Datchet locals outraged as nearly 50 trees are cut down

Datchet locals have said they have been living next to an “industrial trading estate” over the years and expressed their anger at how the small habitat that once housed nesting birds and protected bats have disappeared.

The plans, which were submitted in June, involve building six two-bedroom apartments with 13 car parking spaces on land to the rear of 27 and 29 Slough Road.

Despite the plans recently being submitted by applicant Arnold Ward from planning firm Setplan, up to 45 trees were chopped down and the land cleared from March 2020 to May 2021. Three concrete trucks also showed up at the site last year.

Trucks carrying concrete arrived at the site on 3 May 2022

Mr Ward said the scheme has been “carefully designed” that will meet the borough’s local housing need while improving flood resilience and biodiversity.

Nearby resident Graham Buckland said the land clearance was conducted in “the most ruthless and unsocial way possible,” by using bonfires to dispose of the waste without consideration to the neighbours.

He said the council had to step in to put a stop to the bonfires. According to neighbour Peter Stacey, the fire brigade was called on 13 March 2020, to put out an unsupervised fire.

Up to 45 trees sat on this site that provided a home to bats and nesting birds

Speaking at a Datchet parish council meeting on Monday 11 July, Mr Buckland also expressed concern over flooding as the site sits on a very high chance of flooding plain and was heavily flooded back in the major 2014 flood event.

He said: “I am convinced that if this development is allowed, without those natural defences [the trees] and with the infrastructure of the buildings, houses on the Slough Road will be underwater.”

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Meanwhile, Mr Stacey said the land clearance was “absolutely disgraceful,” and believed the tree removal was a “rouse” to submit a planning application to say there are no trees on the land.

Datchet councillor Ewan Larcombe said: “I am upset because here we are accepting global warming and climate change, and the need to plant millions more trees. The trees [at the site] have been felled because they have no protection. Somebody somewhere needs to get their act together.”

The land was cleared to make way for six flats, although a planning application has just been submitted

Datchet parish council lodged an objection on numerous grounds, primarily over flooding, overdevelopment, highway safety, and the design not in keeping with the area.

Mr Ward said they will provide a sustainable drainage system flood attenuation swale on the western part of the site, which will moderate flood water flows and create new wildlife habitats.

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He also said: “It is human nature to oppose change to the surroundings.  However, their own homes were constructed in the 1970s by a developer for profit on virgin land.  It seems unfair to pull up the drawbridge now that they are accommodated in a comfortable home located at a highly sustainable and desirable location.”

The council is yet to decide on the application but if officers are minded to approve, Datchet councillor Gary Muir (Con) ‘called in’ the scheme to be decided by members sitting on the Windsor and Ascot development management panel.