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Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council claim that their vision for the Royal Borough is to have sustainable communities where everyone can thrive in a safe and healthy environment, take an active part in decisions and continue to learn and develop throughout their lives.

They want to see respect for the natural environment and the distinctiveness of our towns and villages. balanced against the needs of our communities for new homes, shops, jobs and leisure opportunities.

Sounds good??? Achievable??? Discuss!!

The delayed delivery is apparently because the printers made a mistake or two in the original form so a reprint was required.

Should be out around mid-February.

How do we stop central government interfering with our local planning decisions?

It won't be the first time that we have complained on this forum about the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister playing into the hands of property developers.

Remember the loss in 2006 of five perfectly sound houses in Clarence Road to make room for over 50 flats! There are other similar battles taking place in Parsonage Lane and Hatch Lane where a couple of properties become many.

There have been significant disasters in earlier decades, not least Ward Royal where an entire community was displaced from their (now very sought after) terraced streets.

Seems too as though Windsor's attractive, spacious and well built 1930s properties, with their extensive gardens, will fall like dominoes to the property developer 'improving' the area!

Borough Announcement 3rd July 2007

Royal Borough planning strategy under the microscope

The strategy that will guide all future development in the Royal Borough has been subjected to intense public scrutiny to ensure it measures up to the needs and challenges of the next 20 years.

Residents, employers, developers and amenity groups attended the three-week Examination in Public of the councils new Local Development Framework (LDF) Core Strategy, held from June 12 to 27 in the Town Hall and in St. Marys Church Hall, Maidenhead.

The examination was the climax of three years work, started in March 2004, to capture the views of residents and employers in the strategy which will be the cornerstone of the new LDF (replacing current Local Plan).

Presided over by Robert Neil Parry, from the Planning Inspectorate, the examination featured lively discussions on subjects such as the growth strategy for the borough; housing affordability, numbers and distribution; protecting the historic and natural environment; flooding; the River Thames and the Green Belt.

Cllr Derek Wilson, lead member for planning, attended the examination and has thanked everyone involved in the preparation of the core strategy for their constructive input throughout the lengthy process.

He said: The core strategy is the basis for all future development in the borough and is the key to ensuring that residents and businesses, both now and in the future, can continue to enjoy a high quality environment.

The demands for further building in our borough will be a constant challenge over the next 20 years and beyond and it is imperative that we have a robust LDF to help guide development in the most sustainable way for the benefit of everyone.

Following examination in public, the inspector will consider all views and produce his report, expected around the end of August this year. This will set out the inspectors findings and will recommend whether the council can forge ahead with the next steps to adopt the core strategy as a basis for planning decisions and other more detailed work. The inspectors report will be available from the councils web site at www.rbwm.gov.uk

Royal Borough Announcement

21/09/2007

The Royal Borough has been dealt a 'bitter blow' that threatens its strong cross-party defence of the Green Belt and its stance against unacceptably high levels of housing development.

The major setback comes in a report from the Planning Inspectorate rejecting six of the 26 policies in the draft core strategy of the Local Development Framework (LDF). All of the policies judged to be 'unsound' relate to how the council will fit future housing and employment opportunities into existing urban areas and all are based on exhaustive consultation with residents who have made it clear they do not want their Green Belt turned into development sites.

Cllr Derek Wilson, lead member for planning and housing, said: "The inspector has made it crystal clear that he is instructing the council to conduct a review of the Green Belt and telling us that we need to take another look at designating specific sites for development if we are to accommodate what the government believes we need for housing and employment in the years ahead. The inspector's view is that sticking to existing boundaries is not in the best interests of the local community. It's good to know that the inspector's view on local land allocation is more important than those of councillors who know the area and represent the expressed wishes of residents!

"This report is a bitter blow for the council and our community. The core strategy is the foundation of the new LDF, drafted in a way that reflects what local people have told us through the detailed consultation processes. Their message has come across loud and clear that we must fit development into existing urban areas.

"Now we are effectively told by the planning inspector to ignore the consultation we have done with our local residents."

The report into the draft core strategy follows detailed scrutiny including a public examination earlier this year and the planning inspector's view is that the council's policies on housing and employment development:

don't take opportunities for using the Green Belt into account
depend too much on the uncertain supply of windfall sites (sites that become available unexpectedly)
don't identify actual locations or areas for housing and employment growth and
set too high thresholds for affordable housing.
Cllr Wilson said the report demonstrated the difficulties and frustrations of trying to produce the core strategy against a background of shifting government goalposts and uncertainties about the South East Plan.

He explained: "We have been constantly juggling with changes to government planning policy advice over the past few years, including changes to the amount of detail the core strategy should contain, particularly on the location of housing and a shift away from taking account of windfall sites. Little wonder the LDF process across England is in disarray!"

Cllr Wilson said that since 2004, when the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act came into force, there have been only 18 core strategy examinations out of almost 400 local planning authorities in England. While 13 were found to be sound, the majority will have to be reviewed in light of subsequent regional guidance, particularly in the South East where only three core strategies have been successfully completed. A further 10 strategies were directed to be withdrawn by the Secretary of State before reaching examination and numerous local authorities are delaying their LDFs because of the uncertainties in the process.

Despite the fact that 20 of the 26 polices in the Royal Borough's core strategy are judged to be 'sound', the entire document now has to be withdrawn so that more work and further community consultation can be carried out. There will also need to be another public inquiry, all adding to further delay and additional costs.

Cllr Wilson paid tribute to the council officers involved in the preparation of the strategy and added: "The inspector's verdict is no reflection on their professionalism and hard work, but rather a judgement on the government's inconsistency. The fact that 20 of the policies were found to be sound demonstrates that the majority of the LDF is on course and we believe that much of background work and evidence will count next time."

The council had until September 21 to check the facts in the inspector's report. Any points arising from this check will be sent to the Planning Inspectorate, after which the final report will be issued by the inspectorate and the council will, in due course, make it available to the public.