Agenda item

MATTERS ARISING - UPDATE ON REGENERATION PROGRAMME

Barbara Richardson, Managing Director, RBWM Property Company Ltd, to provide an update to the Forum.

Minutes:

Councillor Coppinger stated the Landing Site had been cleared and a temporary car park established with a number of disabled parking bays. He was not certain when building works would start on that site. Consultations on the Nicholson’s Centre were being run and the submission of a planning application was some time away. The owners of the site want a flagship block in the centre of Maidenhead and are looking for something quite high as they feel the Town Centre would cope with 25 storeys. He added that Shanly were at the second stage of the Chapel Arches development and that was going well.

 

Regarding the redevelopment of Maidenhead Town Centre, Councillor Coppinger said it was unlikely that we would see big shopping centres like Reading and so JTP Architects were looking at creating a “village-feel” with small shops, bars, restaurants.

 

The Braywick Park Leisure Centre was coming along well, but work could not start on St Cloud Way until the centre was open and so works were unlikely to start there for another 9 months or so. A planning application for the private section of St Cloud Way had been received and that may include a large building.

 

The Chairman said she was concerned about the doctors and dentist surgeries on St Cloud Way and where patients using the Magnet car park would go during the development.  Councillor Coppinger said he had not seen all of the details but parking was to be considered. The Chairman acknowledged that the plans should be considered from a restricted mobility perspective, and she needed to voice that concern regarding parking before it was too late. Councillor Coppinger said it was on the agenda but he would take that point back to the planners. The Chairman added that it was not possible for some people with mobility issues to make it across the footbridge from the Sainsburys car park with a rollator type aide.

 

Councillor Coppinger explained that is was proposed that Reform Road stayed commercial, in which case medical facilities could be housed there as there was a lot more parking available. He had not seen the planning application yet but he was expecting one for two new blocks at the entrance to the station - one office block and one accommodation block - so will provide a good new entrance from the motorway, but this had not reached the planning stage yet.

 

There had been no movement on the Golf Course site yet. Councillor Stimson was leading on place-making and was looking at things like cycle paths. St Mark’s Hospital was developing the site and the CCG had no plans to remove the medical facility on the site, all services there currently would continue. A number of wards had been derelict for some time and office areas were not suitable for medical use. The office areas would become accommodation and the medical facility would stay. Councillor Coppinger had seen draft plans of a two-storey hospital block and it would increase services at the site compared to what was there at present.

 

The football pitch was due to be discussed on the week commencing the 16 December 2019 and a proposal had been made. The council will discuss that in 2020. The Chairman suggested that having a football pitch in the centre of Town was madness. Councillor Coppinger stated that he expected the site to be a mixed development and that whilst the football club had always wanted to stay in the town centre Braywick Park was still pretty much the centre of town.