74 Homes Approved on Windrush Place

Very sadly, today 74 extra homes were approved on Windrush Place, despite large public objection.

Cllr Thomas Ashby and Cllr Jane Doughty both spoke in support of residents today in objecting the development. There were numerous concerns with this development:

· Highways concerns

· Manoeuvrability of vehicles around Mott Close

· Lack of already promised community facilities

· Concerns over Thames Water

· Environmental Impacts – why was there no Environmental Impact Assessment

· Travelling to schools far away conflicts with Air Quality Action Plans

After the meeting, Thomas said, “Today’s decision is extremely disappointing. For far too long, residents have been let down by dodgy developers and a Council who cannot demonstrate how they are holding developers to account. I would like to thank everyone for their community engagement so far, and to the members of the public who joined the meeting physically and virtually.

I will continue to press Council Planners to give us dates for when the community facilities will be delivered on this estate. However, we are making some small wins – we are seeing the bridlepath being upgraded, the crossings will come, bus shelters will be coming soon and we will soon see Autumn/Winter works begin whereby landscaping and tree works will commence again.”

After the meeting, Jane Doughty was left emotional, “I am genuinely upset about today’s decision. We went into the meeting and we heard the planning officer discuss the application, we felt it was already a full gone conclusion. Myself, Thomas and residents have worked hard over the last few years for Windrush, and we continually get let down by our council and developers. I want to thank all residents who have worked with us so far, we aren’t finished and there is still plenty of work to do. So please stay on board, we will get where we need to be.”

You can see what Thomas and Jane had to say by watching the two videos below.