Delayed work on The Landing could start in the summer
Town centre: Delayed work on controversial construction could start in July
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A major development planned in Maidenhead has hit a stumbling block. The Landing has been met with some ‘land assembly issues’ but a meeting heard that construction on the 424-home development in the town centre is hoped to start in July.
Plans to build a 424-home, retail and office space development near Broadway have hit a stumbling block, but construction is hoped to start in July, a meeting learned last week.
Rumours have circulated that the Landing development has been suffering from funding issues, with fears raised that the project could be halted after a lack of construction activity.
The controversial development – from HUB and
Smedvig – was approved in 2019 and is one of the key components of Maidenhead’s extensive regeneration.
At a Maidenhead Town Forum meeting on Wednesday, it was revealed that there have been some ‘land assembly issues’, with two building owners on site not able to meet a suitable exit agreement with developers.
There will now be a CPO (compulsory purchase order) inquiry taking place on the week commencing June 28, lasting several days.
Managing director of the RBWM Property Company, Barbara Richardson, said: “If the developer and those two owners haven’t come to an agreement on compensation for their assets by that date, the inspector will then make a decision and award a compensation that they feel is the right compensation.
“Hopefully at the end of that public enquiry there will be a conclusion one way or another, and Smedvig and HUB are very keen to get started on site.
“But with the uncertainty around land ownership on those two elements, they have to go down this route in order for their investors to put their money forward.”
If matters are sorted, developers hope to start construction in July, Ms Richardson added.
On funding issue rumours, she said: “My understanding is that the funding is ready to go, they just need the outcome of the public enquiry before they can start on site.”
It was also announced at the meeting that plans to turn the old Magnet Leisure Centre into more than 400 apartments will go before the Windsor and Maidenhead council planning committee ‘some time in May’.
Elsewhere, recently-rejected plans to build 78 units (47 per cent affordable) in
Ray Mill Road East are also due to go to the committee during that month.
Councillors also learned at the meeting that construction on the Vicus Way multistorey car park is due to start ‘in the next few weeks’.