On Tuesday 18 April, 5.30pm to 8.50pm, we are planning to hold a candlelit vigil outside Maidenhead Town Hall, mourning the loss of 200 acres of Maidenhead’s green belt.
Tina Quadrino, chair of the Maidenhead Great Park group, explains:
“200 acres were taken out of Maidenhead’s green belt through the approval of the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead’s Borough Local Plan in February 2022. Over 3,000 new homes are planned for our precious green space, leading to the destruction of thousands of mature trees and wildlife habitats supporting dozens of protected species.
“Planning permission has just been granted for 199 homes on greenspace south of Manor Lane and Harvest Hill Road.
“This Berkeley Homes development, which will see the destruction of dozens of mature trees and a bat roost, is the first of a series of environmentally damaging developments planned on what was green belt land.
“Next we are expecting an outline planning application to come forward shortly for up to 2,000 new homes on the 132-acre council-owned Maidenhead Golf Course site.
“To highlight this loss of precious greenspace, trees and wildlife habitats, ahead of Earth Day we are holding a 200-minute candlelit vigil outside the town hall – one minute for every acre we are losing to the developer’s bulldozers.
“At a time when we face a climate emergency and biodiversity crisis, we ask everyone who wants to stand up for nature, trees and cleaner air in our town, to join us for a time during our vigil.”
Both the Berkeley Homes development at Manor Lane and Cala Homes Elizabeth Quarter development on Maidenhead Golf Course, fall under RBWM’s South West Maidenhead Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), which will see up to 2,600 new homes built.
In total, 15,948 new homes are planned for the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead from 2013 to 2033, and the majority are set to be built in Maidenhead.
For information about the South West Maidenhead SPD, go to https://www.rbwm.gov.uk/home/planning/planning-policy/planning-guidance/adopted-supplementary-planning-documents-spds/south-west-maidenhead-development-framework-spd
To support out campaign to save our greenspaces, go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/maidenhead-great-park
i am with you at your vigil in spirit (as I’ve since moved away from maidenhead and always loved walking and golfing there)…this tory council are so backward in approving the destruction of this precious greenbelt….NO ONE wants it apart from greedy developers and these ignorant tories – and I’ll bet any future homeowners will feel ashamed living there. let’s just pray that something will happen to stop this violation of our beautiful parklands so close to the town centre. it really is one of the most tranquil and gorgeous areas of countryside any town could hope for and they plan to tear it up! and what about the wildlife – the deers and all the other woodland animals? what sort of thoughtless idiots don’t care about these things??