THE ruling Conservatives were accused of ‘destroying’ Maidenhead’s “last green lung” as golf course development debate continues to rage on.
A majority of golf club members voted to accept the local authority’s £15.95m and extension to leave date where over 2,000 homes are earmarked to be built on the 132-acre green open space.
While the Conservatives rejoiced over the deal, citing it will deliver family homes and 40 per cent affordable housing, opposition councillors branded the development as “environmental vandalism”.
READ MORE: Development at Maidenhead golf course branded "environmental vandalism"
Speaking at the full council meeting on Tuesday, September 28, Cllr Geoff Hill (The Borough First: Oldfield) accused the Tories of “bullying” golf club members by “threatening” them with a compulsory purchase order, which forces landowners to sell up if it obstructs a regeneration project.
He said: “The building on that golf club, on that green space and green lung, will destroy the last green lung in Maidenhead. It will kill countless species [and] cut down hundreds upon hundreds of trees.”
Cllr Hill also cited the site will generate more air pollution from the increased traffic it will generate.
The lead member for planning, Cllr David Coppinger (Con: Bray) said Cllr Hill ‘lacked understanding’, citing the golf course was the “best” to deliver the ‘much-needed’ family home and affordable housing while meeting their climate change strategy.
If the council couldn’t build on the site, Cllr Coppinger believed they would have to build over 2,000 homes on other greenbelt sites away from the town centre, leading to more people driving.
Cllr Hill said it was a “deception” affordable housing cannot be built elsewhere, saying it can be built on brownfield sites.
But the council leader, Cllr Andrew Johnson (Con: Hurley & Walthams) said they made a “very fair” and “reasonable” offer to the golf club and was voted overwhelmingly for.
He said: “The suggestion we can secure around 2,000 homes on brownfield land is just not sustainable. That’s more flats, that’s more densification.”
READ MORE: Maidenhead Golf Club accepts council's revised £15.95m offer
He added: “I hear time and time again concern about the over-densification of Maidenhead.
“But I also now start to worry having heard what I presume as a policy by leading figures of the opposition, that all brownfield sites will be, under their administration, fair game for development.”
A planning application to build on the land is still yet to come forward and will need to be determined by a planning panel in due course.
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