The West Windsor Residents Association is expressing its concern about the outline planning application that was approved to build 320 homes and a 150 pupil special educational needs (SEN) school on former greenbelt land on the edge of West Windsor.
The settlement is the most significant proposed development in Windsor for decades which will affect the lives of tens of thousands of people living in the West of Windsor, Holyport and Bray and the ecosystems in the River Thames Basin.
To rub salt into the wound, while WWRA concedes that housing is needed in the borough so that young families do not have to leave and the council is under the cosh of central government it is astounding that £4m of developer contributions go to pay for infrastructure in the wider RBWM area and Bray Parish Council – but nothing to Windsor. Not one penny.
It as a frustrating night for councillors at the planning committee on Wednesday 1 March. When presented with the outline planning application there was little they could do to alter or object to the application. It appeared very much a fait accompli – take it ot leave it.
The committee was restricted to appr0ving or rejecting the presented outline proprosal and the access to site on Dedworth Road.
Concerns about access, traffic flow, air-quality, bio-diversity and construction safety were effectively silenced by the officers and chairman claims that officers reports had shown that extra traffic caused would be within acceptable limits. And that’s it.
When asked about the ramifications of rejecting the application – the threat of a decision on appeal by central government was raised. In the end, the best objectors could hope for was to delay a decision pending a report by Thames Water which highlighted a technical concern. However, officers were confident this could be met.
Residents and Councillors, shocked by the multiple failings on display in the planning process and at the panel meeting on 1 March 2023 have expressed their grave concerns as to the process and outcomes.
Cllr Wisdom Da Costa immediately called for the process to be paused and an independent investigation into the process launched immediately.
The Monitoring Officer agreed to pause the process and gave him until 9am on Monday 6 March 2023 to present his concerns.
Working with a group of councillors from RBWM and Bray Parish Council and concerned residents, Cllr Wisdom Da Costa, submitted a 10-page document to the Monitoring Officer on 5 March 2023 which outlined their 41 concerns about significant failings in the process, the inappropriate conduct and behaviour of officers and the Chair and, highlighting a catalogue of profound deficiencies in the report, evidence used and conclusions reached.
The joint submission requests that;
- The outcome of the meeting on 1 March 2023 is cancelled and a fresh meeting is convened to consider the application with the following safeguards in place;
- Evidence is reviewed, re-evaluated and reconsidered
- Clear guidance and methodologies are published well in advance of the meeting
- The evidence should include a full, detailed, and open review of Access including emergency access, traffic volumes (including that required by out-of-town SEN pupils) and impact on road safety and air pollution.
- Members are briefed appropriately and at length, including a site visit
- The Chair acts appropriately and impartially
- Members are facilitated to write the conditions they think relevant whether a rejection or consent
- Longer term, that the process for Outline Planning Applications be improved with regard to clarity, published methodology, and plans for adequate periods of notice.
We attach a copy of the submission to the Monitoring Officer dated and delivered 5 March 2023.