Pre-planning prompts a Prime Ministerial visit

Developer Countryside is working with joint venture partners, The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to deliver four new schemes to Maidenhead which will cover over 6.3 hectares and have the potential to deliver 1,200 homes, new shops, restaurants and offices. A stunning new cultural quarter will be created in the heart of the town as part of the project.

The Oracle Group was appointed to work with the joint venture partnership in delivering a series of pre-planning public consultation events to engage local residents and businesses in the scheme. To ensure that every occupant in town had the opportunity to have their say at the consultation events, Oracle arranged mail shots to over 35,000 residents inviting them to the events to meet the developer, council and architects. At each event visitors were encouraged to complete questionnaires that were then used as feedback to influence the design for planning.

Thus far, Oracle has successfully delivered three exhibitions, which have been attended by over 2,000 Maidenhead residents, including Prime Minister, Theresa May, the local MP for Maidenhead.

A series of events have also been arranged with various stakeholder groups who were invited to more in-depth discussions on the projects including Maidenhead Waterways, theatre groups and schools.

The results of all of these exhibitions were subsequently turned into feedback data documents and thereafter into a Statement of Community Involvement which has been used as part of the planning submission.

The work that Oracle has undertaken has helped Countryside and The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to gain planning approval for the initial phase of the scheme, known as York Road.