Green light for £500m revamp
A new era beckoned for Maidenhead town centre as a £500 million scheme to redevelop the Nicholsons Centre got the go-ahead.
Developer Areli Real Estate presented its plans to the Royal Borough council to tear down the ageing shopping complex and replace it with more than 600 apartments, shops and offices.
Some members of the public dubbed the plans as ‘Maidhatten’ due to the number of towering buildings proposed with some as high as 25 storeys.
But, councillors approved the ambitious proposals and Areli described the decision as ‘a great result, not just for Maidenhead, but the entire UK’.
Disabled sports charity SportsAble closed its doors after 46 years of operating in Maidenhead.
Trustees from the Braywick Road-based organisation said they were ‘incredibly proud’ of what they had achieved over almost half a century.
The charity said it had been ‘struggling’ with its finances over the past 12 months, a situation which
was only worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Residents got a small taste of freedom from their latest national coronavirus lockdown.
Pupils returned to their classrooms at the beginning of the month although concerns remained about teachers going back to work despite not all being offered their COVID-19 vaccinations.
Golfers were also offered the chance to get back on the fairways as restrictions eased over organised outdoor
sport at the end of March.
Winter Hill Golf Club said tee-off times were booked throughout the day as people took the chance to let off some steam after weeks pent up indoors.
A long-running traffic saga began to unfold as the council started work on replacing the Oldfield Road roundabout with a signalcontrolled junction.
Queues piled up during peak travel times with frustrations only mounting over the coming weeks.