07:05PM, Monday 02 February 2026
Stock image of Maidenhead High Street.
A referendum could take place in March to give Maidenhead residents a ‘final voice’ on a neighbourhood plan to help shape significant planning decisions in the town.
The Maidenhead Neighbourhood Plan includes policies on housing mix, biodiversity, design, built heritage, climate and travel to guide future developments.
It would cover the seven unparished areas in Maidenhead: Boyn Hill, Oldfield, Pinkneys Green, Riverside, St Mary’s, Belmont and Furze Platt.
Consultations took place in 2024 and 2025, offering residents the chance to comment on the plan and share their views.
An independent examiner then assessed the draft plan and the policies included within it, which will have equal weight in planning decisions with other council policies if it is adopted.
At a Royal Borough cabinet meeting on Tuesday (January 27), councillors heard that a referendum – which is the next step in the process – could take place on March 19, but this date has not been finalised.
Speaking at the York House meeting, Ian Rose, one of the co-chairs of the Maidenhead Neighbourhood Forum – responsible for putting together the draft plan – said the examiner didn’t remove any policies.
Mr Rose said: “We’ve been working for three years since designation, turning the community ideas into policy. One of the things we’ve learnt is that’s not easy.”
“We were very pleased that no policies were deleted.”
But some changes to the existing policies were suggested.
According to a report presented to councillors, the policy covering ‘housing mix’ should make it clear that the size of homes with three bedrooms or more ‘should be of a size, design and layout suitable for families’.
Residential developments outside of Maidenhead town centre will also ‘generally be expected’ to have a height similar to surrounding buildings.
Mr Rose said: “Maidenhead needs more houses for families, and this [housing mix policy] is a policy to try and get that.
“We have a policy [biodiversity net gain] that should be within RBWM and ideally on site. That’s more strict and more stringent than national policy allows but that’s definitely what was expressed by residents.”
Councillor Adam Bermange (Lib Dem, Boyn Hill) commended the ‘community effort’ that has gone into creating the Maidenhead Neighbourhood Plan.
Cllr Bermange said: “I think it’s important to talk about the extensive community engagement that’s taken place throughout this process. This is something which has not been led by RBWM because it’s a neighbourhood plan, yet it also has not been led by a parish council.”
But he said the Government grant typically given to councils to fund neighbourhood plans is ‘not anticipated to fully cover the cost’ of this referendum.
The referendum and independent examination is estimated to cost the council just under £98,000, which includes the cost of multiple polling stations and ‘significant’ postage.
The Government grant is anticipated to offset this by £20,000. The council then needs to cover the remaining £77,699.
Cllr Bermange said: “This was budgeted in the 2025/26 budget as a growth bid, so we do have sufficient budget to cover this, should we proceed to the referendum,” he added.
“Hopefully members can support this move to the referendum step and ultimately give the residents the final voice in this matter.”
Councillors accepted the examiner’s recommendations and will progress the Maidenhead Neighbourhood Plan to the referendum stage.
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