Viewpoint: Key talking points as election approaches

Email Viewpoint letters to jamesp@baylismedia.co.uk or write to Viewpoint, Newspaper House, 48 Bell Street, Maidenhead, SL6 1HX.

Crucial votes in the golf course saga

The Advertiser reported (April 13) how the main parties and political groups contesting the RBWM local elections would address the redevelopment of Maidenhead Golf Course.

All opposition parties, apart from Labour, would aim to stop the development.

The Conservatives, presumably as a result of public opinion and the approach of the local council elections, are aiming to reduce the number of homes on the development to 1,500 – still far too many.

Going back to 2017 when the BLP was published specifying 2,000 homes on the golf course, hundreds of residents objected and this resulted in the formation of Braywick Action Group for Maidenhead’s Green Belt (BAG). The main aims of BAG were:

1. Persuade RBWM not to develop the golf course.

2. If development does take place on the golf course that it is minimised to retain as much greenbelt, retain as many trees, protect as much wildlife and be as least impactful on neighbouring areas as possible.

Members of BAG attended many public council meetings and tried to engage unsuccessfully with the council leadership.

We therefore, asked for a meeting with Theresa May to seek her help in this matter since she had previously registered her objections to the building of even 1,000 homes on the golf course.

We duly met with Mrs May and stated that if development on the golf course had to take place then we should like to propose that the number of new homes be limited to 1,000.

The logic for this figure was based on similar proposed developments on a number of golf courses throughout England.

We suggested that if the number of new homes was reduced to 1,000 or less then with careful planning it would be possible for the site to accommodate a park or even a nine hole golf course.

Mrs May contacted the council leadership with our request for a meeting.

However, no meeting was offered. Instead we were advised by the council leadership by email to submit our comments in writing concerning the BLP.

Our written comments were ignored.

If it proves that it is too late to prevent any development on the golf course, then the number of homes should be limited to no more than 1,000.

By doing this, the site could accommodate a park which would provide benefits for residents and future generations.

I am certain that councillors will remember that two years ago almost 4,500 residents signed a petition to turn the golf course into Maidenhead Great Park.

The petition was debated at an Extraordinary Full Council meeting on March 2 2021, and it was only defeated by one vote.

GEORGE MIDGLEY

Walker Road

Maidenhead

Infrastructure and homes needed north

Have you noticed these days how increasingly choked the roads are around this area? And how every time you look around there is yet another new block of flats, including the wonderful correctional facilities located in Central Maidenhead.

Regarding last week’s Advertiser, it’s interesting to see that no other party is actually prepared to stop the obscenity of destroying Maidenhead Golf Course.

All of them blame Andrew Johnson and the Conservatives for signing contracts with greedy developers and thus making it very expensive to cancel the stupid plan.

That’s probably true.

However, I notice Cllr Johnson is resolutely committed to fighting a proposal for 10,400 homes near Paley Street.

The lesson of this is of course, that if you want to ensure your area isn’t ruined with thousands of ‘much needed’ homes, then it might be a good idea ensure you live near where the leader of the council lives.

Now, not content with ruining Maidenhead, it seems the Conservatives are even intent on turning Stanley Spencer’s Village in Heaven, Cookham, into a more of a Village in Hell, with even more ‘much needed homes’.

All the parties sanctimoniously go on and on about providing ‘much needed, affordable’ homes, because of ‘the Housing Crisis’.

They earnestly refer to the difficulty young people have in finding affordable accommodation in our area.

However, there is no housing crisis, there is a serious South East England Housing Crisis.

That busy bloke, Michael Gove, The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing, Watering Your Begonias, Inter-Governmental Relations and Bullying Andrew Johnson, should start doing his job.

There is plenty of land in the North and housing is way cheaper up there.

That’s because there’s so little well-paid employment and decent transport infrastructure there.

Apart from the constant stream of illegal migrants washing up in Kent, most young people living well north of the Watford Gap are themselves forced to ‘migrate’ south, simply to find decent employment.

And then of course they need somewhere to live, thus forcing up prices and causing idiots to decide they have to provide them by building everywhere, including Maidenhead Golf Course.

What’s more, I’m sure most young people who move to the South East would much rather find decent career prospects where they actually live, thus avoiding the stress of moving away from their families, friends and familiar surroundings.

So, the lesson is to actually start properly levelling up.

Start offering real financial incentives for companies to relocate to the north.

And instead of pressing ahead with that ridiculous vanity project, HS2, start massively improving rail infrastructure across the North of England.

That is the way to stop Maidenhead and similar parts of this once green and pleasant land being ruined further, whilst at the same time providing those much-needed homes where there is ample space to actually build them!

In conclusion, on May 4 there doesn’t seem to be a really decent alternative to the Conservatives.

However, for myself voting on May 4 will be as easy as ABC (that’s Anything But Conservative) and I won’t forget my photo ID.

MALCOLM STRETTEN

Riverside

Apathy could land us another term of Tories

Will apathy win the Conservative council four more years in power?

There’s not a person I’ve spoken to in the last few weeks and months who hasn’t expressed dismay at either the plan to concrete over Maidenhead Golf Club, or the dire parking situation in the town, or how the construction of the Towers radically changes the nature of Maidenhead, or just the sheer scale of development in and around the town centre – including almost 2,000 homes to meet Slough’s unmet housing need.

And now almost 300 new homes on greenbelt land in Cookham.

But will that dismay translate into votes for opposition parties at the council elections on May 4?

Against the widely expected backdrop of a disaster for the Conservatives nationally, will the Royal Borough buck the trend and re-elect a Conservative-led council, albeit on a narrow majority?

As a former Conservative voter, I sincerely hope not. But I fear it may.

This council needs to be thrown out on its ear, banished to the opposition for a heavily extended period of time.

But when you hear people say, as I did last week, that as much as we might not want them, Maidenhead would never eject the Conservatives, it makes me worry what we might wake up to on May 5.

But the facts are clear. If there’s sufficient motivation, it won’t take much to change things.

At the last elections in 2019 and on a 38.1 per cent turnout, out of their 54 seats the Conservatives lost 31. They have a majority of just four.

All it takes is a trip to a polling station, photographic ID and a pen.

Opposition parties have pledged to pause and re-examine the Borough Local Plan and given the current direction of travel in Maidenhead, we urgently need to give them the chance to do so.

It’s not about being against development. It’s about being in favour of the right development.

But if you’re thinking – things will never change, Maidenhead is and will remain Conservative so there’s not much point - it’s clear what will happen.

The mantra of build, build, build, anywhere and everywhere will continue.

The golf course land will be a building site for fifteen years, with all the environmental damage and traffic disruption that will entail, and the glittering prize of thousands more cars on the roads for absolutely everyone to contend with.

And Maidenhead’s journey to resembling an inner London borough will be impossible to stop.

Apathy will mean we wake up on May 5 to four more years of a Conservative-led council. And it could well happen.

RICHARD MATTHEWS

Oldfield Ward

Maidenhead

No chance to raise issues with candidates

With the upcoming local elections in mind, I prepared a list of issues I hoped to raise with the Conservative candidates if they came round canvassing.

Alas this has not happened so far. To save wasting my notes I thought I would try and get some of them published. These are some of those issues I was hoping they might improve on if elected again:

• The serious underfunding of highway maintenance for over a decade
• Much too much borrowing, particularly for Maidenhead regeneration
• Not showing respect to opposition councillors, as set out in the Council’s Constitution
• Not using scrutiny properly by panels
• Not allowing direct contact with officers for residents’ queries
• Councillors and officers not replying to emails
• Employing poor and poorly-funded contractors
• Keeping staffing levels much too low, particularly in planning
• Following wrong policy for council tax increases
• Using capitalisation of revenue spending that adds significantly to borrowing
• No on-street parking enforcement outside the profitable town centre areas
• A very poor, and often ignored, ‘Report It’ system.

I raise these issues out of concern as I would normally vote for Conservatives, except locally.

BARRY GIGGINS

Greenacre

Windsor

Dangerous incident on ‘smart’ motorway

The following letter was sent to Theresa May MP in March:

I write regarding my terrifying experience driving on a section of so-called ‘smart’ motorway on the M4 on January 14, 2023, when I was almost hit by vehicles swerving to avoid a broken-down car in lane one.

Only my quick reactions saved me from being involved in a motorway pile-up, which, because of the heavy traffic, would no doubt have resulted in numerous casualties.

Please explain why your government allows these lethal roads to continue to operate, despite the fact that 79 people have been killed on them so far.

National Highways’ own figures show that deaths on smart motorways involving stationary vehicles are twice as likely, according to reports in the national press.

Furthermore, former government minister Sir Mike Penning, who originally approved the introduction of smart motorways, later admitted he had been misled.

He said: “There are people being killed and seriously injured, and it should never have happened.”

The government’s own announcement that no new smart motorways would be built would appear to be a tacit admission that these roads are lethal.

Meanwhile, drivers of slower vehicles are forced to use lane one for fear of being prosecuted by the police for driving without due care and attention if they opt to drive
in lane two while lane one is empty – a chilling example of the law forcing people put themselves in great danger unnecessarily.

And yet, instead of halting the operation of existing smart motorways and re-introducing the hard shoulder, your government appears to have turned a blind eye to the carnage resulting from them.

I would have hoped that the conscience of ministers in the knowledge that their complicity in the introduction of a road system that has directly resulted in the death of almost 80 people would be enough for them to call a halt.

However, it would appear that they lack a moral compass.

Does the Conservative party want to be known as the one that gave the go-ahead for the introduction of smart motorways, dubbed ‘the Grenfell of the roads’, yet sat on its hands when they were proven to be lethal?

As I’m sure you will be only too well aware, with the next General Election is just around the corner, many long-term Conservative voters may be struggling to find a reason to continue to support you.

But there’s still time to stop the use of smart motorways and reintroduce the hard shoulder – and perhaps win some respect from the electorate.

Failing that, I will be happy to submit a copy of this letter to the inquiry into smart motorways that is sure to come.

PJ JEFFRIES

Maidenhead

Arch for Sir Nicholas must be properly maintained

It is a great pity that the arch, part of the Sir Nicholas Winton Memorial Garden in Oaken Grove Park, has been neglected.

Between 1938 and 1939 Sir Nicholas arranged the Kindertransport rescue of 669 Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Europe, who were then rehomed in Britain.

It is therefore appropriate that he is commemorated in Maidenhead by the Memorial Garden and a statue at the railway station.

It should also be appropriate that the arch is maintained to an acceptable standard to honour one of Maidenheads former residents.

MICHAEL KAY

Maidenhead

Ask politicians how they’ll pay for pledges

There is a tendency for election candidates to write ‘manifestos’ promising all things to all men and women to win their votes.

I’d like to encourage residents to ask candidates how they intend to fund these promises.

It shouldn’t be a difficult question, to give a full answer to, given they have written it down as a pledge and so must have thought it through carefully.

The practical reality is that we have around £100million a year in the revenue budget, which gets spent on services, salaries and all things the council funds, including paying interest on capital investments which is currently around 10 per cent of the budget.

Most gets spent on looking after residents, old and young.

There is little wriggle room so any promises of new spend require existing services to be cut.

Residents should ask for the details of the pledge, how much it will cost and what will be cut to pay for the promise. If they can’t answer then they haven’t really thought it through.

Cllr JON DAVEY

Ind, Clewer & Dedworth West

Welfare checks need to be reinstated

Our brother died last year, but not before suffering harm caused by RBWM contractors.

Needless harm which added to our heartbreak.

But distressingly, his case was not an isolated one and many other residents have come forward to us to highlight failings from council commissioned contractors.

The situation is exacerbated where there is no next-of-kin or they live far away from their family members under council supervision.

As a responsible people, we expect the council to deliver good quality care, not necessarily with all the bells and whistles, but guardianship that protects and comforts.

Changes are needed and, we reiterate our simple but effective proposals to improve care;

We propose to restore welfare checks for residents – this would cost around £175,000 as we proposed for the 2023/34 Budget.

We also propose checks on our contractors to ensure value for money and claw back money.

Finally, we propose a volunteer advocacy service to visit clients without family living nearby to ensure standards are well maintained.

Ambassador Matthew Rycroft recently said: “How a society treats its most vulnerable is always the measure of its humanity.”

It’s time to restore the humanity to RBWM.

Cllrs CAROLE & WISDOM DA COSTA

Candidates, Clewer & Dedworth West ward

A merry-go-round of football managers

With regard to the numerous English Premier League football manager changes this season – at least 12 from memory –
I find these two involving Leicester City and Chelsea FC the strangest, appointing Dean Smith, John Terry and Frank Lampard respectively.

Let’s look at their records.

Dean Smith ‘parted company’ with Aston Villa in November 2021, to then become the manager of Norwich City FC for just over a year before being sacked after a run of three wins in 13 championship games.

John Terry was assistant manager at Aston Villa from 2018 to 2021 before leaving to play golf and spend family time, for six months or so then joining the Chelsea academy for just over a year prior to joining Leicester.

This duo did at least save Aston Villa from relegation by the skin of its teeth on the final day of the season in 2020.

Even more peculiar is Chelsea’s reappointment of Frank Lampard.

Here’s a summary of his credentials:

Derby County manager for one year, and £4million compensation paid to them for his services, next to Chelsea – sacked after 18 months, Everton manager for one year and sacked.

In the meantime Chelsea appoint Thomas Tuchel for 18 months, get rid of him to the tune of a £13million pay off , take Graham Potter from Brighton for a £22million compensation package, sack him after approximately six months with another £13million compensation package to Potter.

Leicester and Chelsea are attempting to escape relegation and mid table mediocrity.

With respect to these men, do their managerial stats cut the mustard, especially with so few games left in which to make their mark?

In the mainstream world if one gets the sack from a job it’s highly unlikely the individual will be rehired, but these protocols simply aren’t applied in the world of football.

TONY BECK

Frogmill Spinney

Hurley

No research or data is going into ‘Wrexit’

James Aidan worries too much about the country going to the dogs since we voted to leave the EU. (Viewpoint, April 13)

Because his side is successfully fighting back, sabotaging Brexit and turning the public against it, and with a permanent foothold in Northern Ireland, the EU is well placed to reconquer Great Britain.

And in Rishi Sunak we now have a Prime Minister who has reverted to eurocentric Tory type, telling people there about the economic benefits of their ‘privileged’ access to the EU Single Market.

Out of interest I put in a Freedom of Information request, asking how much that ‘unique’ trading advantage might be worth to the province, but the trade department replied that they did not know.

I was not too surprised, as previously five government departments had been unable to tell me how much Boris Johnson's famous ‘Canada style’ free trade deal might be worth to the UK economy.

Two thirds of the population think that the government is handling Brexit badly, and they are right, and so it is understandable that a majority now think that voting to leave the EU was a mistake.

Mr Aidan only has to be patient and let the wreckers do their work, ‘Wrexit’ being part of the additional bit that Theresa May was careful not to say after her facile ‘Brexit means Brexit’ mantra.

Dr D R COOPER

Belmont Park Avenue

Maidenhead

Reunion for former convent school pupils

At the top of Castle Hill sits a beautiful building that was once the Convent of the Nativity of Our Lord.

It has gone through many iterations and name changes since the days when a lot of girls called it school and home to those who boarded but it remains in our hearts and memories – or so it would seem.

This year the girls who left (or would have left had they not left earlier...) after taking their A-levels in 1970 – born in the years 1951 or 1952 – are getting together to relive the memories and catch up with the last 50 years or so.

We have scattered to the four corners of the world – I myself live in Denver, Colorado – but are coming back because the bonds that we forged during our time at the convent are strong and, it appears, unbreakable.

We are traveling from Canada, Europe, America and maybe other places that have yet to be identified, because there are a few of our classmates we have been unable to reach.

So, if you were or know anyone who was in the class of 1970, please reach out to me at caosull52@yahoo.com.

You would have known me as Cheryl O’Sullivan, a border since 1963, originally with an Irish accent that was schooled out of me by the elocution teacher over many painful hours.

I hope this reaches the remaining ladies – our gathering would not be complete without you.

CHERYL O’SULLIVAN

Denver, Colorado