Arora Hotels ‘truly sorry’ for planning breach at Fairmont Windsor Park

Arora Hotels has been told to demolish all or part of the 251-bedroom Fairmont Windsor Park hotel after being found in breach of planning permissions.

An enforcement notice issued by Runnymede Borough Council in July said the company had until 7 October to make changes at the property.

It requires Arora to remedy the breach in planning rules by either adapting the building to comply with permissions or demolishing it entirely and removing all resulting waste and material from the land.

In a statement to The Times, which first reported the enforcement notice, Arora Hotels said it was “truly sorry for the mistakes made during the construction of the Fairmont Windsor Park”.

It added that it “accept[ed] the need to remedy our mistakes” and said it was “constructively engaging with Runnymede council and other local stakeholders to find mutually acceptable solutions”.

The Fairmont Windsor Park hotel opened in January 2022 on the edge of Windsor Great Park. Set within a 150-acre estate, the hotel is a sprawling new build that offers seven food and beverage outlets as well as a spa and wellbeing clinic.

The site was previously home to the 144-bedroom Savill Court Hotel & Spa, which was bought by Arora in 2014 and demolished in 2017 to build the Fairmont Windsor Park.

The enforcement notice would require the hotel to be adapted to plans approved in 2019 for a 189-bedroom hotel. The Times’ report stated that Arora Hotels had made the hotel larger than the approved plans through the addition of an extra wing and an extension into the eaves of the building.

The construction of the property was undertaken by Grove Developments, the construction arm of Arora.

The wider Arora business operates 10 airport hotels under franchise agreements with Accor, Hilton, IHG Hotels & Resorts and Marriott International. This includes one city centre hotel, the InterContinental London – the O2, as well as Fairmont Windsor Park, which was its first country house hotel.

In 2021, Arora acquired a second country house hotel, the 228-bedroom Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa in Bedfordshire, from Elite Hotels.

Savill Court Hotel & Spa was built 200 years ago as a Jacobean-style mansion house and previously housed the Schroder banking family and more recently Galen Weston, the former owner of Selfridges' department stores.

Arora operates the Fairmont Windsor Park in an equal partnership with the Fairmont brand owner Accor.

*The Caterer has approached Arora for comment. *