Dedworth residents being 'denied' a say in Windsor's future

That is the view of John Holdstock, chairman of West Windsor Residents' Association - and he is planning to make his feelings known at tonight's meeting of the Royal Borough's ruling cabinet.

Bad feeling has continued to fester since the break-up in April of the Neighbourhood Plan steering group set up in 2012 with Government support to plan for the future of Windsor, Dedworth and Eton.

In April the Royal Borough's ruling Conservatives decided to split the group, hiving off Eton and Dedworth into separate groups of their own.

Opponents of the change claimed it was politically motivated because Dedworth and Eton people had ideas council leaders did not agree with. But the original steering group's chairman Cllr Natasha Airey (Con, Park) claimed it was too big and had become divisive, as people came up with ideas for areas that were not their own.

Mr Holdstock insists though that it is ludicrous to regard Dedworth people as part of a 'separate' community from Central Windsor.

He said: "Things that happen in Central Windsor affect us directly in Dedworth, we are part of Windsor. We use public transport into the centre of town. Many of the facilities we use are in the town - my doctor is in Sheet Street. There are 13,000 people in the Dedworth area, 42 per cent of the Windsor population and we are being denied any say in its future."