Apathy could land us another term of Tories

Will apathy win the Conservative council four more years in power?

There’s not a person I’ve spoken to in the last few weeks and months who hasn’t expressed dismay at either the plan to concrete over Maidenhead Golf Club, or the dire parking situation in the town, or how the construction of the Towers radically changes the nature of Maidenhead, or just the sheer scale of development in and around the town centre – including almost 2,000 homes to meet Slough’s unmet housing need.

And now almost 300 new homes on greenbelt land in Cookham.

But will that dismay translate into votes for opposition parties at the council elections on May 4?

Against the widely expected backdrop of a disaster for the Conservatives nationally, will the Royal Borough buck the trend and re-elect a Conservative-led council, albeit on a narrow majority?

As a former Conservative voter, I sincerely hope not. But I fear it may.

This council needs to be thrown out on its ear, banished to the opposition for a heavily extended period of time.

But when you hear people say, as I did last week, that as much as we might not want them, Maidenhead would never eject the Conservatives, it makes me worry what we might wake up to on May 5.

But the facts are clear. If there’s sufficient motivation, it won’t take much to change things.

At the last elections in 2019 and on a 38.1 per cent turnout, out of their 54 seats the Conservatives lost 31. They have a majority of just four.

All it takes is a trip to a polling station, photographic ID and a pen.

Opposition parties have pledged to pause and re-examine the Borough Local Plan and given the current direction of travel in Maidenhead, we urgently need to give them the chance to do so.

It’s not about being against development. It’s about being in favour of the right development.

But if you’re thinking – things will never change, Maidenhead is and will remain Conservative so there’s not much point it’s clear what will happen.

The mantra of build, build, build, anywhere and everywhere will continue.

The golf course land will be a building site for fifteen years, with all the environmental damage and traffic disruption that will entail, and the glittering prize of thousands more cars on the roads for absolutely everyone to contend with.

And Maidenhead’s journey to resembling