Workshop will influence vision for Maidenhead

People from a wide range of business, professional and community groups – including representatives from the Royal Borough's youth forum – have been invited to take part in a stakeholder workshop that will influence the future regeneration of Maidenhead.

The workshop on Monday June 16 will be facilitated by urban designers DTZ, recently appointed to work with PRoM and the Royal Borough, and will give stakeholder groups the opportunity to come forward with ideas to help develop a vision for the future of the town centre.

Invitations have gone to more than 60 groups and organisations – including churches, police, fire and health services, community groups such as the chamber of commerce and civic society, leisure, retail and transport operators, architects and estate agents, sports clubs, statutory agencies, campaign groups, housing associations, charities, local newspapers and special interest groups.  Maidenhead MP Theresa May has also been invited to attend.

Bob Dulson, PRoM chairman, said:  "In the past there has been considerable opportunity for the public at large to have a say on what they want to see for Maidenhead in the future.  This workshop is taking consultation a stage further by asking specific stakeholders for their contributions at a time when we are driving forward progress towards a vision for the town."

Organisations which have not received invitations to the stakeholder workshop but would like to attend should email prom@rbwm.gov.uk

In the meantime members of PRoM, along with councillors and representatives from the wider Maidenhead community, have been given an insight into ING Real Estate's initial thoughts on the opportunity for developing the Broadway/King St triangle.

At a meeting last month Tim Webb, development manager at ING Real Estate, introduced ING as an organisation and showed how they could work towards a mixed use, retail-led viable scheme in Maidenhead town centre which would take into account the Royal Borough's and ProM's aspirations for the town.

The presentation included examples of cities and towns around the world where ING had carried out successful developments.  This was followed by a wide-ranging discussion on how to take things forward in Maidenhead, including the preparation of a formal development brief to guide any future planning application.

Bob Dulson said: "Although this was our first discussion it was difficult not to be excited by ING's proposition and their ideas on how this key area of Maidenhead town centre could be redeveloped. There is obviously a considerable amount of work ahead but we all enjoyed meeting Tim Webb and his colleagues and we are pleased to be working with ING to take forward this project as part of our broader plan."

Tim Webb said: 'We are pleased and encouraged by the reaction to our initial ideas for the scheme.  We are looking forward to working with the council and the people of Maidenhead to create an inspirational and viable scheme which will regenerate the town centre."

Notes:

About PRoM
PRoM is a cross party group created by the council with an independent chairman charged with finding agreed solutions for town centre regeneration, including the creation of a vision and masterplan and a strategy for achieving it.  It will make recommendations to the Royal Borough's cabinet.

With a majority of lay members, PRoM represents a wide cross section of interests in the town.  Also contributing are council officers with relevant expertise, such as transport and planning.

About ING Real Estate
ING Real Estate is an integrated real estate group focused on the development, financing and investment management of quality real estate in all major global markets with a total portfolio of over EUR 100 billion. ING Real Estate ranks among the world's leading real estate companies and serves a broad client base from offices in 21 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia.

ING Real Estate is part of ING Group, a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, insurance and asset management to over 60 million private, corporate and institutional clients in more than 50 countries.