We are delighted to announce that we’ve so far raised over £11,000 for the legal and ecological advice needed to inform the next steps of our campaign to protect the publicly owned parkland leased to Maidenhead Golf Course from development.
We now have enough money for the first round of legal advice to determine whether or not we have a case to take the Borough Local Plan to Judicial Review.
Tina Quadrino, chair of the Maidenhead Great Park campaign group, explains:
“Many people in Maidenhead are utterly dismayed by the adoption of the environmentally damaging Borough Local Plan at RBWM’s Council Meeting on 8 February. Since then, we have been contacted by other individuals and groups campaigning against the destruction of their local greenspace, sanctioned by this terrible plan.
“The Borough Local Plan will see thousands more flats and houses built in our town over the next 10 years, including 2,000 on green belt land at Maidenhead Golf Course and 330 at Spencer’s Farm.
“As well as losing vital green space, trees and wildlife habitats, this massive over-development, added to the construction work underway for the big Landing development in our town centre, will cause significant disruption to everyone in the Maidenhead area.
“Over a decade of intensive construction work will mean much more traffic, noise, stress, flooding and air pollution for the people of Maidenhead and surrounding villages. And there will be increasing pressure on local infrastructure and health services.
“So much development has already taken place in our small town centre, with close to 7,000 new homes built or given planning permission since 2013. Many of these are flats, with residents desperately needing access to greenspace for their physical and mental health and wellbeing.
“We have been raising money for a legal assessment of the plan to determine if we have a case to take it to Judicial Review.
“We have been delighted with the response from our supporters and we have so far raised over £11,000 through our Go Fund Me campaign. We now have enough money for the first round of legal advice, but we are continuing to raise money for further campaign steps, including ecology surveys, leaflets and social media campaigns.
“We have appointed a solicitor and the necessary information has now been collated and sent to a Barrister to determine whether or not we have a case to take the Borough Local Plan to Judicial Review. We expect to hear back from the Barrister within the next two weeks.
“We’d like thank everyone who has supported our campaign so far.”
To support the Maidenhead Great Park’s campaign to protect greenspace in Maidenhead, go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/maidenhead-great-park
Well done, please keep going !
We hope that green space will not decrease and the steps taken to maintain parks and public spaces will continue to run smoothly.