Liberal Democrat Predictions on Green Belt Come True despite 8 years of Conservative Denials

A new consultation document from the Conservative led Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead have confirmed claims made by Local Liberal Democrats six years ago about the locations the Conservatives had in mind for Green Belt development.

Back in 2008 a headline in our Windsor Focus leaflets read, "Secret Green Belt Development plans" and was accompanied by pictures of three sites we believed the Conservatives were considering. At the time local Conservatives branded the contents of this leaflet as "lies", however they refused to disclose what their actual plans were.

Eventually Conservative Council Leader, David Burbage admitted the secret meetings, but claimed to have been ordered to review the green belt by the Government.

Cllr Burbage's claims were contradicted by Hansard, which reported a Parliamentary answer in which Ian Wright MP, the then Under Secretary of State at the Department of Communities and Local Government, told Parliament,

"No local planning authorities have been instructed to undertake green belt reviews"

Now maps appended to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead's new Green Belt consultation reveal that the land we identified to the west of Windsor, in particular to the west of the Army's Broom Farm Estate are underconsideration by the Royal Borough Conservatives for Green Belt development, just as reported six years ago.