Datchet, Royal Borough of windsor and maidenhead   Draft Allocation Secured

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Datchet is situated in The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire. The Royal Borough is renowned for its rich blend of attractive countryside and successful modern business development. There is a wealth of historic buildings, ranging from Windsor Castle and Eton College to the many attractive rural villages.

Datchet is located 20 miles from central London, 5.5 miles from Heathrow Airport and has two main line train stations for London, one of which connects to Waterloo allowing for a new trend of European day-trippers.

As a result of economic prosperity and its proximity to the Thames Valley, the Royal Borough attracts a variety of business enterprises including leading international companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Hitachi, Johnson & Johnson and Nortel Networks. Forecasts suggest that the Thames Valley economy will grow at a faster rate over the next five years than either the South East or the UK as a whole.

Our Planning Department Comments

• At national level there is currently concern that there is insufficient housing being provided to meet the increasing number of households. Whilst the housing stock has been increasing by 185,000 per year, the number of households is expected to grow by 223,000 per year.
• The land at Datchet is in a highly sustainable location close to all amenities and community services and is well served by all public transport facilities.
• Representations have been made, in relation to the South East Plan, that in order to address the issue of contributing to housing needs the overall strategic housing requirement in the South East plan should be increased to 40,000 dwellings per annum and for Windsor and Maidenhead should be increased from 5,620 to 7,820 dwellings, representing 391 dwellings per annum.
• Although the land currently lies within the greenbelt its specific characteristics are such that it does not have a greenbelt function. Its removal from the greenbelt would be entirely appropriate and assist in meeting the acknowledged need for housing in this part of the South East.
• The physical location of the land, between the settlement boundary of Datchet and the M4 motorway, is such that its development would not lead to coalescence with any other settlement. This is one of the principal objectives of greenbelt designation and thereby would have no adverse impact on the character of the greenbelt or set a precedent for the release of land elsewhere.
• Flood alleviation assessments have concluded that residential development of the site would be acceptable and would not increase the prospect for flooding elsewhere in the immediate locality.

Latest Planning Update

Whilst the RBWM Local Plan has been adopted as of February 2022 there have been some legal challenges made against it as well increased debate around whether the plan is doing enough to meet its housing target as there remains a shortfall of delivery against its requirements.

Although there are no indications at this stage that a review of the plan will be commenced in the near future, we continue to monitor the progress of the plan and will make the necessary submissions should and early review be required based on the above.

In the meantime, we maintain that the most suitable way forward is to proceed with mineral extration on the site and we continue to work a 3rd party to carry this out expeditiously. They are in the process of finalising their legal assessment of our Plot Pomotion Agreement which, once complete, will allow the extraction to proceed.