Viewpoint: Time to talk about a manufacturing future

Time to talk about a manufacturing future

I read with great sadness the impending move of Haleon from our town to Slovakia (Maidenhead Advertiser, May 3). Different people need different paths to their life success. The future of Maidenhead cannot be just about ‘white-collar jobs' for graduates to succeed in or providing better sports grounds for leisure and entertainment. We need to make tangible things that are needed locally.

Dun & Bradstreet list 369 manufacturing companies in Maidenhead. Of these I estimate that approximately 25 per cent are actually based elsewhere. A fair proportion of the remaining three quarters appear to be head, regional or branch offices or administrative centres.

Indeed by ad hoc observations of lorry movements over recent years, I suggest that not many tangible goods appear to flow out of the Maidenhead environs.

Perhaps someone can disabuse me of this?

‘From small acorns large oaks grow’. Now after Brexit, we need to export more and import less. We cannot just rely upon macro-economic changes and big businesses. Small scale start-up facilities are needed for locally based home-grown entrepreneurs (if only for them to increase our local resilience in times of crisis or disaster).

By 2050 under reasonable climate-change scenarios, life will be quite different in the South-east for us all. Why are Maidenhead buildings not mandated to include solar power?

Where is the ambition for Maidenhead to become a centre of excellence in, for example, air conditioning, home insulation, rainfall recycling, waterless sewage handling etcetera, and to provide useful jobs for our children?

Indeed, what ‘ways of making a living’ do we want our Lib Dem council and (soon to be) new MP to foster?

For instance, will there be workshop space for local people to set up small businesses and repair facilities close to their new homes on the Maidenhead Golf Course development?

Where locally will elder folks be able to pass on their industrial skills to future Maidonians? How can we ensure that changes in our office parks are not just for warehousing and logistics but involve more actual fabrication?

Let’s start the conversation now!

Or do we just let all such industrial chances for our next generation flow elsewhere to some other town’s gain?

Clive Bowman

Fielding Road

Maidenhead

Film studio will be a positive for community

I have lived near to and loved Marlow my entire life. In the many thousands of conversations with this community, the positive quality of the life and the environment that Marlow benefits from has shone through.

I’ve worked in the film industry since I left school, and my film-making career has provided a rare chance to bring a hugely beneficial project here. We have drawn widespread support from those who understand the art and culture of making films and the potential of the creative economy.

Planning processes always generate different views, but I do think it’s important that the community of Marlow, Little Marlow and others make up their minds on the basis of evidence, rather than incorrect or misleading information.

The Marlow Film Studios application shows the detailed and precise plans of how we will actually build a bespoke film-making campus. This is not an outline application, so the full details are published.

The designs are by world-leading architects Wilkinson Eyre. We have been in close consultation with the council and local communities over a considerable time and the full plans and evidence submitted will be the basis for the decision.

The site we own is made-up ground that was formerly an aggregate quarry. It contains a deep volume of landfill so is unsuitable for food production or farming.

Greenbelt policy is a broad-brush approach that does not discriminate between pristine, untouched land and former waste disposal sites that are man-made. Local and national policy allows development in the greenbelt in special circumstances.

As landowners, we control approximately 150 acres. Of this, our planning application shows that more than half (89 acres) will be used for habitat creation and enhancement, public access, cycle routes, paths and educational and community use.

The buildings for the Studio all sit closest to the A404 and A4155, in an elegantly landscaped campus occupying less than 50 acres, with only the Skills and Culture and Community buildings outside this area as part of the recreation, education and community facilities.

The assertions that this project occupies other areas or can be compared to Wembley or Terminal 5 are demonstrably false.

We are not increasing flooding or water quality risks, and we have provided full evidence of how we will improve the current habitats and ecology of the area.

When we have built our campus, it will still be subject to the restrictions that govern greenbelt, so it cannot be changed into anything else.

On transport, the Westhorpe roundabout will be upgraded to operate more safely and effectively.

We are providing two new public bus services, including a direct link to the Elizabeth Line.

Provision of onsite parking and the legal ability to insist that people not come to work by car means we will not add to local parking problems.

Beyond the main campus, we are creating a culture and education centre that will support the training of young film-makers.

Training places for local residents will be prioritised, it will be a space where the community can engage in the film craft and creativity that is the central purpose of the project.

We are creating 2,000 new jobs and careers in the creative sector, and 2,000 jobs in the wider economy. This matters.

Local investment matters and will make local services more affordable. It will help keep people in the area, particularly the young, rather than forcing them to move away.

Marlow Film Studios will be at the heart of the local creative sector and play an important part and positive role in the lives of the local community.

Robert Laycock

Chief executive

Marlow Film Studios

Nominative determinism for crematorium site?

I can’t believe they are actually proposing a crematorium in Cookham (pronounced ‘Cook’em’). Perhaps ‘Burnham’ might have been a more appropriate site!

Glenn Draper

Ex-councillor

Bisham and Cookham

Survey shows attitudes faced by deaf people

Major new research from charity Royal National Institute for Deaf People has revealed the negative attitudes and behaviours that deaf people and people with hearing loss experience on a regular basis. 

The research of 8,151 people found that more than a quarter (27 per cent) of deaf people and people with hearing loss are ignored by most people in public settings.

More than two thirds (67 per cent) told us they have experienced negative attitudes or behaviours in the last year, and almost half (48 per cent) said they also experience this from their own family members. 

Fifty-four per cent said people tell them ‘It doesn’t matter’ when they struggle to understand, which we know can make people feel like they don’t matter. Forty-seven per cent have experienced people shouting at them.

The impact of this can be huge: people tell us they feel excluded, lonely, and disrespected. Often these experiences cause people to withdraw, to avoid others, and even hide that they are deaf or have hearing loss.

Crystal Rolfe

Director of Strategy at the Royal National Institute for Deaf People

Will Week to benefit children’s hospice

Law firm Gardner Leader is supporting Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service with a special Will Week next month.

Between Monday, June 10 and Friday, June 14, the Frascati Way company are offering people the chance to write or amend their Will in exchange for a suggested donation to Alexander Devine.

The money will go towards supporting the charity’s mission of caring for children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions.

We’re so thrilled that Gardner Leader has once again partnered with us for this Will Week and we’re very grateful for their generosity. It’s a brilliant opportunity for those who need to write or amend their Will to not only get their affairs in order, but also make a real difference to local children and families that depend on our vital service.

To find out more about how to book a consultation with Gardner Leader during its Alexander Devine Will Week, visit www.alexanderdevine.org/wills

Jenni Green

Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service