Archived core strategy | Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

Core strategy

The council is preparing a Borough Local Plan which will set the overall approach for managing change through the local planning system. Please see the Borough Local Plan webpage for further information.

Previous work on the Core Strategy is not lost and will be used to inform the Borough Local Plan.

Archived Core Strategy information

The Core Strategy DPD (the Core Strategy) is at the heart of the Local Development Framework (LDF). It will establish the overall vision and for the Royal Borough up to 2026 and beyond. It will establish the overall approach for managing change and delivering development including where major sites for housing, employment and retail will be accepted and how they will be made to happen. All other documents within the LDF must comply with the Core Strategy.

The council undertook the LDF Options consultation in March to May 2009. A report of the consultation outlining the responses received can be downloaded below. These results will be used, along with the wider evidence base, to inform the preferred approach to the Core Strategy.

At a meeting of the council's LDF Member Working Group in October 2009, it was unanimously agreed to postpone further consultation on the Core Strategy until early in 2010. Since then the Council has been working hard to progress its Core Strategy (CS) alongside key work associated with the emerging Area Action Plan (AAP) for Maidenhead town centre. Whilst the Council's Local Development Scheme (agreed work programme) clearly indicates an intention for further consultation on the Core Strategy to begin in February 2010, this is to be further delayed for two key reasons:

The need to review the capacity of Maidenhead town centre to accommodate new housing and employment development, following the close of the public consultation on 12 February 2010; and
The need to complete transport modelling work.

The time needed to resolve the above issues will take a potential consultation close to the anticipated time of the general election. A consultation in this period is not considered appropriate and as such the decision has been taken to delay any consultation until after the general election.

We will seek further advice from the Government Office for the South East (GOSE) regarding a revised timeframe for the Core Strategy, however it is likely that the earliest that the council would be able to move forward and consult on the Core Strategy would be July 2010. Downloads are listed below.

LDF Options Consultation: Report of Consultation (June 2009).
LDF Options Consultation: Report of Consultation (Detailed Responses) (June 2009).
LDF Options Paper March 2009 - Part 1: Chapters 1 to 4.
LDF Options Paper March 2009 - Part 2: Chapters 5 and 6.
LDF Options Paper Summary Newsletter - Pages 1, 2, 5 and 6.
LDF Options Paper Summary Newsletter Insert - Pages 3 and 4.

To inform the new Core Strategy and the Delivery and Development Principles DPDs, the council has prepared the Sustainability Appraisal (SA) framework. This began in February 2008, when the council published for consultation a joint Scoping Report. Following this consultation, a Revised Scoping Report and Consultation Statement was published.

While no further comments are sought, these are still available to view and download below.

Revised Scoping Report: Core Strategy DPD and Delivery and Development Principles DPD.
Consultation Statement: Core Strategy DPD and Delivery and Development Principles DPD.

Core Strategy Inspector's Report October 2007

The Council previously submitted a Core Strategy to Government for independent examination in November 2006. The Council received the report of the Inspector on 3 October 2007. The overall conclusion of the report is that the Core Strategy was 'unsound'. At a meeting of Council on 11 December 2007, it was formally resolved to withdraw the Core Strategy under Section 22(a) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. Copies of the Inspectors Report may be downloaded below.