The Localism Act introduces statutory neighbourhood planning in England.
Maidenhead Neighbourhood Forum submitted a Neighbourhood Plan for the Maidenhead neighbourhood area to the Council. The Plan sets out the local community’s aspirations for the Plan area over the period to 2039 and establishes policies in relation to land use and development.
It sets out the Vision for the Plan area and planning policies to guide future development to help determine planning applications in the area.
Following consultation, the Plan was subject to an examination by an independent examiner. Following receipt of the examiner’s report and recommendations, at its meeting on Tuesday 27 January 2026 the Council’s Cabinet agreed to accept the examiner’s recommended modifications to the Plan and issue a Decision Statement and progress the Plan to a referendum.
The Council has now issued its Decision Statement.
The Referendum will take place on Thursday 19 March 2026. The Referendum will cover the same area as the neighbourhood area that the Maidenhead Neighbourhood Plan covers. This consists of the following electoral wards in Maidenhead: Belmont, Boyn Hill, Furze Platt, Oldfield, Pinkneys Green, Riverside, St Mary’s.
Further information about the Referendum is included in the Information Statement and Information for Voters below, together with other important documents the Council’s has to provide at this stage.
You can also see further information on the By-Elections and Referendums 2025-2026 webpage which will go live on Thursday 12 February 2026.
The Neighbourhood Plan has been updated to incorporate the recommended modifications. The Referendum version of the Plan is available below:
All the documents above are also available to view at the following locations during their normal opening hours:
The Submission Plan was subject to an independent examination. Mr Andrew Mead BSc (Hons), MRTPI, MIQ was appointed as the examiner.
The examiner has now issued his report on the Examination and concluded that, subject to the policy modifications set out in his report, the Plan meets the Basic Conditions and recommended that, once modified, it should proceed to referendum.
During the examination process, the examiner issued a letter covering procedural matters relating to the examination, as well as Examiner Questions to the Maidenhead Neighbourhood Forum and the Council.
The Maidenhead Neighbourhood Forum issued a response to the Examiner's questions and the Council also issued a response. The Maidenhead Neighbourhood Forum and the Council also agreed a Position Statement in relation to a number of issues.
All comments received in response to the Regulation 16 Consultation were sent to the Examiner for his consideration as part of the examination process. You can view the comments we received on the consultation portal.
Please note that the Examiner only assessed whether the plan meets the basic conditions and other relevant legal requirements as laid out in the Localism Act 2011.
The Maidenhead Neighbourhood Plan 2024-2039 Submission Stage (Regulation 16) Consultation Version has been subject to consultation. The consultation closed on Tuesday 14 October 2025.
You can review the Maidenhead Neighbourhood Plan 2024-2039: Submission Version and supporting documents on our consultation portal and at the following links:
Supporting documents
Paper copies of the Maidenhead Neighbourhood Plan 2024-2039: Submission Version and the main supporting documents can also be viewed at the following locations during their usual opening hours:
What happened prior to the formal Regulation 16 consultation on the Submission Version of the Plan?
In October 2022 the Council consulted on an application by the Maidenhead Neighbourhood Forum to designated the whole of the “unparished” area of Maidenhead as a Neighbourhood Area and to also formally designate the neighbourhood forum for the purposes of preparing a neighbourhood plan for Maidenhead.
The Council subsequently agreed these applications and formally designated the neighbourhood area and forum on 21 December 2022.
The Maidenhead Neighbourhood Area is shown on the map below:
You can see details of the application and supporting documents via the following links:
The Maidenhead Neighbourhood Forum then prepared a first draft of the Maidenhead Neighbourhood Plan and consulted on that draft plan (the Regulation 14 plan) from Monday 11 November 2024 to Sunday 22 December 2024.
The Forum then considered the representations received as part of that consultation and updated the Neighbourhood Plan as appropriate, prior to submitting the Plan to the Council for this formal Regulation 16 consultation stage.
Further information on neighbourhood planning:
Should you have any queries about this consultation on the Maidenhead Neighbourhood Plan do not hesitate to contact us by emailing planning.consultation@rbwm.gov.uk.