At this week’s council meeting (8 February), when the environmentally damaging Borough Local Plan was formally adopted by our council, Cllr Geoff Hill explained why the developments it sanctions will damage the health of local people.
“I am supportive of a Borough Local Plan based on rational housing projections that seeks to utilise brownfield sites and keeps the green belt green. Sadly, I can’t support this plan.
“The backdrop is one of hopelessly inflated housing need. The Plan allows for 15,940 dwellings, 250 per cent of housing need as detailed by the Office of National Statics in July 2020 – that being only 6,382 dwellings. To date, we already have built, or committed to build, 6,955 new dwellings.
“So the need has already been mostly fulfilled.
“The Office of National Statistics published data that shows births at their lowest rate for 40 years, and says this position will only become exacerbated.
“On this basis alone, the plan is fundamentally flawed and shows that a dramatic slow-down in the pace of construction is required.
“RBWM has declared a Climate Emergency.
“It makes no sense to build on green belt, particularly 2,600 homes on Maidenhead Golf Club and Harvest Hill Rd, destroying two stunning natural habitats. The result will be massive CO2 emissions, and chaos on our roads, both during and after construction.
“We will lose the last Green Lung in Maidenhead, the last major carbon sink, a major water retention zone, pollutant adsorption system and major oxygen factory.
“We’ll be replacing this with the persistent release of greenhouse gases and pollutants from thousands of car journeys and homes each day.
“There was a time when a Conservative would ‘Die in a Ditch’ for a blade of grass. Sadly not now Mr Mayor. I’m struggling to see any real Conservatives across the floor!
“My most important point this evening is this:
“Bray Parish is an area of poor Air Quality, as detailed in a recent report. Air Quality is also poor in Maidenhead on Braywick Road and around the station. Maidenhead Golf Club and Harvest Hill lie between the two.
“We are at risk of creating a massive area of poor air quality running all the way from Maidenhead into Bray.
“This would be foolhardy in the extreme!
“Nitrogen dioxide levels recorded in these areas exceed World Health Organisation guidelines for health.
“Elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide can cause damage to the human respiratory tract and increase a person’s vulnerability to, and the severity of, respiratory infections and asthma.
“High levels of nitrogen dioxide are also harmful to vegetation, damaging foliage, decreasing growth and reducing crop yields.
“I have to ask Council, as it’s the children that stand to suffer most, “What price a child’s lungs?”.
“This is about Money, it’s not about housing, it’s not about affordable housing. All these arguments are a smoke and mirrors and spin, spin, spin and more spin!
“The vision document for the development shows a build density of 80 to 145 dwellings per hectare for up to 80 per cent of the site, resulting in building heights of four to seven storeys of the Conservative’s favourite – flats!
“This is a high-density development optimised for profit.
“What do the Conservative not understand about a petition signed by 4,448 residents, three protests outside the Town Hall with hundreds of residents, their children and numerous public speakers?
“I believe we are about to witness another abuse of power in this chamber, with a complete disregard for resident’s views, their health, and their children’s health.
“Let’s see if the Conservatives have the moral courage to vote against this Borough Local Plan or Abstain from it?”
Whilst I am completely with on the same side as the residents opposing building all over this wonderful green lung at the centre of Maidenhead, I do call for a level of understanding that when official, non-political independent scrutiny takes place of a BLP, and the national inspector finds that it meets the requirements, we do have to roll with those blows.
Just because the BLP has been approved, nothing hereafter is approved. Every nitty gritty of every plan has to go through the planning process, and I can see that to be the major time when we can put into reverse what is proposed and the timescale to do that in. So, building in the flood plain will hit the block by the EA. The requirements to protect the wildlife on the golf course will be almost too onerous – it may happen, but again it will take time. I might be a golf club member, but I have to agree currently that it does not meet the requirements of the local residents for a public space. It’s possible to envisage a central 60ace plot that could remain a major green public space , which all could access along the way. When I was a child, it seemed like sacrilege to build on Norden Farm, a great green swathe on the edge of town. Now it is no longer a farm, but the centre for St Edmund Campion school, Altwood school and of course all the houses either side of Wooten Way. The established community spoke witheringly of the rabbit hutches and council flats that no-one would want to live in, yet my aunt and uncle were able to buy their first terrace in Stamford Way. And the old farm is our much loved arts centre.
Thanks for your comments James. When Norden Farm was developed, we weren’t in a climate emergency. It’s a very different world today and we face mass species extinctions, a massive increase in flood risk and major increase in already dangerous levels of air pollution. Also, the scale of the development planned at the golf course is enormous and will condemn our town to become a massive building site for the next 10 plus years. The cost to the people of Maidenhead in terms of their health, air pollution, stress and day to day lives is going to be enormous.
We’ve run out of time and must protect the places for nature and trees now before its too late. As you say, every planning application will be scruitinised, but in the meantime we are seeking legal advice to see if there’s a case for declaring the BLP unsound.
If someone found a rare and in need of protecting species at the Golf course, would that add to SAVING this green space for the environment for a rare species ?
If the document that showed the land was a gift from say Lord Desborough and that it was for the PEOPLE and not for the council, would that have legal grounds for stopping the building ?
I believe there was 6 weeks from the demo date to sort out a case !
Keep working at it children of our community … its your lungs and your childrens lungs !!
Why does development affect the health of local people?
What health problems are most prone to occur in Maidenhead residents?