Advertiser review of the year: September

Major planning applications made the headlines as autumn began. Revised plans were approved to turn Maidenhead Office Park into a major ‘logistics hub’ for the storage and delivery of products.

The scaled down application got the go-ahead after previous plans were rejected by both the Royal Borough and a planning inspector following a public inquiry.

September also saw the fate of Nicholsons Shopping Centre hang in the balance as councillors opted to push back a decision on a £500million rebuild at a crunch meeting.

But another town centre development moved forward, as councillors voted in favour of the redevelopment of Sierra House – an ‘eyesore’ office block which has sat unused for 16 years.

An appeal was made for better safety at a ‘dangerous’ junction in Fifield after a car smashed through a fence and into Braywood Memorial Hall.

Elsewhere, a couple who stole from small businesses in a brazen nine-day spree in Maidenhead and Bourne End went in front of a Reading Crown Court judge.

Natasha Carroll and Timothy Seale were given five and eight-year sentences respectively.

A last-minute pay deal for the council’s bin workers narrowly averted strike action that had threatened to give the Royal Borough a flavour of the crisis that still grips Birmingham.

TV hard man Ross Kemp turned out to help officially open Maidenhead Foodshare’s new HQ in Reform Road.

The EastEnders star, who lives in Cookham, was also on hand to award prizes to the quickest and quirkiest go-carts that whizzed downhill at the village’s annual Gravity Grand Prix.

And there was more fun was in the offering at Maidenhead Waterways Fun Day, where crowds descended on the town centre for the much-loved event.