Petition calls for new Maidenhead town council

A petition has been launched to create a Maidenhead Town Council which its creator believes will 'better represent' the area's 'local needs'.

Claire Stretton, an ex-Royal Borough councillor and leader of opposition party The Borough First, has set up the petition days after Windsor residents called for a town council of their own.

The town councils would sit below the Royal Borough, and not replace it, but a Maidenhead town council could take on responsibilities enjoyed by areas in the borough that have a parish council, like the Cookhams or the Walthams.

Parish councils and their equivalent town councils can make recommendations about planning applications for the borough's final approval and decide on how money is spent in their areas.

The unparished area of Maidenhead has a population of (about) 50,000, about one-third of the total population of RBWM, who are missing local representation enjoyed by the areas of the Borough that are ‘parished’," Ms Stretton wrote on the online petition.

"Maidenhead is undergoing massive change, which will significantly impact its residents who only have access to the Maidenhead Town Forum, which is scheduled to meet only four times a year.

"The reality is that in the last two years it has only met three times."

It would 'better represent the local needs of the residents of Maidenhead and to put the town on an equal footing with neighbouring areas', the petition states.

Ms Stretton says there would be 'no additional charge to council tax payers'.

Most parts of Maidenhead do not have a parish council, although Cox Green does.

Visit http://petitions.rbwm.gov.uk/mheadtowncouncil to view the petition.