Unauthorised extension of Fairmont Windsor Park can be retained, council decides

Arora Hotels has been told it can retain an unauthorised extension to the Fairmont Windsor Park hotel.

The hotel group was told last year to demolish all or part of the 251-bedroom Fairmont Windsor Park hotel after being found to be in breach of planning permissions.

An enforcement notice issued by Runnymede Borough Council in July 2023 said the company had until 7 October that year to make changes at the property.

It apologised for the breach and has since offered to demolish buildings on the Parkwood Estate and relinquish other permissions if the hotel building could be retained.

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.

The enforcement notice had required the hotel to be adapted to plans approved in 2019 for a 189-bedroom hotel. 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.

In a statement issued following the planning committee’s decision, Runnymede Borough Council said: “Having considered the application on its individual planning merits, the planning committee resolved to grant planning permission for the retention of the Fairmont Windsor Park hotel as built.

“This is dependent on the demolition of the Parkwood buildings and the giving up of permission which will be secured by a legal agreement. Only once this demolition has occurred, and the requirements of the legal agreement and conditions complied with, will the enforcement matter be fully resolved.

“At the meeting of the committee, it was concluded that the benefits put forward as part of the scheme, including the demolition of the Parkwood Mansion house and the giving up of associated planning permissions, clearly outweighed any harm to the green belt by the unauthorised extensions to the hotel.

“Whilst this matter is moving towards a satisfactory planning resolution, we are disappointed that these works were undertaken on the site without planning permission in the first place. We would remind all developers of the importance of securing permission prior to undertaking works, as any works without planning permission are entirely at the risk of the developer.”

The construction of the property had been 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.

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