Councillors throw out plans for new Windsor Premier Inn hotel

Plans to build a new hotel in Windsor were unanimously refused on Wednesday, with one councillor likening the development to ‘parking the Death Star in a Dickens novel’.

Councillors on the Windsor Area Development Management Panel slammed plans for a 50-bed Premier Inn hotel in St Leonard’s Road at the meeting in York House.

The applicant, Tudor Marsden-Huggins, had stated that petrol tanks under the existing site, a former Texaco petrol station, posed a ‘terrorist threat’ and appealed for the panel to approve the plans so they could remove the tanks.

However, a council planning officer stated there was ‘no evidence’ that this was the case.

Cllr Amy Tisi (Lib Dem, Clewer East) said: “How on earth is this supposed to be Victorian village-style? That’s like parking the Death Star in a Dickens novel.

“I’m concerned it’s going to cause more pollution and I agree with the officer’s comments about the scheme being just too big.”

The plans show the hotel to be four storeys high in places, measuring up to 11metres tall.

The applicant argued that the hotel would provide 25 new jobs for the area, but with 49 car parking spaces provided in the application, councillors questioned where staff would park.

Cllr Julian Sharpe (Con, Ascot and Sunninghill), said: “I’m confused about the sustainability of this because it’s a 50-bed hotel with 50(sic) parking spaces.

“Where on earth are the staff going to put their cars?

“Because they will undoubtedly come in cars and want to park somewhere.”

Cllr Christine Bateson (Con, Sunningdale and Cheapside) said the application may fit in better at a different location. She said “I quite like the building, I think it’s fine, but the trouble is it’s in the wrong place.

“It needs to be in the middle of a town or somewhere like that.”