Policy information sourced from Windsor and Maidenhead Local Plan
ED 1 Economic Development
A rangeofdifferent typesandsizesofemployment landandpremises willbeencouragedto maintain a portfolio of sites to meet the diverse needs of the local economy. Appropriate intensification, redevelopment and upgrading of existing sites and premises will be encouraged and supported to make their use more efficient and to help meet the forecast demand over the plan period and to respond to modern business needs.
The Royal Borough will seek to make provision for at least 11,200 net new jobs across a range of floorspaces.
It will do this by ensuring a flexible supply of high quality employment floorspace making some new allocations, utilising existing employment areas and promoting a more intensive use of these sites through the recycling, refurbishment and regeneration of existing older or vacant stock and promotion of flexible working practices.
Allocated Sites to Meet Economic Needs
To ensure that the Royal Borough delivers its employment needs in full, land will be allocated for economic needs in the following locations:
Offices
New office space will be focused within Maidenhead, Windsor and Ascot town centres. The Council will require that the recently permitted schemes at both Alma Road (Windsor) and The Landing (Maidenhead) will be delivered in accordance with the planning consent.
In addition the following sites and areas will be expected to meet the Borough’s office needs:
- The following sites will be allocated to meet the Borough’s office needs:
| Ref | Site | Estimated additional office space (sq. m) |
|---|---|---|
| AL1 | Nicholsons Centre, Maidenhead | 15,000 (net additional) |
| AL7 | Maidenhead Railway Station | 4,000 (net additional) |
| AL8 | St Cloud Gate | 3,500 (net additional) |
- Redevelopment of the Nicholsons centre is a major opportunity to deliver net additional employment floorspace within Maidenhead town centre. The Council will work with the site promoter to ensure that this redevelopment makes a positive contribution to the Borough’s office supply.
- Whereother sites withintowncentres comeforwardfor redevelopmentdevelopers willberequired to demonstrate that have maximised the office component of their scheme in line with market evidence at the time.
- A strong presumption against net loss of floorspace will apply where sites are redeveloped within the town centres.
New industrial and warehousing space (E(g)(iii), B2, B8 and associated sui generis employment uses) will be provided at the following locations around Maidenhead:
| Ref | Site | Estimated additional Industrial space (ha) |
|---|---|---|
| AL14 | The Triangle Site (land south of the A308(M) west of Ascot Road and north of the M4), Maidenhead | 25.7 (Note: not all of the site will be developed for employment purposes due to flood risk and other constraints) |
| AL11 | Crossrail West Outer Depot, Maidenhead | 1.2 |
Given the shortage of industrial space in the Borough and limited scope to allocate new sites as a result of constraints, priority should be to deliver units that meet the needs of the Borough’s firms. This is likely to take the form of smaller ‘flexible’ units for small and medium sized firms who may otherwise be required to look for space outside the Borough focusing on <1,000 sq. m units with a some slightly larger (<2,000 sq. m).
Where possible property should be provided in a format that may allow mezzanine floors and consideration should be given to providing office space above industrial units to make the most efficient use of limited land.
At the Triangle site, larger units (for example B8 distribution units) should only be permitted where they are required to secure the delivery of a mix of units as part of a comprehensive scheme and ensure that the allocation is delivered to a high standard reflecting the ‘gateway’ nature of the site to Maidenhead. The site should also be subject to a phased masterplan to deliver new units to the local market over the first 10 years of the plan.
Site allocations and proforma requirements
The above employment site allocations are identified on the Policies Map. Site specific requirements for each of the employment sites are contained in Appendix C and form part of this policy. In meeting the proforma requirements, flexibility may be applied to allow for material changes in circumstance as a result of the passage of time or to enable alternative solutions that will deliver the same, or preferably, a better planning outcome.
For more information please see the Local Plan