The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead is urging the public to help inform plans for a major development area, which will bring new homes, community facilities, infrastructure, employment space and improved public access to green space.

South West Maidenhead will meet, in a managed way, a significant proportion of the borough’s future housing needs, delivering a sustainable new urban extension as part of Maidenhead’s regeneration and guarding against speculative Green Belt development across the borough.With the Borough Local Plan independently assessed as sound and adopted at Full Council, the next step for South West Maidenhead is producing a site-specific Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), building upon the Local Plan policies to provide more detailed advice to guide the determination of future planning applications.

Covering parcels of land in multiple ownerships, the development area is allocated for around 2,600 homes, with 30% being affordable, along with new primary and secondary schools, a local centre, and employment space. The vision is also to open-up areas of green space for public access and improve walking and cycling connectivity for residents.

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Once finalised, the SPD will help to ensure development in the area, and the infrastructure needed to support it, happens in a coordinated and comprehensive way. It will provide further guidance on how the development will deliver a high quality and sustainable environment, that is well integrated with the wider area, addresses climate change and delivers significant amounts of affordable housing and family homes.

This initial stage of preparing the SPD involves exploring with the community key considerations and sharing some early thinking on different elements of what might be included in the document. Feedback will be assessed, along with the thoughts of technical and statutory stakeholders, to inform a draft SPD document scheduled for public consultation in the summer.

Councillor Phil Haseler, Cabinet member for planning, parking, highways and transport, said: "The development of the South West Maidenhead area is a great opportunity to create a place that we can all be proud of, and I am really hoping that local residents get involved in the planning for this important site.

"The SPD is the next stage in the process, building upon initial place-making work and adding more detailed guidance to the vision and policy already set in the Borough Local Plan. It will help ensure developers bring forward applications for high quality, coordinated and comprehensive development that is supported by required infrastructure, meets community needs and aspirations around housing, community facilities, connectivity, sustainability and the environment.

"We welcome constructive engagement to ensure we fully capture and understand the key considerations in drafting the SPD."