Plans in place to make Harvest Hill Road safer

MAIDENHEAD: Plans are in place to improve Harvest Hill Road as the council continues its preparations to accommodate 2,600 homes in the vicinity of the ‘very dangerous’ route.

About 2,000 homes are set to be built on Maidenhead Golf Course in the foreseeable future, with Harvest Hill serving as the main access point for what will be the new estate.

Currently, the road is used primarily for traffic travelling between Braywick and Cox Green.

However, the middle section of Harvest Hill is narrow, and does not feature a safe pedestrian walkway nor dedicated cycle lane.

In recent years, there have been calls for the council to improve safety for those not travelling by motor vehicle.

At Monday’s disability and inclusion forum, planning policy manager for the Royal Borough Ian Motuel gave an update on the Borough Local Plan and the area the council calls South West Maidenhead (Maidenhead Golf Course and the surrounding areas).

Mr Motuel confirmed that a supplementary planning document providing additional guidelines for the area could be approved by cabinet in December as developers draw up plans for housing on the site.

Chair of the forum, Angela Clark, questioned where the access points would be, to which Mr Motuel confirmed that ‘the main access points’ would be on Harvest Hill with a northward and southward-facing entry route.

“Is there any proposal to improve Harvest Hill Road, because it’s a very dangerous road?” asked Ms Clark.

In response, Mr Motuel confirmed there would be improvements, and said: “One of the things the council is looking at is providing a dedicated separate cycling route along most of that road. It can’t be achieved through the entire stretch because there is some housing on the eastern side that would prevent that.”

He added: “Certainly, for the majority of the road we would be looking at a separate pedestrian walking route.”