Golf course concerns date back for years

Where has Councillor David Coppinger been for the last five years?

In The Advertiser (December 2) he wrote: “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.”

This is unbelievably inaccurate!

I would remind Councillor Coppinger that many many concerns have been raised regarding this controversial development over several years.

These include the following:

1. In 2014 Theresa May commented on The Borough Local Plan Preferred Options Consultation stating that there would be considerable concern at development on Maidenhead Golf Course, particularly in the numbers (nearly 1,000 dwellings) in the consultation document.

2. In March 2017, Cllr Derek Wilson, lead member for planning and David Coppinger’s predecessor, attended a large public meeting at SportsAble where residents expressed their dismay and concerns with the proposal in the Borough Local Plan to build 2,000 homes on the golf course. This was four-and-a-half years ago, I would not describe this as ‘relatively recently’.

3.Over the last four years, I with many other residents have attended numerous meetings with RBWM councillors expressing our serious concerns over this development. Furthermore, hundreds of residents submitted detailed written responses to the two Borough Local Plan consultations objecting to development on the golf course.

4. Councillor Coppinger’s latest letter suggests that he has not been paying attention to the concerns of residents.

If you need confirmation of the depth of feeling you only have to look at the front page of the Advertiser (November 25) with pictures of hundreds of residents, including many young families, peacefully demonstrating outside the Town Hall.

5. What is astonishing is that the Conservatives are the majority party in the Royal Borough and only a few weeks ago at the Conservative Party conference, Boris Johnson stated that building on the greenbelt should not take place.

This development is all about the money that the council stands to receive from developers.

During the examination of the Borough Local Plan with the Government-appointed inspector, she suggested that that the number of Objectively Assessed Housing Needs has now been reduced and that RBWM could amend its housing need downward which they declined.

Their aim was to keep housing numbers as high as possible to justify the huge development on the golf course.

The council’s financial deficit can be repaired. If this wonderful green space is developed, it will be lost forever.

We need to preserve this site for the benefit of future generations.

GEORGE MIDGLEY

Walker Road Maidenhead