Viewpoint: Decision to defer Nicholsons decision should be applauded

Pause on key decision should be applauded

The decision by the council to push back on the Nicholsons Centre is to be applauded since what happens in the town centre affects everyone in Maidenhead.

The redevelopment plan has been in the making for five years and yet even now, it is proving to be controversial regarding the number of homes, the height of the tallest building, office and retail space and the number of car park spaces.

It is essential to ensure that the redevelopment of the town centre meets the highest standards.

Therefore, I suggest that councillors consider engaging the services of an independent planning consultant, with vision and experience in this field to review the proposed redevelopment of the town centre.

GEORGE MIDGLEY

Walker Road

Maidenhead

Borough more than a ‘bit behind’ on targets

It seems the financial budget is not the only budget that the council is having trouble meeting.

The borough is more than a ‘bit behind’ in meeting its climate targets too, as one of its officers recently stated.

When the council declared a Climate Emergency in June 2019, it committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The 2020–2025 environment and climate strategy recognised the need for the borough to rapidly reduce emissions to remain within RBWM’s carbon budget* to 2050.

According to the Tyndall Centre’s 2020 estimate, RBWM needed a year-on-year reduction of 13 per cent carbon emissions to meet its ‘budget’.

This would align with the UK government’s agreement to strive to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

So how is it going?

Last Monday, the draft of the next Environment and Climate Strategy for 2026 to 2036 was presented to the council’s overview and scrutiny committee.

You would think that in drafting the new strategy, the progress made to date against the carbon budget targets it set itself in the previous strategy, would feed into the baseline.

However, I was astonished when Councillor Kashmir Singh requested an update on emission reductions to date, the response from the officers present was that they would have to get back to him in writing.

The council says it uses the data from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero to measure its progress.

This indicates that emissions in the borough decreased by only 15 per cent between 2019 and 2023, in the three-year period where this correlates to the strategy this should have been around 42 per cent!

Setting a strategy for 10 years is all well and good, but to stay within RBWM’s 2019-2050 budget, an emergency three-year action plan is needed to get us back on track. This must focus on emissions within the council’s influence e.g. public and active transport, new development and enabling retrofit.

It should be drafted and delivered at a pace that reflects the urgency required.

Otherwise at the current rate, projections suggest that the borough could exceed its total carbon budget* up to 2050 within just three years!

[*Total carbon budget is how much co2 people can emit to keep within 1.5 degrees. Therefore, RBWM has a finite budget based on its current population].

TINA QUADRINO

Pinkneys Green

Scrutiny needed to get strategy we deserve

Finally, something for the community to celebrate!

Councillor Adam Bermange, lead member for governance, chose the place overview and scrutiny panel meeting at the end of September to announce that the council has introduced the Climate and Environment Strategy as part of the council’s formal policy framework.

It will be adopted formally by full council and the constitution has been changed so that it will have equal weight to the other policy framework documents such as the council plan and other strategies.

This is fantastic news and everybody who wishes to see net zero and nature recovery in the borough, myself included, should thank him for his efforts.

This was a better place overview and scrutiny panel meeting than the last one, with good contributions from residents David Dean and Mike Copland, and good questions from councillors Kashmir Singh, George Blundell, and Gary Reeves.

I have to admit to being slightly bemused by Councillor Werner’s introductory remarks though.

He advised the meeting that the council are facing two big emergencies, the financial one and the climate emergency.

He then suggested that in addition to fixing the finances, we also need to fix the mess of the climate emergency.

I couldn’t agree more, and if these comments had been made in June 2023 I would have been delighted.

However, it is well over two years since the council was elected, and we have a 2024 council plan where the environment and climate change, front and centre in Andrew Johnson’s Conservative Corporate Plan, now shares an objective with a clean and safe borough, and falls within the scope of the place overview and scrutiny panel, rather than the corporate panel as it did under the Conservatives.

If Councillor Werner means what he says, and I’m sure he does, he will ensure that the Environment and Climate Change Strategy 2026-2035 appears in front of an overview and scrutiny panel twice more before it goes to cabinet in Quarter 1 2026.

The first should be in December under the place panel ahead of the public consultation, to ensure that the action plan and the communication plan are of the quality required.

The second, currently planned for early 2026 and the place panel, should be carried out by the corporate panel, and should scrutinise the version to be presented to cabinet.

This would maximise our chances of getting the strategy that the borough deserves.

PAUL HINTON

Windsor

Response to comments on assisted dying bill

Open letter to Joshua Reynolds MP:

Dear Mr Reynolds,

I am sorry to read (Advertiser, September 19) that you saw fit to criticise your predecessor, Baroness May, over her contribution to the debate in the House of Lords on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

You must know that such a Bill is treated by Parliament as a conscience issue, with members of both Houses free to vote (or abstain) according to their individual consciences.

While it may sit fine with your conscience to vote in favour of the State’s participation in deliberately ending the life of an innocent person, there is (fortunately) no law requiring us all to have your conscience.

In a letter to you back in May, I said, “I am not a clever barrister, but even I can see ways in which amending the Suicide Act 1961 as proposed would enable challenges seeking easing of the restrictions to be brought under, for instance, Equalities legislation and the Human Rights Act 1998.”.

Your quoted response to Baroness May’s speech said, ‘This Bill says that if you have six months left to live, you can choose to take away that pain and suffering ...’; and ‘...if there is a wish to broaden its scope in the future, it has to go back through the Commons’.

It is hard to know whether your comments are the result of plain ignorance, Polly-Anna-ish optimism, or an intention to mislead. However, to take your comments in order:

A) ‘...if you have six months left to live...’; What do you think the Court of Human Rights would find to be ‘magic’ about six months? How long would it be before cases were brought to challenge this?

B) ‘...you can choose to take away that pain and suffering...’; This is quite troubling, particularly given that you are also quoted as saying, ‘Having read the Bill in great detail number of times...’. If this is so, you should know that the Bill nowhere mentions the word ‘suffering’; nor does it require anyone to be in pain;

C) ‘...it has to go back through the Commons...’; My May letter to you drew attention to the Abortion Act 1967: ‘...tightly-drawn with strict safeguards, only for amendment after amendment to be made to the law, making abortions easier to come by... at tax-payers’ expense ...’

Should this current Bill ultimately become the Law of the Land, I hope that Parliament will have ensured that any exercise of the option to end a terminally-ill person’s life will only be funded by voluntary donations and charity shops, to which supporters such as yourself can donate as freely as you wish.

JAY FLYNN

Moneyrow Green

Holyport

We will never find road back without our values

Today is my 83rd birthday and it is filled with sadness and anger. I have lived to see my once wonderful Britain driven by hate, incompetence and greed.

Strangers flood in looking for loot – ‘take not give’ the mantra.

Good people are ignored. The workshy are given comfort, freebies by the bucketful.

And the evil-eye roams wild: rape gangs, knife muggers, thieves and medieval witch hunts thrive.

Our men sent to war to keep people safe are then made to face retribution for their audacity.

Our police are encouraged to dance with the lawbreaker and politicians bring discord and hate with their poisoned words and actions.

I do not know if the Reform party and others of ‘goodwill’ will be able to resurrect the attributes that once made us great.

I do not know if we have the courage to eject those that wish us harm from our midst.

I do know that unless British ‘old world, hard won’ values are taken up again – strength in war, respect for good common sense law and order, education with free speech, good manners and kindness – we will never find the road back.

Mrs KATHLEEN L HOLLIDAY

Oldfield Road

Maidenhead

Fun, informal event to support those in need

St Vincent de Paul (SVP) Maidenhead will be holding their third musical evening on Saturday, October 18 from 7.30pm at St Edmund Campion school hall.

Proceeds from the evening will help to sustain and expand the support given by SVP to those in need, including local people who are lonely, sick, housebound or just struggling to cope.

This informal, fun event is about getting local people involved and giving those who are interested a chance to perform while raising funds to support local people in need.

Tickets will be £10 per person and available after Sunday masses at St Edmund Campion and St Joseph’s churches.

Alternatively to reserve a ticket, please contact Peter on 07976 625 813 or Hilda on 07749 917 134 (St Edmund Campion) or Siobhan on 07816 445 416 (St Joseph’s).

Please note this is a bring your own wine, beer and glasses event but soft drinks and snacks will be available to buy (cash only).

PETER WADE

Altwood

Maidenhead

Send contractors with

police to remove flags

I am really fed up now with seeing flags everywhere in Maidenhead and I know I'm not the only person.

I was also saddened to hear the awful recording of contractors being verbally abused when trying to remove said flags.

As they have been up for two weeks or so, could they now be removed completely? It’s no good saying the contractors felt threatened so they could not be removed, does that mean they are up for ever?

Why not send the contractors along with a couple of police officers in attendance?

If the person/people the flags belong to want them back, they can call at the police station and after giving their name and address they can take them away. It's surely not that difficult.

JA

Maidenhead

Fantastic gesture shows

good in our community

It is very easy to be cynical about the state of the world, but I’ve just heard a story that I want to share with your readers to counter all the doom and gloom.

On Monday, People to Places (P2P) had a regular lunch trip for around 12 of our members, this time to the new Hall & Woodhouse pub in Taplow.

Our members had a lovely meal and enjoyed themselves, however when they went to pay, they were informed that a gentleman called ‘Simon’ had already covered the bill for everyone!

So may I use your newspaper to pass on my sincere thanks to the mysterious benefactor as this is a fantastic gesture on his part.

There really are some fantastic people in our community.

PETER HALEY

CEO, People to Places