THE blueprint of Ascot could soon be transformed after mega plans for a new town centre and hundreds of homes were unveiled.

A joint operation known as the Ascot Centre Consortium, consisting of Ascot Racecourse, Bloor Homes, The Crown Estate and Ascot Central Car Parks Ltd are behind the massive town redevelopment plans which were ignited in 2016 following public debate.

A month-long consultation period for the Ascot Centre Development Brief began on May 3 and outlines major plans for a new High Street, new public facilities and 300 homes on adjacent land.

The plans also include a new village square, a four-storey retail building, a community building for functions as well as parking to accommodate the new homes and shops.

A new village green will be created on High Street with the hopes of retaining the leafy element of the town, while the land adjacent could see an ‘artisan centre’ built with additional retail and office space with parking.

Alongside it, a new nursery could be built, following the council’s review into the need for more schools in the town.

On the land north of High Street (west of Winkfield Road) the plans identified an area for 109 of the homes, while the remaining houses will be built on the land south of the High Street, west of St George’s Lane (92) and south of the high street, east of Station Hill (99).

Up to 30 per cent of the homes could be affordable.

The consortium hopes the improvements will bring forward a better functioning and pleasant High Street in line with the initial proposals put forward in the Ascot, Sunninghill and Sunningdale Neighbourhood Plan.

Alastair Warwick, chief operations officer at Ascot Racecourse and consortium member, said: “When the neighbourhood plan came forward with the vision to create a new two-sided high street and create a better, more pleasant shopping experience, we brought in the Prince’s Foundation to help us.

“Since the initial work in 2012, we’ve stuck to the vision of delivering a green leafy High Street with complimentary uses supported by well-designed residential development.

“I hope this development brief delivers this and we will continue to champion the improvements as they come forward.”

However, the plans have been met with mixed reactions by residents and some have expressed concern that the transformation may bring about chaos as seen in other towns that have redeveloped while taking away from Ascot’s rich history.

Resident, Jonathan Greenyer, said: “It is very difficult to be impartial about the proposed housing developments in Ascot High Street. Ascot has been an anachronism for so long, a wonderfully British anachronism – rather like Windsor. What needs to be balanced are the needs for open public space, nature, infrastructure and community use. Just because you can do a Wokingham and build zillions of ticky tacky box houses on farmland without any community green spaces and shops and air gaps, doesn’t mean you should.

“Ascot development should be sensitive to the area and the environment and the community. I don’t mean just posh housing, I mean space and environment.”