Our planning application for 7 new flats on Imperial Road, Windsor has finally been granted at appeal following a formal hearing with the Planning Inspectorate.
The application was originally refused at the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maindenhead’s Urban Development committee, despite having been recommended by approval by the council’s own internal officers. Our team had originally worked with RBWMs planning officers over several months to ensure the scheme was designed in a way that was considered before officers issued their stamp of approval.
Despite this recommendation, and the prospect of 7 more homes to help ease the strain on Windsor’s lack of a 5 year housing supply, the application was refused by the committee headed by Eileen Quick, now Mayor of Windsor, just before she was elected in March earlier this year.
This is yet another example of local politics interfering with central governments desire to build much needed new homes that NHE is seeing more and more of. The reliance on the Planning Inspectorate to overturn poorly made local decisions is only slowing the delivery of new homes, and ultimately it’s those not yet on the ladder that are paying the price.
In the case of our application at Imperial Road, the Planning Inspectorate also granted an application for partial costs against the council for unreasonable behaviour following their unjustifiable grounds for refusal. This further shows the detrimental impact of the councils planning committee’s poorly made decisions on local residents and tax payers.