Planning round up: Hotel plan for empty office space in Windsor

These are the latest planning applications for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

Pending: Plans were submitted to the Royal Borough seeking permission to convert a vacant office building in Windsor into a hotel.

Safaza Investments Ltd is looking to turn the offices at George V Place in Thames Avenue into a hotel.

The existing part three, part four storey building has retail units on the ground floor, but these would not be affected as part of the redevelopment.

The first, second and third floors, which were previously used as offices have been vacant for over six years.

If the plans are approved, these would be converted into 21 hotel rooms with ensuite facilities.

The planning and heritage statement submitted by Cameron Jones Planning as part of the application said the rooms would offer ‘more flexible, affordable and convenient’ accommodation for people travelling to Windsor for short trips.

But no parking has been proposed as part of the plans for the future guests.

The planning and heritage statement said the building is in a ‘sustainable location’ close to Windsor train station and bus stops.

Visit rbwm.gov.uk and search 25/02756/FULL in the council’s planning portal to view the plans.

Refused: The council rejected a garden centre’s plan to demolish several of its outbuildings and expand its café to welcome more customers.

Stubbings Nursery, a popular garden centre located between Burchett’s Green and Littlewick Green, submitted proposals to refurbish and extend its retail area.

The current outbuildings near to the garden centre would have been demolished as part of the plans whilst the café on site could have been extended.

A design and access statement prepared by Lewandowski Architects as part of the application said the increasing number of customers at the café require ‘additional space’.

It said the extra seating, both inside and outside the café, was aimed for people walking to the garden centre from the nearby National Trust’s Maidenhead Thicket.

The planning statement said: “This provides the advantage of reduced vehicle movements on local roads and increased fitness and wellbeing."

The existing kitchen would have also been extended to enhance food hygiene and health and safety to ‘the highest standards’.

But the council rejected the planning application because there was a lack of legal agreement to show how the applicant would make a financial contribution to offset carbon emissions.

This is a requirement for every non-residential extension, as set out in the borough’s Sustainability Supplementary Planning Document (SPD).

Visit rbwm.gov.uk and search 24/03128/FULL in the council’s planning portal to view the plans.

Approved: The Royal Borough has given the green light to plans looking to build a new parking deck at a car park in Maidenhead.

The proposals, put forward by Sorbon Estates (part of Shanly group), asked for permission to add an open parking deck on top of an existing car park in Ludlow Road.

This would increase the number of parking spaces for nearby offices.

A major refurbishment of an office building on the south side of Ludlow Road, which was formerly the home of WeightWatchers, was completed in September.

In a design and access statement, submitted by DMH Planning as part of the proposals, Sorbon said businesses have shown an interest in moving into the offices associated with the existing ground level parking.

But the interested companies asked for more parking spaces to reduce pressures on street parking and traffic in the surrounding area.

Currently, there are 62 spaces on the site. This will now increase to 68, with the six extra spaces on the open parking deck including electric charging points for cars and disability bays.

A previous application was submitted in the spring of this year but was rejected in May because the council’s planning officers believed the extra parking spaces would be 'significantly above local parking standards'.

The Royal Borough has now approved the current development plans as long as the applicant meets 14 planning conditions, including highway safety measures and submitting a soft landscaping plan.

Visit rbwm.gov.uk and search  25/01816/FULL in the council’s planning portal to view the plans.