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PLANS to redevelop the Squires Garden Centre are back and are set to be decided next week by councillors.
Developer Square Bay’s revised scheme to demolish the old centre for 30 homes, 30 per cent of which are affordable, will be decided by members sitting on the Windsor and Ascot development management panel on Wednesday, April 6.
The new plans see one block of flats compromising eight apartments and 22 three-bed and four-bedroom homes. This will be a mix of two-storey semi-detached and terrace houses and the apartment block could be up to three-storeys in height.
Nearly 70 car parking spaces are included, as well as cycle storage and private garden space for the homes.
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The scale and bulkiness of the scheme have been reduced following the planning inspector dismissing an appeal made by the developer.
Councillors threw out a previous scheme for 37 homes back in 2019 over concerns about its impact on the greenbelt and openness and the layout, scale, and bulkiness leading to a ‘dense’ site.
Squires Garden Centre
The site is allocated within the now adopted borough local plan, which earmarks multiple sites for thousands of homes to meet the borough’s future population and economic growth until 2033, known as AL22.
This means it has been taken out of the greenbelt allocation and is no longer protected by greenbelt policies.
Despite the developer reducing the scheme, 69 objections have been received urging the council to reject it.
Theresa Haggart, chair of the Windsor and Eton Society’s heritage and environment committee, believed the apartments would still result in an “overdevelopment” of the site.
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She wrote: “Although the scale and height has been reduced the design does not address its important location on the roundabout and the design is rather disappointing.
She added: “There is no easily accessible open space for the occupants of the first-floor units as the green space around the block is blocked off by hedging. In addition, this space is very close to the highway and roundabout and provides a poor environment.”
Officers recommend councillors to authorise the head of planning to grant planning permission subject to the developer completing to secure the highway infrastructure, affordable housing, and carbon offset fund contribution funds.
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