Bray Parish Council vote against funding AL21 legal opinion

Bray Parish Council has voted down a proposition that would have seen it contribute £3,000 to fund a legal opinion from a barrister on the AL21 development in West Windsor.

The proposal was blocked by councillors in a six to three vote during an extraordinary council meeting at Holyport Memorial Hall on Friday, October 27.

The AL21 site has been earmarked for development in the Borough Local Plan, with proposals for 320 homes on land off Maidenhead Road being approved in June.

Last month, a 135-home development to the north of the site was approved.

The planned legal opinion would have been used to investigate the legal basis on assessments undertaken to support the development bids by the borough’s planning authority, including environmental and traffic data.

Councillor Wisdom Da Costa (Clewer and Dedworth West, Independent) and resident, Andrew Hill, spoke in favour of the proposals.

Cllr Da Costa said: “We want to prevent the A308 and other roads from becoming gridlocked, to stop pollution levels increasing unchecked causing respiratory diseases which ultimately results in earlier sickness and death.”

Cllr Da Costa added the opinion would help to ensure climate change was mitigated ‘responsibly’ by ensuring the preservation of ‘proper’ habitats and biodiversity.

Parish councillor Louvaine Kneen said that residents had contacted her to say they were ‘very concerned’ about the proposals.

But she said: “People are in tough times, they see the borough going through tough times. They just find this quite difficult. They know the parish council has spent a lot of money trying to influence the Borough Local Plan (BLP).

“We need houses, that’s a fact. I’m not saying I’m accepting everything because I’ve attended the meetings and speak and try to do my bit.

“But people are very concerned regarding extra money being spent trying to fight the BLP again and they don’t feel the parish council should be doing that.”

Councillor Suzanne Cross (Bray) said: “I’m thinking is there another way we could achieve this result? There are other vehicles we could be using.

“Since I’ve been inside the Royal Borough as an independent councillor, there are overview and scrutiny panels.

“That could be a vehicle to say that we, collectively as residents and a parish, feel there are shortcomings here as to how some of these decisions are being made.”

Cllr Cross spoke at a scrutiny panel meeting in September regarding a reduction of the speed limit along a section of the A308 near Holyport. One of her arguments cited out of date data.

At the meeting, the panel chose to vote against council traffic officers’ recommendations and vote in favour of the reduction and the move was ultimately given the green light.

Speaking to the Advertiser after the meeting, Cllr Da Costa said: “I’m pleased that Bray Parish convened a meeting to listen to what Andew and I are proposing.

“They, of course, have a right to do with their money whatever they wish to.

“But I think this now means that the chance of a plan being refused, because of valid failures in the system, are now zero.”