‘Meditation retreats’ at old Langley Scout hut approved despite parking concerns

This article has been updated.

Slough Borough Council has approved plans to transform a disused Langley Scout hut into a site for ‘meditation retreats’ despite concerns over disruption to residents.   

Science of Spirituality, which owns the site at 59 Willoughby Road, submitted a bid to repurpose the hut for its practices as a 'non-profit spiritual organisation'.

Its plans were initially rejected by the council, which said it had failed to provide enough car parking and was not ‘compatible with neighbouring residential properties’.

A Government planning inspector also ruled against the plans at an appeal, citing worsening disruption to residents over a lack of parking.

However, two days after the inspector’s ruling, the council approved a renewed bid for the Scout hut.

According to its website, Science of Spirituality, a UK-registered charity led by spiritual head Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj, has more than 3,200 centres in 50 countries.

Singh’s teachings, the website said, promote an ‘ancient form of mediation’ that ‘conveys spirituality as a science that we can all conduct in the laboratory of our bodies to have a practical experience of the Divine’.

The group’s bid for the Langley Scout hut will see the building used for meditation practices as well as seminars.

In the plans, the building’s roof would also have been converted from flat to pitched.

A statement on behalf of the plans said the building’s ‘highly sustainable location’ could be accessed by bus, bike or on foot and therefore did not need to provide more car parking.

It added: “It should also be noted that the timing to the proposed building will be from 8am to 8pm.

“Most of [the neighbouring] residents will be at work and there will be less load on off-street parking.”

Science of Spirituality had submitted its plans under the same regulations that covered the building in its former use as a Scout hut.

In the appeal, the planning inspector said the application should be considered in line with the requirements needed for places of worship.  

The inspector said: “It therefore seems inevitable that this would involve a much more intensive use of the building than would be the case under the current lawful use.

“Indeed, there would be regular movements of people and cars throughout the day which would clearly result in a greater level of disturbance for local residents.”

The inspector added: “Given the lack of parking provision, it is likely that the proposed use of the building would result in people seeking to park on Willoughby Road and surrounding streets.

“This would further increase disturbance for local residents.

“In addition, inappropriate parking can result in highway safety concerns for pedestrians and other highway users."

The renewed Science of Spirituality bid said the application did in fact meet the requirements for the previous use, as a halls and meeting places space.

A planning statement on behalf of the plans said, ‘upon receiving [the] refused decision letter, it has come to our attention that the planning officer didn’t provide complete information regarding the current use of the site’.

The council has approved the application subject to a string of conditions, including that development take place within three years of approval.

This article initially focused on the Planning Inspectorate's refusal of an appeal relating to this site, but has since been updated to reflect Slough Borough Council has approved a revised application for this site. We are happy to clarify this.