They were there to speak out over the Cookham plan, and in particular, the proposed road through Poundfield.

Half an hour was dedicated to an open forum on the issue, twice the amount usually allowed for public members to ask questions and give their views.

However, the strength of opinion was such that that this period overran.

Rattled councillors were barraged with questions about why the plans seemed to go in direct contradiction to the results of a public consultation questionnaire intended to give residents a chance to shape the Cookham plan.

Comments such as "people are really, really concerned" and "we're scared. We're terrified!" summed up the feelings of anxiety among the residents.

Chairman, Cllr Pat Woodbridge, who had to repeatedly request the public not to interrupt, stressed that the plan was not the council's proposal and that they have had less than a month to go through an enormous number of volumes.

He also emphasised that it was purely a set of recommendations, it would be a long-term process over many years and that further consultation will take place.

Councillors Martin Coker and Derek Fry appeared to alleviate some of the residents' fear with their responses.

Cllr Fry warned against any "knee-jerk reaction" and said that while concerns were more than understandable it was "unfair to pounce on councillors at this stage.

You've got to understand it's early days."

In what had been a very heated debate, residents made clear that their anger was not intended to be directed personally at the councillors, but they were far from happy about what they had seen of the plans so far.

The next chance for the public to debate the issue with the council will be at the council's annual general meeting on March 11.