Borough First News Today

THE first meeting of a planning meeting crumbled into chaos after tempers flared over delayed start, last-minute substitutions and an applicant…

future if council decides to move out. At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, April 29, senior councillors approved to launch a review of the Royal Borough’s ‘outdated’ headquarters in St Ives Road on whether they want to invest ‘significantly’ into refurbishing the building or move out to a ‘fit for purpose’ office space. According to the report, the town hall, built-in 1962, has become ‘too costly’ to maintain and it cannot meet the local authority’s climate target as its e...

. Senior councillors approved recommendations to dispose of council-owned land in Sawyers Close, which is an ex-council estate and consists of 192 homes, to estate owners Abri Housing Group. According to the report, Abri approached the Royal Borough to take ownership of the land so they can build affordable housing as they are looking to either refurbish or redevelop the existing 1960s flat blocks there. The refurbishment or redevelopment work would require temporarily transferring the e...

leader to the North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un. The Borough First councillor Geoff Hill (Oldfield) has publicly apologised for his ‘ill judged’ tweet, which has since been deleted, calling the leader of the council, Cllr Andrew Johnson (Con: Hurley & Walthams), ‘Cllr Andrew Kim Jong Johnson’. Following the recent full council meeting on April 27, he posted: “Cllr [Johnson] has now restricted full debate at full RBWM council so your councillors have lost speaking rights. “This...

Old plans of the retirement homes Planners reduced the scheme from 45 flats after panel members rebelled against officer’s recommendations and refused the original plan on the grounds the designs ‘were out of keeping’ with the area’s Victorian scenery, ‘poor quality’ designs, loss of trees, and parking overspill. The developer did go to appeal – but it was dismissed by the planning inspectorate in January 2021 due to the development’s effect on the character of the area ...

The court ordered the council to draft and undertake a second consultation and an equality impact assessment. Councillor David Hilton (Con: Ascot & Sunninghill), lead member for finance, said they ‘accepted’ they failed to carry out a lawful consultation – but have complied with the consent order in full. Cllr David Hilton The second consultation received 27 responses of out of the 2,512 who were in receipt of CTRS. In total, 191 responses were received – which is 50 more th...

opposition members as the ruling Conservatives approved the 2021/22 finances and cuts. The opposing Liberal Democrats and Independents were outvoted 21 to 19 at a full council meeting on Tuesday, February 23 – but many scolded the Tory administration and spoke of distaste of the proposals, which will come into force from April 1. Not only will there be an increase in council tax of 4.99 per cent, but multiple libraries will also see their opening hours reduced, the number of community wa...

THE leader of the was quizzed if ‘eyesore’ multi-storey car park is needed in Maidenhead in a post-Covid world.

. After the Conservative cabinet agreed to lobby Government to raise council tax past the five per cent cap back in October, the Borough First (TBF) Independent group announced they are campaigning for residents to have a say on that. Three per cent is the adult social care precept set by Government, but a further increase of the two per cent in council tax will have to go to a local referendum. The Conservatives’ proposed draft 2021/22 budget, which is subject to public consultation, s...