Maidenhead golf course development approved
The council has given outline planning permission for 1500 homes to be built
‘We’re between a rock and a hard place’ a councillor said – as planning permission was approved for 1,500 homes on Maidenhead Golf Course.
Councillors at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead debated whether to grant outline approval for the scheme by Cala Homes at a planning panel on Thursday, February 13.
The council has received almost 200 letters of objection to the scheme, and some residents spoke against it at the panel meeting.
George Midgley said: “Has the council considered the impact on Maidenhead of adding a development the size of a large village on the golf course together will all the other massive developments in the town centre?”
Tina Quadrino, who has led a campaign against the development, said it would mean the loss of ‘valuable woodland habitats’ on the site.
She said the plans did not leave enough space between development and the ancient Rushington Copse. And she said the community should be allowed to buy the copse, with site having recently been deemed an ‘asset of community value’.
But Leona Hannify, speaking on behalf of Cala Homes, said the development would benefit Maidenhead.
She said: “We acknowledge the concerns raised by some members of the community. We also appreciate that change particularly on this scale can be challenging.”
But she added: “We firmly believe that this development will bring significant benefits to Maidenhead.”
These included new housing, a primary and secondary school, community facilities and shops and a ‘major destination play space’ in the centre of the development.
She also said Rushington Copse would be protected. And she said the development would lead to greater public access, as the golf course is currently private with only one right of way.
Royal Borough planning officers recommended that councillors vote to approve the development. They said councillors could only make their decision based on planning rules – and noted that the council had already earmarked the site for housing, in a decision upheld after a legal challenge.
And they said that new national planning policy meant developments could only be refused if they caused ‘significant and demonstrable’ harms that outweighed the benefits.
They allayed councillors’ concerns about the impact on traffic, the woodlands and the sewage network, with conditions and mitigations in place.
Councillor Jodie Grove proposed that the panel vote to approve the scheme. She said if the land hadn’t already been earmarked for development ‘I would have been fighting this tooth and nail’. But she added: “That ship has sailed. That decision has been made.”
Councillor Mark Howard, who seconded her proposal, said: “We’re between a rock and a hard place. There’s very little room for us to move.”
Councillors on the panel voted to approve it unanimously. However as permission was granted in ‘outline’ more detailed plans for each stage of the development will still need to be approved by councillors before work can begin.