PROTESTERS gathered for a third time to take a stand against the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead's local plan to build new homes on green belt land.

Maidenhead Great Park, a group campaigning to protect Maidenhead golf course from development, held a demonstration outside the town hall on February 8.

Many supporters came along to hear speakers from the group talk about the campaign at 6pm, ahead of the council’s meeting at the Holiday Inn at 7pm.

Slough Observer: The protesters gathered to hear speakers talk about the campaign ahead of the council's meeting later that evening. Picture: Laura ScardarellaThe protesters gathered to hear speakers talk about the campaign ahead of the council's meeting later that evening. Picture: Laura Scardarella

Tina Quadrino, one of the leading members of Maidenhead Great Park, said if the borough local plan is adopted “the fight doesn't stop here”.

She said: “We're in a climate emergency and this area is already massively overdeveloped.

“We will seek legal advice and then we'll be looking at every single application that goes through in relation to the golf course and we will be putting in all of our objections.

“We don't need any more houses here really, what we do need is social housing rather than big houses for everybody because those houses on the golf course are never going to be affordable for anyone.”

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Slough Observer: "For fox sake, hands off our green belt": One of the many signs held up at the protest. Picture: Laura Scardarella"For fox sake, hands off our green belt": One of the many signs held up at the protest. Picture: Laura Scardarella

Ms Quadrino said there was a mixed turnout at the demonstration, compared to having more than 300 attendees at their last protest in December.

She added: “We planned to have this demonstration before the council scheduled their meeting.

“I think we would have had an awful lot more people here if the council meeting wasn’t at the Holiday Inn as quite a few have gone to the meeting tonight.”

Within the local plan, the 132-acre golf course is set to have more than 2,000 homes built on the land.

The council bought the golf course’s lease for nearly £16m last year.

Slough Observer: Crowds of supporters listened to speakers outside the town hall. Picture: Laura ScardarellaCrowds of supporters listened to speakers outside the town hall. Picture: Laura Scardarella

One of the protests speakers, Tim Wigley, of Windsor, spoke about air quality and the impact of it on all the development planned for Maidenhead.

“Air quality in Maidenhead is bad now, the whole of the town is an air quality management area so building thousands of new homes is going to add to that air pollution probe and the council are currently not doing anything about it.”

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Mr Wigley said: “If the local plan is adopted, I shall do my damndest to get air quality and pollution on the agenda of the council because they’re completely ineffectual.”