Maidenhead & Windsor

Politicians from all parties joined forces last week to condemn government housing targets that threaten the Windsor and Maidenhead Royal Borough's Green Belt.

At Tuesday's Windsor and Maidenhead council meeting, members agreed a motion strongly opposing a Planning Inspectorate report instructing the Royal Borough to conduct a review of the Green Belt as part of a requirement to build a minimum of 6,920 dwellings during the next 20 years.

Cllr Derek Wilson, lead member for Windsor and Maidenhead planning and housing, is now writing to Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Hazel Blears to request that the government reviews the South East Plan panel's instruction for this level of additional housing in the Royal Borough.

Cllr Wilson said: "I am deeply disappointed and shocked at the Planning Inspectorate's report. It has ignored the wishes of our residents, of whom 94% replying to the consultation wanted to preserve our current Green Belt. The inspector's view was that the borough had not done enough to allocate sites for future housing and employment growth and that it should review its Green Belt boundaries."

He added: "The inspector's decision appears to be a direct attack on the Green Belt because, even with a housing constraint policy in place, we have more than met government housing targets during the past six years and there are already planning permissions in place to meet the increased targets for the next five years."

Cllr Wilson was echoing concerns raised by Windsor and Maidenhead Cllr Vicky Howes, chairman of the planning and environment overview and scrutiny panel, who submitted a motion deploring the government's housing targets.

Cllr Howes said: "There is no denying we need new homes, especially affordable housing. With 80% of the borough being Green Belt plus the flood plain and Crown land, available land for development is extremely limited. Previously this meant we had to accept a higher density of development in urban areas in order to protect the Green Belt.

"Now the government is telling us that as well as high density urban development we must also review our Green Belt boundaries in order to meet the targets they are foisting on us. This is totally unacceptable."

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead