More oversight is needed to ensure a looming project for almost 200 homes in Cookham is given adequate sewage infrastructure, parish councillors say.

Discussions over delivery of Bellway Homes’ Cannondown Road plans, including a planning condition regarding sewage, have been ongoing since the Royal Borough gave approval.

Cookham parish councillors fear that without stricter planning controls and RBWM control, a repeat of sewage spills caused by 2024’s flooding could be exacerbated by more homes.

“It’s a bad enough problem already, and we don’t want to make it any worse,” Councillor Jacqui Edwards said at a Cookham Parish Council meeting on Tuesday (April 8).

Maidenhead development management panel voted to approve Bellway’s 199-home plans in December, during a heated meeting which saw the council draw criticism for its handling of the debate.

At the Cookham Parish Council planning committee meeting, an update regarding the development and discussions with RBWM planning officers was given by Cllr Edwards.

Cllr Edwards said she had asked for clarification over concerns about the strength of wording in a sewage planning condition that had been discussed at the Maidenhead meeting.

‘The wording of the condition mentions capacity – which is how big the pipes are – but it doesn’t mention anything about what happens when there’s flooding and when the sewage pumping station fails,’ she said.

Thames Water’s Lightlands Lane sewage pumping station was knocked out of action during last year’s extreme flooding, dubbed the worst in a decade.

This was due to problems with a flooded substation and underwater electrical equipment at the pumping station.