Royal Borough Local Plan Examination Resumes

The examination of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead’s Borough Local Plan is now resuming after a pause lasting 18 months.

The existing Local Plan dates from 1999 and so a new plan is long-overdue.

The delay was caused by serious concerns about the soundness of the plan that had been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.

The Council has had to make major changes to its proposed plan and so now the Examiner, appointed by the Secretary of State, is requesting answers to a long list of questions and issues that have arisen.

It is hoped that the hearings will resume in the autumn, and these will almost certainly be held as a ‘virtual’ meeting, with the Council and interested parties participating in a video conference.

The Borough Local Plan will determine new development across the borough up until 2033.

CPRE Berkshire submitted a pre-hearing statement in June 2018 (you will find it two thirds of the way down on the list) expressing our major concerns regarding the Plan, on the issues of Duty to Co-operate, Meeting Objectively Assessed Housing Need, Green Belt, and Infrastructure.

More information can be found here. We continue to closely monitor its progress