Fiona Allen spoke at our last demonstration outside the Town Hall on 8 February. She outlined the problems Maidenhead will experience as a result of the over-development planned for our town, and the cost to our health and wellbeing of living in a town which will become a massive construction site for at last the next 10 years.
“One of the reasons why I, my friends and my family love living here is because Maidenhead is a relatively small market town, with lots of green and blue space around it.
“I understand the need for new housing, but development should be sensitive, focused around brownfield sites and not on green belt and greenspace. This is vitally important for our environment and for the wellbeing of our community.
Maidenhead is taking most of the Borough’s development
“Under the council’s Borough Local Plan, Maidenhead is taking a disproportionate amount of development over the 20 year plan timescale – which runs to 2033. We will take three-quarters of planned development for the borough, and we’ll lose a big chunk of our green belt with the plans to build on the golf course.
“Maidenhead has already seen over 6,600 new flats and houses built or given planning since 2013 and the council has argued that Maidenhead is the only suitable place for tall buildings in the Borough, so it’s only us that has to suffer tower blocks!
“A number of tower blocks are planned as part of the golf course development – up the hill from the town centre at the station end, which will be visually very intrusive.
“Maidenhead is in the Thames Valley, which many argue is already over developed. We already have very busy roads and airports. In our council’s own Climate and environment strategy, they point out that the Thames Valley is already seriously water stressed. This means that at times of low rainfall, which will be exacerbated by climate change, there may not be enough water for our population.
Over development will lead to more air pollution
“Another impact of over development is air pollution. EU safe levels of air pollutants are already regularly exceeded along Frascati Way in our town centre.
“Maidenhead Golf course acts as a green lung for our town, absorbing fine particulate matter. If the plans to build on the golf course go ahead, not only will our town see much more traffic and congestion, but we’ll have lost our green lung – a double whammy.
Over development will also lead to more flooding
“At the moment the golf course and other greenspaces absorb huge amounts of rainfall. But once it has been concereted over with flats, houses and infrastructure, that natural sponge will have gone and we’ll see more flooding in our town centre – especially as climate change is leading to more heavy rain storms.
“The cost of mitigating flooding, asthma and other lung conditions are enormous – surely far greater than the £200 million windfall our council will receive by developing the golf course?
Our waterways will be more polluted
“Sewage is also an issue. Much of our waste already has to be transported to Slough as our own sewage works can’t cope. The recent focus on the amount of sewage that regularly goes into our rivers is appalling – the whole system is creaking at the seams. Over developing Maidenhead will inevitably lead to more pollution for our local waterways.
Surely we’ve had enough development in Maidenhead now? Our town is morphing into something altogether different and our environment is set to be permanently damaged by the further loss of our green belt at the golf course.
We will see more congestion, more pollution, more flooding, less wildlife, less water storage and less greenspace.
“A healthy environment leads to a healthy economy. If the golf course were to become a great park for everyone, it would be a massive asset to our town, a place for wildlife and for people. We need a new Borough Local plan that puts our local environment and the health of our local community first.”
Please help us to get this damaging plan stopped!
Our Go Fund Me campaign has been set up to raise money for the legal and environmental expertise we need to ensure this vital green space is protected for our community and for future generations https://www.gofundme.com/f/maidenhead-great-park
Rubbish collection from such a large development will hugely increase as well – our services are already very streched.
Such huge developments can only cause social divisions
Thanks for your thoughts Janet – you make a good point.
Would you mind if we add your email address to a list we are creating for people to keep in touch with about our campaign?
It’s terrible seeing my hometown being slowly razed to the ground and replaced with gargantuan tower blocks. That lovely little row of houses that were opposite the entrance to the Nicholsons car park all gone and forgotten now. There have been large office blocks vacant within the Nicholsons centre for years – why can’t they redevelop those and leave the green spaces alone? The centre of Maidenhead is dying and that needs to be addressed before more tower blocks are thrown up!