Council acts on local views at Cox Green

Constructive feedback from local people has resulted in the Royal Borough making a number of changes to its plans for a new Holyport Manor Special School and community sports and leisure facilities at Cox Green.

The amendments are a direct result of ongoing discussions with community representatives and feedback from residents, following the council's detailed planning application for the new school off Cannon Lane and outline application for proposed community sports and leisure facilities adjacent to the existing school sports hall and community centre, with access from Highfield Lane. 

The changes include:

• an amendment to the shape of the proposed leisure centre building, allowing Cox Green Community Association to continue to hold its May Fair and other special events where they have always done on the site
• the provision of a right-turn lane into the school on Cannon Lane for traffic coming from the Woodlands Park direction
• the provision of a 'keep clear' area on Cannon Lane at the entrance to the school to help keep traffic on the move and reduce queuing
• the long-standing flooding issue under the railway bridge at Cannon Lane will be considerably improved, thanks to new soakaways.

The planning application for the new school has already been amended to incorporate a change of layout for the sports pitches, which will mean no reduction in use.

Cllr Eileen Quick, lead member for children's services, said she believed the changes demonstrated the council's willingness to listen to residents' views and take action on constructive suggestions.

She said:  "We have this unique opportunity to provide a state-of-the-art school on the existing education campus at Cox Green and we have already amended the planning application to take account of local people's views.  The current planning process has brought forward even more helpful feedback from both the school and Cox Green communities and, while the future of the project now rests with the development control panel, I believe we have a truly exciting chance to make a real difference for young people in a new school that will offer everything that is good in 21st century education."

Cllr Jesse Grey, lead member for leisure and culture, thanked people from Cox Green for their input.  He said:  "We made it clear from the start that we wanted to hear the views of local residents and organisations and we have made a significant change to the shape of the proposed leisure centre building as a result.  Community input is a vital part of drawing up our plans and will continue as we move forward to the more detailed planning stage."

Both proposals – for the school and community facilities – are dependent on the decision of Maidenhead development control (DC) panel when it meets at 7pm on Thursday 5 June.  The community facilities are also subject to the council's normal budget process, and to ensure the proposal can attract the required level of grant funding from external bodies such as Sport England and the Football Foundation.

Anyone wishing to speak at the DC meeting must register their intention with the council beforehand. Normally the applicant and objectors are each allocated three minutes to make their submissions but, given the significance of this application, the chairman Cllr Derek Wilson has decided to extend the time allocated to both sides.

If large numbers register their request to speak, the council's advice to residents is to appoint nominated spokespeople who can cover all the issues they wish to raise.  In this way the speaking time allowed can be used in the most effective way.

Anyone who wishes to register a request to speak at the panel meeting should contact Michael Kiely, democratic services officer, on 01628 796560 no later than 5pm on Tuesday June 3.