Green light for hospital homes
Final proposals to build on old Heatherwood site
Final plans to build 230 new homes on the site of Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot were narrowly voted through by councillors.
The proposals, put forward by developer Taylor Wimpey, seek to transform the old hospital – which is set to be replaced by an adjacent new building this spring – into a mix of apartment blocks and family housing.
Plans have been in the pipeline for the site in London Road for several years with a hybrid application submitted in 2017 to build the new hospital.
At that stage, the housing development was an outline application, meaning matters such as the scale, landscaping and design were to be brought back to Wednesday’s meeting at York House, Windsor.
Planning officers informed that the development would contain a good mix of housing types and sizes, with the apartment blocks set to rise to five storeys.
They praised the scheme’s ‘high quality design’ whilst adding a ‘sizeable’ amount of affordable housing was proposed.
But opposition included Sunninghill and Ascot Parish Council’s Cllr Robin Wood, who raised a number of concerns.
These centred around parking, which he called
‘woefully inadequate’, raising fears that people with second and third cars would park their vehicles on busy nearby streets.
This was echoed by ward councillor Julian Sharpe (Con, Ascot and Sunninghill), who blasted the development.
One of his concerns was around the lack of a cycling and walking route from the new estate to the town centre.
“The applicant says this was difficult to do because the [Ascot] racecourse owns the land,” Cllr Sharpe said. “Putting people on the moon is difficult; clearing President Putin out of Ukraine is difficult.”
He added that the design of the flats were ‘ordinary’ and would be better suited in a more urban location.
“They do not look like the sort we should be putting up on the entrance to a town like Ascot, where we have a world renowned racecourse,” Cllr Sharpe said.
Head of planning Adrian Waite responded to the lack of an active travel route, saying that this should have been considered at the 2017 meeting.
Representing the applicant, Sarah Isherwood – from consultancy firm Vail Williams, which is working with Taylor Wimpey and the NHS to bring the plans forward – defended the scheme.
She said that the residential development would help fund the new hospital site.
“[It will] deliver 250 high quality new homes on a sustainable brownfield site, delivering substantial economic and wider benefits,” Ms Isherwood said.
A motion to delegate the application to the head of planning to grant permission was put forward by Cllr John Bowden (Con, Eton and Castle), which was passed by four votes to three. Cllr Jon Davey (Ind, Clewer and Dedworth West) abstained.