Council refuses amended plans for stables in Cookham Dean conservation area

The Royal Borough has rejected plans to build three new stables on Warners Hill in Cookham Dean once again, after the first application was rejected.

An initial application for the site at the junction of Warners Hill and Dean Lane in Cookham was rejected in April 2024.

An appeal was also dismissed in January, with the planning agreeing with the Royal Borough’s stance that the plans would have an adverse impact on the openness of the greenbelt.

A fresh application was submitted for the site in May, but this was also rejected in a decision notice issued on Monday.

The amended proposal submitted by JSA Architects looked to erect a new building comprising three new stables, a tack room, hay store and parking on the site, but at a smaller scale than the original application.

The plans were submitted after two residents purchased the land on Warner Hill to house their horses there.

The animals have been stabled at White Place Farm in Cookham and at Pinkneys Green, but building the new shelters would mean the horses can be rehoused.

Residents were concerned about the scale of the original plans, but they continued to have the same worries about the height of the stables, the likely traffic congestion and risk to other vehicles in the amended plans.

Two equestrian stables are already being used on the same site, but these existing shelters would be demolished and replaced with a small parking area.

One resident said: “Whilst the size of the proposed stable block has reduced in size it is still substantial, and it will still be very visible from the Warners Hill and the surrounding area.

“I do not believe this has materially changed in the new application. It will still be detrimental to the conservation area and the openness of the greenbelt.”

Other residents backed the idea that the stables should be ‘hidden behind the hedgerow’ so that they are not noticed from the top of Warners Hill.

They said: “It baffles me that the stables were not moved to the bottom of the field where access is so much better and safer via Dean Lane, a two-lane road, rather than a narrow one-track lane.

“There are already stables on Dean Lane in other properties, hidden behind the hedgerow that cannot be noticed from anywhere.”

In July, when the amended plans came forward to Cookham Parish Council, councillors also objected to the new plans.

Cookham Parish Council considered ‘the proposed dwelling [was] too high and bulky for the plot’ compared to other residential buildings near the site.

The parish council said: “The proposed development is in a prominent position at the top of a steep slope and will be highly visible in the surrounding conservation area, including across the adjacent valley.”

In its decision notice, the Royal Borough said: “The proposal would by reason of its size, scale and siting, neither preserve nor enhance the character or appearance of the Cookham Dean conservation area.”