Green light for ditch to stop incursions

Holyport: Permission granted to build ditch on A330 Ascot Road

Plans to construct a ditch to help prevent incursions onto The Green in Holyport were unanimously approved on Wednesday, January 22.

The proposal, submitted by Bray Parish Council (BPC) in May, was discussed at a Maidenhead Area Development Management Panel at Maidenhead Town Hall.

The ditches, which will run either side of the A330 Ascot Road, is BPC’s response to repeated traveller incursions on The Green.

The original proposal also included the con

Planning permission has been granted to build a ditch along the A330 Ascot Road. The plans are aimed at preventing incursion onto The Green in Holyport.

struction of a bund, formed using the earth dug from the ditch, creating a double barrier.

However, following concerns raised over flooding and visual amenity, the application has been amended to leave the bund.

The ditches will be set back from the road by just under one metre and will be 600 millimetres (mm) wide and 450mm deep.

Bray Parish councillor Derek Wilson spoke in favour of the application at the meeting and explained that in 2018 there were three traveller incursions and four in 2019.

“We’ve suffered over the years from traveller incursions onto this particular land,” he said.

“Some of which managed to be removed by the police under the particular section notice, but equally there have been times that we’ve had to inform the bailiffs to actually remove them.”

He said the bailiffs have cost BPC £4,290, which equates to three per cent in the annual precept [the amount that covers the parish council’s outgoings].

The development was deemed to constitute appropriate development in the greenbelt. The panel agreed that, provided the ditches are suitably planted, there would no adverse impact on the character and appearance of the conservation area or the locality in general.