Appeal launched over rejected 21 home plan in Ascot

Westwood House is a large, abandoned mansion in Swinley Road, located opposite the The Berkshire Golf Club and near The Royal Foresters hotel on the verge of Ascot.

Developer Nicholas King Homes had applied to knock down the house and a one storey lodge to make way for 21 homes on the sizeable plot.

The development hoped to provide a mixture of two, three, four and five bedroom homes contained in a mix of detached and semi-detached houses and one terrace of three homes.

Of those, 25 per cent would have been affordable, consisting of a two-bed shared ownership home, two three-bed affordable rented houses and one four-bed and one five-bed socially rented homes.

The site plan for the 21 home development to replace Westwood House and a lodge in Swinley Road, Ascot. Credit: Ascot Design

However, the scheme proved unpopular with Bracknell Forest Council’s planning department, which rejected it this March.

The plan was refused by Max Baker, the council’s assistant director of planning, judging that it would have a ‘harmful, urbanising effect’ on Swinley Road.

The proposal also involved the removal of 102 trees out of the 255 on the site, which Mr Baker argued was unacceptable.

READ MORE: Ascot plan to demolish and replace £3 million home going ahead

The site is not allocated as a place for development in the Bracknell Forest Local Plan and falls within the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area, which imposes restrictions on development to limit impact on ground nesting birds such as nightjars and woodlarks.

Now, Nicholas King Homes has launched an appeal against the decision to the government’s planning inspectorate.

Boyer, the planning agents for Nicholas King Homes have attempted to refute the arguments made by the council’s planning department.

Luke Veillet, principal planner at Boyer, argued that the council’s landscaping officer had not objected to the scheme when it was submitted.

Only four of the 102 trees proposed to be removed in the plan were classified as ‘desirable for retention’, with the rest being grade C – trees of low quality, and grade U – trees that are either dead, diseased, dying or dangerous.

Arguing for approval, Mr Velliet wrote: “the layout and design of the Appeal Scheme has been sensitively incorporated to work within the framework of the retained important trees, creating an organic layout, typical of the character area.”

What the redevelopment of the Westwood House site in Swinley Road, Ascot would look like. Credit: CSA Environmental

You can view the application by typing reference 22/00116/FUL into the council’s planning portal.

The appeal can be found by typing reference APP/R0355/W/23/3321229 into the planning inspectorate website.

To the left of Westwood House is the Brompton Gardens development, which itself is a mix of detached, semi-detached and terraced houses that replaced The Brackens office site.

The Lapland UK site is immediately south of Westwood House as well.