The Royal Borough has adopted a key planning document that will support effective delivery of much-needed new homes, community facilities, employment space and improved public access to green space at South West Maidenhead.
South West Maidenhead is allocated for development in the Borough Local Plan, with a vision to provide a sustainable, high-quality and distinctive place where people will want to live and enjoy living, that is well integrated into the existing community and supported by the right on-site community facilities and infrastructure.
The council would like to thank everyone who participated in the extensive community engagement and public consultation, held earlier this year, to help finalise the area’s Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), which Cabinet voted to adopt last night.
An SPD is a site-specific planning document, providing more guidance to help implement the policies and vision already set in the Borough Local Plan. It is not, in itself, a planning application or policy, but it will guide developers in shaping detailed planning applications and the council in deciding those applications.
With the SPD area containing land in multiple ownerships, the SPD will also help ensure development, and the infrastructure needed to support it, happens in a coordinated and comprehensive way, by setting out the infrastructure requirements and how that infrastructure should be funded and delivered.
The SPD contains an illustrative framework masterplan and design principles, setting out how the development will deliver a high quality, sustainable and coherent environment that is well integrated within the wider area, addresses climate change and delivers significant amounts of affordable housing and family homes.
Following the public consultation, a number of changes have been reflected in the finalised document, including around housing mix and affordable housing, building heights, schools, playing pitches, infrastructure costs and delivery, and biodiversity net gain.
The SPD reaffirms important commitments to deliver a sustainable development, continuing to seek net carbon zero development and 10 per cent biodiversity net gain, and ensuring provision of a strong green infrastructure network, a highly connected green spine running north-south, retention of Rushington Copse and as many other trees as practically possible, along with planting new trees.
Councillor Phil Haseler, Cabinet Member for Planning, Parking, Highways & Transport, said: “South West Maidenhead will meet, in a managed way, a significant proportion of our future housing needs and other needs, creating a sustainable, high-quality and distinctive place, while guarding against speculative development.
“An SPD is not a planning application – detailed designs and other detail will only come forward at the planning application stage. However, it will help ensure developers bring forward applications for high quality, coordinated and comprehensive development that’s supported by the right infrastructure and responds to aspirations around community needs, connectivity and sustainability and the environment.
“We would like to thank everyone who has participated in this process and helped to crystallise thinking around the key considerations. The council has very carefully considered and responded to all the valuable public comments received and made changes to the SPD as a result.”
This decision by Cabinet is subject to the standard call-in period. To read the Cabinet report and the SPD, please see the links on this webpage.