Appeal begins against Windsor and Maidenhead council over 91-flat proposal

An appeal has begun on Mattel House – a large office block in Vanwall Business Park where developers want to build 91 flats against the council’s wishes.

The homes were to be made up of 29 one-bed flats, 54 two-bed flats and eight three-bed flats, with 91 car parking spaces and 94 bicycle spaces.

The Borough would have been minded to refuse – judging by the thoughts expressed by the Maidenhead development panel in February – fearing the loss of office space and raising concerns over the quality of the homes proposed.

Plans went to appeal after the council failed to make a decision in time.

Developer Bellway Homes has argued that the principle of building homes on the site has already been established, because the council already signed off on a change-of-use application to that effect.

“The loss of office floorspace is justified in this case, primarily in light of the permitted development fallback position, which would see the existing office buildings converted into a total of 71 residential units without the need for express planning permission,” they wrote.

“The employment floorspace is already lost in principle.”

Bellway also argued the Borough was not meeting its five-year housing supply.

“Unlike the council’s purported surplus of 940 dwellings, we identify a deficit of 1,261 dwellings," the developer wrote.

This would mean that the number of homes in the offing would only meet the Borough’s housing supply for the next 3.75 years.

The Borough has disputed this figure, providing its own of 4.69 years – but this is still short of the five-year target.

Nonetheless, the Borough has made its case in the appeal, highlighting the loss of 3,086sqm of office space, allocated in the Borough Local Plan (BLP) for office employment.

“[Policy] states that where an application conflicts with a development plan, permission should not normally be granted,” officers wrote.

“The appellant’s marketing report has been independently assessed and found to be substantially deficient.”

Furthermore, the proposal ‘would result in harm to the future residential occupiers’ and will ‘harm the visual amenity of the area’ for its size and placement.

The council does not think that the fall-back position of the prior approval negates policy requirements.

Officers added that the housing land supply shortfall is ‘not considered to be significant’ especially given an ‘imminent’ likely national policy change.

“It is the council’s view that the significant policy failures significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits.

“It is not considered that the council’s 4.69-year housing land supply outweighs the significant adverse impacts.”

To see all the planning and appeal documents, enter reference 22/01391/FULL into the Windsor and Maidenhead planning portal.