Progress towards agreement on the content of the Development Brief by the landowners/developers in conjunction with the South Bucks District Council (SBDC) is lagging behind the schedule reported in the last Newsletter. A public exhibition was held at the Paper Mill site on 16 June ... six weeks after the date on the original schedule. More than 200 residents of Taplow and Maidenhead attended. Publicity for the Exhibition was flawed by the door-to-door delivery failing to deliver the announcement to many Taplow households.
The content of the Exhibition Boards was the responsibility of a Steering Group comprising representatives of Barratts, the developers, who have an option to buy the land now in the hands of adminstrators, BDO, other landowners Taplow Investments and National Grid and Officers of SBDC. A working party comprising representatives of Taplow Parish Council, Hitcham and Taplow Society, Ellington Road and District Residents Association, Barratts and SBDC reviewed the Boards and suggested various changes.
SBDC Core Policy 15 of the South Bucks District Council specifies Mill Lane as an 'opportunity site' 'in need of sensitive. comprehensive regeneration'. Integral to the Policy is the requirement that 'a Development Brief must be produced by the landowners/developers in conjunction with the Council' and it must be adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document, prior to a planning application being submitted.
There are several outstanding issues to be resolved before the steering group reach agreement on a final draft of the Development Brief. Late October is the probable date for the next review by the working party.
Karl Lawrence
