A BRIDGE could be erected over the A308(M) for residents to access the proposed 2,600 homes and employment site in South West Maidenhead.
The council held three online sessions focusing on community needs, connectivity, sustainability, and the environment to gather views from locals on the South West Maidenhead site, which is earmarked for 2,600 homes, with 30 per cent affordable housing, primary and secondary schools, a local centre, employment space, and green space.
This will help inform the site-specific supplementary planning document (SPD) to provide further guidance and information on planning applications.
The site, which is allocated within the now adopted borough local plan, compromises the Maidenhead golf course, land south of Harvest Hill Road, the Triangle site – which is land south of the A308(M) – and Braywick Park, which is earmarked to be a public park, a special needs school, a wildlife zone, and sports hub.
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On April 6, the second session focused on connectivity. It looked at how the proposed sites will connect with each other and with the town to encourage walking, cycling, and public transport rather than occupiers being too reliant on the private car.
Ian Manktelow, principal planning policy officer, said they are currently looking at adding a bridge from the housing site to the triangle, which is earmarked for employment, and vice versa for residents to safely cross over the A308(M).
He said: “We’re doing some more work on that at the moment to generally look at the feasibility and desirability of that whether that is the best option or whether the other options that might be better from the point of view of ensuring particularly that the employment site is well connected into other parts of the town.
“That’s some work we want to complete before we publish the draft SPD in the summer.”
Within the housing site, a ‘north-south green spine’ will be added in the middle of the site to provide a link to the town centre and on-site facilities to not only encourage more walking and cycling but also create different types of open spaces along its length.
Mr Manktelow also said new wildlife connections could also be created.
A new east-west corridor on Harvest Hill Road could cut through the housing site to promote further ‘behavioural change’ to walking and cycling.
In addition, the council is working on its local cycling and walking infrastructure plan that sets out plans to improve and add new effective routes in key areas across the Royal Borough, including in South West Maidenhead.
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Existing bus routes could be reconfigured to be diverted to the proposed site. New bus stops could be added to the site.
This critical infrastructure will be funded by a community infrastructure levy – which is a tariff on housing development – funds from the developer via section 106 agreement, grants, and investments.
Elsewhere in the meeting, residents were told the 2,600 homes site will be split equally between houses and flats.
Each area within the site will have different character areas. For example, the northern part of the golf course site ‘is likely to be’ predominantly apartments, which could be between four to six-storeys in height.
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