Bracknell planning applications currently being appealed

Three submissions are approaching the date of the hearing having not been granted approval by Bracknell Forest Council due to reasons including overdevelopment in countryside and a decision not being issued in time.

Appeal 1

An appeal was submitted on behalf of Buckinghamshire based property developers Nicholas King Homes after the council refused planning permission for the construction of seven homes and an altered access onto Locks Ride in Winkfield. 

They comprise one three-bedroom and six four-bedroom detached houses, six with garages, as well as 14 external parking bays and associated landscaping. 

The application was recommended for approval by officers, however, this was overturned by councillors on November 11, 2021, at an advisory planning committee and again at the statutory planning committee on December 2, 2021. The application was formally refused on December 3, 2021. 

It was refused on the grounds that the site is located on an undeveloped greenfield site that would “adversely impact on the open, rural” character of the area. The refusal also stated that the scale of the plan would “erode” the screening hedgerows and trees resulting in a “harmful urbanising impact” that outweighs the benefit of providing housing. 

An appeal was submitted as the applicant claims that the scheme will not cause the hard outlined by the council and “should be approved without delay”. They point to a lack of objections submitted by the council’s technical officers, including for highways, trees, landscape and biodiversity. 

Appeal 2

Riverside Country Developments Ltd, a company based in Hartley Wintney, has lodged an appeal after it claims Bracknell Forest Council did not issue a determination in its planning application in the statutory eight-week time frame.  

The proposal seeks permission for the redevelopment of the Longcroft site, which involves the demolition of the existing residential building, as well as knocking down the builder’s yard units and the removal of open storage of building materials, and the erection of six new homes. 

The application outlines the development of a three-bedroom bungalow at the front of the site, with two parking spaces, as well as five four-bedroom two-storey homes to the rear – each containing three parking spaces. 

In the appeal hearing statement, the applicant states they are “not able to wait indefinitely” for the council to process the application and “does not have confidence” that it will be determined in a reasonable timescale.  

Therefore, Riverside Country Developments Ltd  considers it necessary to “evoke [their] right to appeal” on the grounds of non-determination. 

An Inspector for the case has now been appointed and the hearing will start at 10am on Tuesday September 27. 

Appeal 3

SPL Investment Holdings Ltd, a builder’s company in Edgeware, have appealed against Bracknell Forest Council’s decision to refuse its application to develop land on Birch Lane. 

The application proposed the development of three four-bedroom two-storey detached houses on land at Pine Acres in Ascot, following the demolition of the existing house and removal of a caravan.  

In the refusal statement, the council considered the proposal to be “overdevelopment” of the existing site that would “adversely affect” the character and appearance of the countryside site, as well as the existing trees. 

It also states that the plan did not satisfactorily demonstrate that the development “protects and enhances” biodiversity, as well as putting extra pressure on a conservation site – the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area. 

The applicant claims that the proposals are in line with the development plan and that permission can only be refused “if any adverse impacts significantly outweigh the benefits” of the scheme, which they state is not the case. 

The applicant is awaiting a hearing date before a final decision will be determined.