Maidenhead golf course earmarked for over 2,000 homes

Maidenhead Golf Club has agreed to give up its 24-year lease of the council-owned site early

A town centre golf course has been earmarked for 2,000 homes after a council approved a new local plan.

The future development of Maidenhead Golf Club is included in proposals which were approved at a full council meeting on Tuesday.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead's planning boss said the plan put it in a good position to meet local housing needs.

But around 150 protestors demonstrated against the local plan.

The 2,000 homes on the town's golf course are part of a wider local plan, which would see at least 14,240 new homes built between now and 2033.

No official planning application has been put in yet for the golf course site, which is the biggest development in the plan.

It comes after golf club members in 2016 voted in favour to accept the council's £15.95m offer to surrender the lease of the 132-acre (53-hectare) site.

David Coppinger, cabinet member for planning, said: "This is a very difficult decision and I know a lot of councillors and residents don't agree with it, but it was the right decision for the borough going forward."

The local plan's adoption will have full weight in deciding any planning applications, and abound 150 protestors turned up at the town hall to oppose it.

Protester Tom Wigley said: "Air quality in Maidenhead is bad, but you build all those houses, it's just going to get worse."

Fiona Allen said: "We all know that it's an environmental disaster, it's an absolute joke you know, with what's happening with climate change."