Councillors back plans for 47 homes at Woolley Hall

A comprehensive housing development on the site of a listed building has been met with approval by Royal Borough councillors last night - against officer recommendations.

Members of the Maidenhead development control panel have voted in favour of a scheme to convert and redevelop the Grade II-listed Woolley Hall and the nearby Woolley Grange, in Littlewick Green, into 47 homes.

Councillors argued the scheme had been met with no objections by the community and was preferable to alternative plans for more than 10,000 square metres of office which have already been approved for the site.

Development control manager Suki Coe had asked councillors to defer the decision to allow for a number of details to be ironed out, including issues with design and the garages, but members voted to move ahead, albeit with a number of conditions.

The scheme will have to go before the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, before it can be approved.

A linked plan from the same developer, Millgate Homes, to build 23 homes at Woodlands Park Industrial Estate was also approved.

The plans, which involve the demolition of industrial units, were initially recommended for refusal but were met with favour by councillors after the developer agreed the estate would provide affordable housing.

Other plans discussed at the meeting include:

• Plans to extend the Thames Riviera hotel, in Bridge Road, to provide 12 additional rooms were deferred over parking concerns.

• An outline application to demolish Maidenhead Tyres & Exhausts, off Grenfell Road, and build 14 apartments was approved.

• Proposals to build 13 houses on land behind Alwyn Road and St Mark's Crescent were approved.

• An application to convert the first and second floors above Helen and Douglas House, in High Street, into flats was approved.