Cabinet Member for Communities & Leisure

To note the report and:

i)               Reconsider the decision of Cabinet not to dispose of open space land at Braywick Park taken on 27th July 2023, taking into account representations made in two resident led petitions;

ii)              Reaffirm the original decision to stand;

iii)             Or, if Cabinet approve a change in decision, delegate responsibility to the Executive Director of Place in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Communities and Leisure to recommence the open space notice process in relation to a proposed disposal of the land at Braywick Park

AGREED: That Cabinet noted the report and reaffirmed their original decision to not dispose of the Open Space Land at Braywick Park, Maidenhead.

Councillor Werner, the Chair and Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Community Partnerships, Public Protection and Maidenhead, provided some background history as to why the Cabinet had chosen to review the decision that they had previously heard at a Cabinet meeting in July 2023. The decision that the Cabinet made was to not dispose of the land at Braywick Park, Maidenhead. He said that 2 different petitions had been launched since then by residents. One by Shay Bottomley, which sought for Cabinet to reconsider the July decision and one by Doug Watts, which sought to uphold the original decision respectively. Both lead petitioners had been invited to attend the meeting to address the Cabinet for five minutes each. Four additional speakers were also attending, with one of these being an extra public speaker slot above the usual three speakers, which was made at the Chair’s discretion. This was due to the significant public interest in the agenda item.

The Chair then invited Shay Bottomley (Lead Petitioner for ‘Move us or Lose us’) to address the Cabinet. He was followed by Doug Watts (Lead Petitioner for ‘Protect Open Space and Maidenhead United’), Jon Adams (Maidenhead United), John Scaife (Maidenhead Athletics Club), Steve Bough (Maidenhead Rugby Club) and Andrew Hill (Open Spaces campaigner), in that order. The Lead Petitioners were each given 5 minutes to address Cabinet, with the remaining speakers being given 3 minutes each.

The Chair thanked the registered speakers for each of their contributions and said that it was very valuable to gather the thoughts from a variety of persons from both sides, which were reflected in each petition. He then invited Elaine Browne, the Council’s Monitoring Officer and Deputy Director of Law and Governance to provide some historic information in terms of previous Cabinet and Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Panel discussions, stretching back as far as 2019.

Elaine Browne stated that on 19 December 2019, Cabinet approved in principle, the request for relocation of MUFC, subject to a valuation report required pursuant to s.123 of the Local Government Act 1972 (“the 2019 Decision”). The 2019 Decision was called in and was considered by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel on 15 January 2020. The Panel agreed to take no further action but requested that the next Cabinet Report in relation to MUFC’s request for relocation be brought to the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel for further scrutiny. On 24 November 2020 the proposed further Cabinet Report relating to the request for relocation of MUFC was considered by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel. The Panel noted that the comments from the meeting would be passed to Cabinet for consideration. Then on 26 November 2020, Cabinet further considered the request for relocation of MUFC following the commission of the s.123 Report confirming the valuation of the land at Braywick Park. The decision of Cabinet (“the 2020 Decision”) was to approve the release of the land at Braywick Park, subject to planning for £460,000 and delegated authority to the Executive Director of Place to undertake the Statutory procedure required under Section 123(2A) of the Local Government Act 1972 as required and negotiated a draft agreement for lease for 999 years at a peppercorn rent.

Elaine Browne then continued and said that on 28 April and 5 May 2022 an Open Space Notice was published in the Maidenhead Advertiser. Following the publication of the Open Space Notices, the Council received 22 objections to the disposal of the open space. On 4 April 2023 the Executive Director of Place, Andrew Durrant, made the delegated decision in relation to the Disposal of the Land following the Open Space Notice Procedure (“the Delegated Decision”). The Officer Decision Notice dated 4 April 2023 stated as follows:

“That the Executive Director of Place Services having due regard to the objections received in relation to the Public Open Space Disposal Notice and, subject to the granting of planning permission for a new stadium, agrees to proceed with the lease of the site.” On 20 April 2023 following the receipt of a call-in, the Place Overview and Scrutiny Panel considered the Delegated Decision and in accordance with their powers set out in the Council’s Constitution, the Panel referred the Delegated Decision back to the decision maker, Andrew Durrant, Executive Director of Place to re-make the decision, taking into account the concerns of the Panel. Part 5A of the Council’s Constitution (Scheme of Delegation to Officers) states at Paragraph 2.8: “Where any function is delegated to an officer, that officer may choose not to exercise that function and may, instead, refer a matter to the Council, the Cabinet, Committee, the relevant Director or relevant Portfolio Holder for decision as appropriate with the agreement of the appropriate Director.”

On 25 May 2023 the Executive Director of Place, Andrew Durrant made a decision not to exercise the delegation originally made by Cabinet on 26 November 2020, and referred back to him by Place Overview and Scrutiny Panel on 20 April 2023 (pursuant to Paragraph 2.8 of Part 5A of the Council’s Constitution). The Officer Decision Notice published on 25 May 2023 stated as follows: “The Executive Director of Place has decided that this decision shall be brought back to Cabinet to review the approach and process conducted regarding the Open Spaces Notice and Disposal of Land following previous Cabinet approval.” This then led to this being brought to Cabinet on 27 July 2023, following the Open Space Notice Procedure, and decided as follows: “That Cabinet considered the objections received in relation to the proposed disposal (by the grant of a lease) of land at Braywick Park, Maidenhead (“the Open Space”) following the statutory notification of the Council’s intention to dispose of the Open Space and having regard to the objections, confirmed that they did not agree to the disposal of the Open Space”

The Chair thanked Elaine Browne for providing a full history of the decision that the Cabinet had in front of them. The Chair then invited the Cabinet Member whose portfolio this fell under to comment.

Councillor Reynolds, Cabinet Member for Communities & Leisure, said that if the Cabinet were to change their decision it was important that all parties realised that there was a still a long way to go, with things such as planning permission still needing to be obtained later down the line. Over the past week, Cabinet Members had received more than around 70 emails from both sides. Some asking for the decision to be reversed and some asking for it to be upheld. This even included residents who at first glance you would have thought they would have been for the move such as football fans wanting the decision upheld or even passionate open space campaigners, who were actually in favour of the move. He also appreciated that the athletics club, certainly needed additional investment following numerous meetings with them. It was a fine balance between weighing up the amount of open space there was available and the impact on the environment compared to the sporting benefits that it would have.

The Chair then outlined some of the positives that would come if the Cabinet were to reverse their decision. These were:

•                A new stadium would be built.

•                The athletics club shall be provided with an upgrade.

•                New AstroTurf’s provided.

•                A new sports hall, along with various new facilities for the football club.

In terms of the negatives of the Cabinet reversing their decision, these included the following:

•                Walkers and runners would no longer have access to a large portion of the park.

•                Harm to the physical and mental wellbeing of some residents who use the open space.

•                The potential loss of a free-to-use running track.

•                No more access to a children’s playground.

•                The Borough Local Plan (BLP) identified the area as an important area of open space.

•                Restricted views due to the proposed height of the football club’s grounds.

Councillor Jones, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Finance, said that when making her decision in July 2023, she took into account a range of factors. This included many positives, but also various negative implications too including the impact on biodiversity. She said that she could not see any new information before her at the meeting that would allow her to change her mind from the decision she came to in July 2023. Councillor Jones then proposed a motion to reaffirm the original Cabinet decision, which was recommendation ii). 

Councillor K Davies, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Biodiversity and Windsor Town Council said that she tended to agree with the comments that had been made by Councillor Jones. This included the harm to biodiversity that could come from the decision to overturn the original Cabinet decision that was made in July 2023. She then seconded the motion that had been put forward by Councillor Jones to reaffirm the original Cabinet decision.

AGREED: That Cabinet noted the report and reaffirmed their original decision to not dispose of the Open Space Land at Braywick Park, Maidenhead.