Maidenhead & Windsor

A special meeting of Maidenhead development control (DC) panel is to be held on Thursday June 5 to consider the Royal Borough's planning application for a new Holyport Manor Special School on the Cox Green School campus.

On the same evening panel members will also consider Windsor and Maidenhead council's outline application for community sports and leisure facilities adjacent to the existing school sports hall and community centre, with access from Highfield Lane towards the north-east of the site.

The proposed new school – to replace the existing inadequate premises at Holyport – is being totally funded by a government grant of £24.4 million through the Building Schools for the Future: One School Pathfinder initiative. The planning application is for a single-storey school and two-storey, 24-bed respite centre with two all-weather sports pitches and associated parking, fencing, gates and landscaping. There would be a new access off Cannon Lane.

Following consultation with local residents, community groups and site users, the Windsor and Maidenhead council has also submitted the outline application for a purpose-built sports and leisure facility close to the existing Cox Green community complex to provide a fitness gym, aerobics studio, four team-size changing rooms for users of the outdoor pitches and changing rooms for indoor sports.

Reports for panel members' consideration will be published in advance of the DC meeting and will be available on the council's website www.rbwm.gov.uk

To cater for the expected large attendance, the meeting will be held in the Desborough Suite of the Town Hall, starting at 7pm (doors open 6.30pm).

Cllr Derek Wilson, panel chairman and lead member for Windsor and Maidenhead planning, said: "The proposals to build a new special school and the associated community leisure facilities have prompted a high level of public debate. I am very aware that the DC panel will be a focus of great local interest and I will work to ensure that the meeting provides ample opportunity for both the applicant and the objectors to put forward their views."

Anyone wishing to speak at the meeting will need to register their intention with the council in advance and details will be published closer to the date. Normally the applicant and objectors are each allocated three minutes to make their submissions – however, given the significance of this application, the chairman has decided to extend the time allowed to both sides.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead