Supporting safe place for people to exercise

As founder of Cookham Running Club and one of the coaches to its 100-strong junior endurance squad, some of whom compete at national level, I have read with interest the opposition to plans by Mr Geoffrey

Copas to provide playing fields with space for pitches, a club house and parking in

Long Lane, Cookham. Surely it’s a no-brainer that we must snap up this opportunity?

Never has the issue of children’s health and fitness been more relevant – or steps proposed to improve it more pressing.

Previous surveys have shown more children in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead are driven to school in any other part of England suggesting activity levels could improve.

In 2015/16 17.9 per cent of children of reception age in the Royal Borough were overweight or obese, rising to 25.8 per cent in year six.

Following pandemic restrictions on physical activity, these statistics are only set to spiral.

With four primary schools, three nursery schools and a population that is likely to edge towards 7,000 in the coming census, Cookham is now large enough to be considered a small town and yet safe sports facilities for the youngsters who live here are almost non-existent.

Many of the roads in Cookham are poorly lit and, without pavements, too dangerous to run, walk or cycle on.

Efforts to improve road safety are often received with hostility – the recent installation of much-needed traffic control measures in the accident hotspot of Dean Lane in Cookham Dean which were dismantled because they were considered “too intrusive” for a ‘rural’ area being a case in point.

As a junior club, we are forced to de-camp either to another county for a floodlit track or in winter months to Maidenhead for safer streets on which to train with our youngsters. Both Mr Geoffrey Copas and Mr Tom Copas, of the Copas Partnership, have done more to support grass roots sport in recent months than many others.

Quietly and without fanfare they each allowed a series of cross country races to take place for free on their private land between successive lockdowns.

The Junior Performance Cross Series, the only league to take place in Covid-secure settings in the UK, attracted no fewer than eleven national age group champions – and national media accolade – to Cookham.

Places like Cookham need people like Mr Copas. His proposals for creating a safe sports environment should be supported by anyone with an interest in protecting our children’s health.

PETA BEE Cookham