‘Penitents’ join council meeting
Maidenhead: Extinction Rebellion back local protesters
Scores of protesters – joined by Extinction Rebellion – made their views clear to the council on Tuesday evening prior to a debate on air quality monitoring across the borough.
The Maidenhead Great Park group, whose petition went before councillors at Maidenhead Town Hall (see p3), demonstrated in front of the entrance.
Campaigners of all ages made speeches on the importance of measuring air quality, while senior councillors – predominantly those who voted in favour of the Borough Local Plan – were jeered when they looked down onto the protest from the council chamber.
It was the first appearance at a MGP protest by Extinction Rebellion (XR), a global protest group which has caused controversy in the past with its selfdescribed philosophy of nonviolent civil disobedience.
Following the protest,
XR’s Penitents – which are based on a medieval idea of atonement for transgressions against community – then entered the public gallery, casting a silent but looming presence over the first 15 minutes of proceedings
at Tuesday’s full council meeting.
A spokesperson for XR said: “The destruction of nature and the increased air pollution that will ensue when we are in a climate emergency is destroying our children’s futures.
“Local councillors have been presented with a petition from more than 2,100 residents calling to increase air pollution monitoring in the borough, and to halt its plans to develop the 132 acres of publicly owned woodlands and greenspace at Maidenhead Golf Course.
“Our green spaces remove air pollution and improve air quality which have health benefits as well as helping to reduce temperatures – all of which are vital given the climate emergency.
“Time has nearly run out to address the ecological crisis. The council must act
now to protect its residents and take measures to mitigate the effects of climate change.”
Councillor Phil Haseler, lead member for planning, said: “The evidence base for the BLP included a detailed strategic air quality study which identified that taking into account changes over time, such as the shift to electric vehicles and other measures to encourage sustainable travel, there would ultimately be no adverse impacts arising. As part of the planning application process, the BLP requires that developers should show how they have considered air quality impacts at the earliest stage possible. This may give rise to a need to implement development-specific mitigation measures to ensure that localised adverse air quality impacts do not occur in the short/medium term.
“We have in place a programme of measures to reduce the impact of emissions on local air quality. The council will continue our current air quality monitoring regime with the addition of three extra stations for monitoring PM10 and PM2.5 to provide data for the council to base air quality monitoring and actions moving forward.”