Viewpoint: Please stop trying to justify past mistakes on golf course

Costly failures on golf course and council tax

In reply to former Riverside councillor Simon Dudley’s letter last week (Viewpoint, January 30) extolling the virtues of building on Maidenhead Golf Course, and taking those to task who think it is a bad idea, it’s not a question of being negative in criticising the decision, but actually being realistic.

I would invite him to read my article published in the MA on April 7, 2025, whereby I laid out precisely why the development should not be going ahead.

He talks about a national housing shortage, and the need for more affordable houses in our area, to enable our children, as he put it, to live and own a home in the town they grew up in.

Fat chance of that happening with the properties being built on the golf course and similar developments.

The amount of so-called affordable housing is negligible, and they are not really affordable to a typical first time buyer, and one of it will solve the housing crisis.

All the new housing will do is draw people in from West London or similar areas, where prices are twice as much as Maidenhead, and simply add to pressure on local services.

It would require building a good size council estate, where rents are truly affordable, to have any impact on the situation.

The decision taken by the Conservative administration that he headed up, to take golf course and similar areas out of the greenbelt for building purposes, will have major impacts and repercussions in the future, as yet unseen.

The other bad decision taken by his administration years back, which I must mention, was to reduce council tax for six years running, between 2010 and 2015.

In 2014, it went down by 4 per cent and in total over those years, down by 11.5 per cent.

It may have seemed a good idea at the time, but now it has left the current administration in a parlous state, which I think they have worsened, but any increase now, is based on a much lower threshold than it would have been, had a modest increase been applied instead of reducing rates.

Most people would have been perfectly happy for rates to be frozen, or just a marginal increase added.

But it was done out of pure bravado, to be able to say ‘we are the cheapest council tax in Berkshire’, and look where that has left us!

Nobody really benefited at the time, as they wouldn’t have noticed that small saving, but more to the point, everyone is now having to pay dearly, with large increases in council tax, probably for the next five years to catch up and cover the deficit.

You had your time in charge Simon Dudley, and messed up. Please stop trying to justify past mistakes and criticising those that question actions taken at the time.

It’s not helpful.

BOB TAVINOR

Hearne Drive

Holyport

Sad to see historic town bridge ‘tagged’

Travelling into Maidenhead over the past few weekends I have noticed that someone (I can only think he/she is an idiot) and has decided that a ‘tag’ was needed on Maidenhead Bridge in yellow all across one side.

Sadly the age of the stonework on the bridge is such that trying to clean it will be I fear an expensive and probably damaging exercise.

We can only hope the council will be able to remove it.

Why people need to feel that this is an OK thing to do is beyond me, but perhaps we have got to the stage where, as it is now everywhere, it has become an acceptable thing to do.

CYNTHIA CHERRY

Clare Road

Taplow

In-house option should have been considered

In 2017 RBWM employed a contractor, Volker Highways, to maintain our highways to a standard that is a legal requirement of a highway authority.

They have now gone through the process of retendering this work and the successful contractor has been approved by an officer.

In 2017 the successful bid was £3,925,000/year, with a supposed saving of £90,000 from doing it in-house.

Taking inflation into account this would now amount to £5,280,000.

Yet in recent years the cost of Volker’s work has grown to at least £10million a year.

In 2017, Volker’s gross profit margin was 5.1 per cent and if applied to the bid price this would be approximately £200,000.

The figure the company filed for in 2024 accounts showed a gross profit margin of 9.5 per cent and if applied to the £10million paid by RBWM would result in nearly £1million profit for the company each year.

The original report to Cabinet about the retendering failed to provide any alternative to continuing with this tender process.

With such a large sum taken away from highway funds each year as company profit why didn’t the council consider bringing the whole of the highways maintenance operation back in-house?

It may not have been cheaper but at least, I believe, should have been considered.

The new contract is scheduled to start on April 1, 2025 for seven years with options of another seven years in extensions.

At today’s costs this would be £14million taken away from highways maintenance as company profit, out of a projected overall cost of £140million.

BARRY GIGGINS

Greenacre

Windsor

Ex-leader’s misdirection from real ‘abomination’

I was surprised to read (Viewpoint, January 16) that the esteemed former councillor, Mr Simon Dudley, considers the sexual entertainment venue (SEV) on Queen Street, Maidenhead to be an ‘abomination’.

The SEV licence to operate in this location has been in place since at least November of 2005 (the earliest entry on RBWM’s licensing portal, marked ‘Renewal’).

Mr Dudley was first elected in 2007.

He left, somewhat abruptly (I know how he feels!) in 2019.

By my albeit feeble reckoning, that gave him a cosy 12 years to verbalise his repugnance and, if not as a cabinet member, then surely as leader of the council to do something about it!

Now, it is well known about the town that I am a fully paid-up member of the Simon Dudley fan club, so had he ever uttered a word on the subject, I would know.

Yet my memory is blank. So, I checked the records and that confirmed it. Never a peep. Until now.

I wonder why? Perhaps it is a manifestation of guilt projection?

This terrible malady is a form of misdirection, making someone else responsible for an issue the projector can’t or won’t face. The diagnostic clue was the word ‘abomination’.

Because of course the real abominations are the huge, overbearing, shadow casting tower blocks that Mr Dudley championed.

To borrow Claire Stretton’s memorable phrase, these ‘slums of the future’ will do far more to damage the ambience of our town centre than Club Allure (the suggested future name).

I was no fan of the old Honeypot.

However, the new operators have promised a more discreet outward appearance that blends into Queen Street, to replace the original ‘get it here’ look.

That is welcome news.

What goes on inside is both legal and of no interest to me.

That people can walk by and not feel uncomfortable is.

Within the law, that is the best we could hope for and unlike Dudders, I welcome it.

JOHN BALDWIN

Boyn Hill

Maidenhead

Algorithm and rhyme

Old Macdonald had a firm

AI AI oh

And in this firm he had no staff

AI AI oh

With no staff here

And no staff there

Old MacDonald had a firm

AI AI oh!

Old MacDonald had a firm

AI AI oh

And in this firm

There were just screens

AI AI oh

With a small screen here

And a big screen there

No staff here

And no staff there

Ev’rywhere you look

There’s no staff at all

Old MacDonald had just screens

AI AI oh!

Now there are no jobs no more

AI AI oh

Uni was a waste of time

AI AI oh

With a Masters here

And a Masters there

A small screen here

And a big screen there

No staff here

And no staff there

Ev’rywhere you look

There’s no staff at all

Old MacDonald had a firm

But it’s all gone now!

MALCOLM STRETTEN

Riverside

Maidenhead

Cross-party support for station parking solution

There has long been a lack of sufficient car parking spaces at Twyford Station.

A small group of us recently raised a petition for Wokingham Borough residents to urge the borough council to engage more robustly with GWR to assess the parking needs and review possible solutions.

We were delighted that nearly 2,000 borough residents signed and the petition was presented to the borough council back in November.

It resulted in a motion for debate at the council and this took place on January 22.

It received cross-party support from the two main parties – Lib Dems and Conservatives.

The motion in part calls for the council to work more robustly on assessing the demand, developing plans and also to convene a cross party working group to monitor and support this project, with a progress report required in May this year.

Whilst there was an anti-car lobby by some councillors, the sheer practicalities of access for many residents really means car use becomes essential for many.

The attraction of using Twyford has increased since the GWR service to Paddington became faster and the Elizabeth Line success has given passengers new direct access to many places.

We will keep your readers updated on progress.

The main issues are finance and finding a new larger location for parking close to the station as well as looking at enhancing access by bus, bike and foot.

We are now confident the borough administration can be held to account for progress towards a solution.

ANGUS ROSS

Former Wokingham Borough Council councillor

Mr Merz’s timely words of wisdom on EU future

While it may be a comfort to some that our Government is edging us back into the ambit of the EU, they should be careful what they wish for.

In his speech to the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Friedrich Merz, the Federal Chancellor of Germany said: “Europe (I think he meant the EU) is joining forces with new partners, as you see in our efforts to finalise trade agreements with Mexico and Indonesia.

“In order to make best use of these new partnerships, we need to put our house in order at home. We are aware of those problems.

“Both Germany and Europe have wasted incredible potential for growth in recent years by dragging our feet on reforms in unnecessary and excessive curtailment of entrepreneurship freedoms and personal responsibility.

“We are going to change that now. Security and predictability take precedence over excessive regulation and misplaced perfection.

“We must reduce bureaucracy substantially in Europe.

“The single market was once created to form the most competitive economic area in the world, but instead we have become the world champion of overregulation: That has to stop.”

Couldn’t have put it better myself, and it is perhaps no coincidence that the champions of the single market who tried to guide the Union on the issues that the Chancellor has so accurately highlighted, eventually gave up the fight and left.

Let’s hope that Sir Keir was listening.

CHARLES HOLLINGSWORTH

Maidenhead

Attenborough’s lessons for chest-beating Trump

Did you ever see such a spoilt bully as the current incumbent at the White House?

Was I the only one expecting any minute to see him stamp his foot and say, ‘I’ll scream and scream until I’m sick! I can you know!’?

While not claiming to be any particular fan of the present occupant of No 10 Downing Street, I am at least glad that on this side of the Atlantic we had a masterclass many decades ago, from David Attenborough in the wilds of the African forests, on how to handle such chest-beating politicians as the American President.

‘Remember David Attenborough’

Here’s a text that came from Starmer

To invite me to his boozer;

To have a chat and drink warm beer –

That guy is such a loser!

Here’s one that came from Macron:

‘Come and tell me how you feel.’;

But the menu at Élysée

Doesn’t have a Big Mac meal!

Now the World must give me Greenland –

The easy or hard way;

And you all must tug the forelock

And do everything I say.

So, I’ll beat my chest in public,

Like the bully that I am:

And my ravings let the World see

What’s befallen Uncle Sam!

JAY FLYNN

Moneyrow Green

Holyport