CAMPAIGNERS are to make their voices heard outside the town hall to protest “out of date” plans for thousands of homes that will “destroy” Maidenhead’s green lung.

As the Royal Borough’s local plan enters its final stage of examination, residents and environmental activists from Maidenhead Great Park will hold a demonstration outside the council’s main office on November 23, during a full council meeting.

Protesters will “peacefully” demonstrate with placards that they do not want the borough local plan (BLP) to be adopted, nor do they want to see Maidenhead golf course – dubbed the green lung of the town – to have over 2,000 homes built on it.

The greenspace is earmarked to have family homes, including affordable homes, along with community facilities such as a primary school, secondary school, and publicly accessible green space.

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Last month, golf club members overwhelmingly voted in favour to accept the council’s £15.95m offer to surrender their lease.

The site is allocated within the BLP 2013-2033, which has been in the works for a few years.

Campaign group organiser Tina Quadrino slammed the BLP as “not fit for purpose” and “out of date”. She said the original housing need in the borough, which was about 12,000 homes, has now almost halved – making it “inappropriate” to build on the greenspace.

 

Protestors are set to gather next month in front of the town hall

Protesters are set to gather next month in front of the town hall

 

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, she said: “The council itself has declared a climate emergency as has the government. There’s no real justification for destroying this green space and adding even more pollutants and damaging effects to our town especially when the housing needs are half from what they were when the BLP was first drafted.

“Everywhere you look, we’re talking about the climate emergency, the fact that we need to stop using so much concrete. Everything needs to be considered with that environmental filter in mind and the borough local plan didn’t because it was started so many years ago.”

However, Cllr David Coppinger (Con: Bray), lead member for planning, said it was “totally incorrect” to say the future housing project has halved as the BLP’s inspector “challenged” the borough’s housing need and found it “sound”.

A warning was made that the Secretary of State would intervene and “force” the council to adopt the plan if it was changed at a later stage.

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He said: “We have a desperate need for family homes, especially affordable ones. The golf club is the most sustainable site in the Borough as it is adjacent to Maidenhead and allows us to open this green space to everyone not just members of a club. The alternative would be to use green belt in the open countryside with pressure on the infrastructure with a car being required for every journey.”

A council spokesperson said: “The emerging BLP has been shaped and updated over more than a decade using the latest data, legislation and feedback from a series of public consultations, to ensure it meets the borough’s housing needs as required by national legislation.

“It currently remains with the independent planning inspector while she considers public representations on her proposed main modifications, and the date for full council adopting the plan will be set once her report has been received by the council.”