Fate of £500m Nicholsons redevelopment to be decided at meeting next week

Councillors will decide the fate of the £500m Nicholsons Centre redevelopment at a long-awaited meeting next week – with officers recommending the project for approval.

The council will meet for an extraordinary development management committee meeting on Thursday, where a final decision will be made on Areli’s revised plans for the project – more than five years after the developer first submitted proposals.

Officers have given their backing to the demolition and redevelopment of the shopping centre, subject to agreements being reached on details such as highways infrastructure, travel plans and carbon offsetting.

They believe the ‘wider public benefits of the proposal’ include ‘an overall regeneration of and improvement to the quality of place in the town centre, the provision of housing, employment and resulting benefits to the local economy, transport improvements, and a significant uplift in biodiversity and open space’.

This, they say, outweighs the ‘less than substantial harm’ to nearby heritage assets. The height and scale of the project is ‘considered acceptable’, say officers.

Areli first submitted an application for the redevelopment back in 2020 and in 2021 it secured permission to turn the ageing shopping centre into shops, flats, a new car park and open green spaces.

But the project was beset by delays, including rising building costs and legal challenges to compulsory purchase orders.

Updated plans were then resubmitted to the Royal Borough in April this year.

These included a number of changes, including an increase in the number of flats provided, less office space and a reduction in the height of the tallest building from 25 storeys to 20.

The development’s multi-storey car park has proved to be one of the most contentious parts of the plan.

The car park will include 451 spaces, but only 100 spots will be available for shoppers. This has prompted concern from groups including Maidenhead Civic Society.

The plans include 755 residential flats. The majority will be one-bed flats, with 250 two-bed flats, studios and a limited number of three-bed units also planned.

A total of 101 senior independent living apartments have also been proposed but the applicant said affordable housing is not viable at this stage.

A four-storey office building is also part of the plans, along with 3,643 square metres of flexible retail space.

Restaurants, cafes and shops would form part of the development, along with public realm space in a new Sir Nicholas Winton Square and Moffatt Square.

The proposals received 21 letters of comment, the majority of which were in support of concerns raised by ECO Action and the Climate Emergency Coalition.

Environmental groups want to see refurbishment of the site, rather than redevelopment, and have raised concerns about carbon emissions from the development.

If the plans are approved, Areli expects to complete legal agreements by December, with work on the site potentially starting in the first quarter of 2026.

The initials phases of the scheme are not expected to be completed until 2029.

The meeting will take place at Maidenhead Town Hall at 6pm.