Windsor Racecourse Hilton given green light

Planning permission has been granted for a 150-bedroom Hilton Garden Inn hotel at Royal Windsor Racecourse.

Arena Racing Company, which owns the racecourse, applied to build the hotel on the site of the existing Silver Ring enclosure building "to help underpin the future of the racecourse and provide new quality overnight accommodation at a site designated by the council as being significant in the local tourism economy".

It said the hotel would "help the racecourse attract business tourism events that they are currently losing out on" and, with Hilton's involvement, "make the racecourse capable of being marked internationally as a hotel venue".

The four-storey hotel would have a bar and restaurant open for breakfast and dinner, and a fitness suite, all open to non-residents.

The hotel raised some concerns, as the area is within the green belt and on a flood plain next to the River Thames. However, at the Windsor Urban Development Management panel on 11 October, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead councillors said the "economic benefits of the scheme outweigh the harm to the green belt".

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