Church and gurdwara make bid for new home in central Maidenhead

Maidenhead Gurdwara and Jubilee Church have joined forces to make a ‘very competitive bid’ for a new home in Reform Road.

Moving has been on the cards for the gurdwara, based at Rutland Road, for a few years.

Meanwhile, Jubilee Community Church in Marlow Road said its membership has swelled and expressed an interest in Reform Road in June.

Buildings in Reform Road owned by Windsor and Maidenhead council have reached the end of their economic life and the council has been looking into selling off the land.

This incorporates Clyde House, the demolished Waldeck House, and the Project Centre.

Though the borough could sell the land off in parcels, Jubilee Church and Maidenhead Gurdwara are hoping to jointly take over the site as one lot, which they will then divide via an internal agreement.

The two communities submitted a bid for the development site at Reform Road on the morning of October 30 and are now waiting to hear back from the council.

This joint communal space is ‘a golden opportunity’, said Dr Ravinder Singh Zandu from the gurdwara.

“Both the communities are struggling for parking space and other facilities they can’t provide at their current place,” he said.

“The community has grown by 54 per cent as per national statistics and lots of people have moved into the borough from other places.

“Our Sunday gatherings have increased. The parking on the roads is becoming difficult and we want to be a good neighbour, as we have been in the past.

“We can see this [Reform Road] space will provide us with good, ample parking – and we can have a gurdwara easily accessible to the community.

“It’s quite a central location, accessible for old people They can go via bus or walk down – that will be an opportunity we don’t want to lose.

“Everyone is quite happy [to move] – everyone has seen those struggles.”

There are some gatherings it cannot hold, such as larger weddings, forcing people to go to other gurdwaras further afield.

He hopes the council will appreciate to the social value the gurdwara and church are offering – rather than considering only the one-time monetary value of a sale to the private sector.

“The year-on-year benefits are much, much higher,” he said. “Both the [church and gurdwara] communities are offering very good voluntary services within the Royal Borough.

The gurdwara plans to offer vocational courses on plumbing, electrics and suchlike at the new site.

Ravinder hopes the council will want to boost the amount of community spaces and services, especially in light of its finances.

Speaking to the Royal Borough’s cabinet last Wednesday, October 30, Pete Felgate from Jubilee Church said: “We’ve made this bid because both of our faith groups love Maidenhead and we love the people in it.

“We want to see the town grow for the better with good foundations and social infrastructure that it needs.

“We want to make a significant investment into the community provisions in the town centre.

“We hope in doing so, we can relieve some of the social pressures the council simply cannot afford to fund.”