Building outside town is less sustainable

Last week at council there were many people concerned about the golf club as you reported.

Can I try to put things into perspective? Firstly, the golf course has been part of the Borough Local plan since the very beginning, and it is only relatively recently that concerns have been raised.

Every authority is required by law to have a current plan which shows how they will meet the needs of the growing population in terms of housing and all the associated ser vices.

Our current plan is out of date and has little value.

Housing numbers are set by using a government formula.

This formula does change from time to time.

We must allow for additional housing because sites such as Bray Film Studios do not proceed with their approved housing.

We need more housing, especially family homes and critically affordable properties. Eighty-five per cent of the borough is greenbelt so whatever we do we have to use some of it for housing.

We can’t keep building high rise in town centres especially as the high costs mean no houses and very few affordable proper ties.

We also need to always consider climate change and our commitment to become carbon neutral.

Building 4,000 houses in the middle of the greenbelt would make it impossible to become carbon neutral – 4,000 +car trips every day, new roads, miles of new piping to connect to existing services.

We thought long and hard about the golf course.

It is situated close to the railway station and close to the town centre, so it is the most sustainable greenbelt in the whole borough.

Except for a single footpath it is not

available to the public.

It will be developed to provide the essential affordable housing and a new school.

It will have a green and blue infrastructure created so that everyone can take full advantage of it.

We are not alone in this.

Our adjoining boroughs have the same demands and are having to make the same hard decisions.

We are now in the very final stages of adopting the plan.

The Inspector has listened carefully to the views of residents and groups about numbers and sites, and she has decided that the plan is sound.

Were we to decide not to adopt the plan one of two things will happen.

The most likely is that the plan would be adopted on our behalf by the Inspectorate, and we would have no say in it.

If that did not happen then it would be a free for all and our greenbelt would be decimated with developments in all the wrong places.

Cllr DAVID COPPINGER Cabinet member for planning,

environmental services and Maidenhead