A plan to demolish a bungalow that has been vacant for nearly 10 years in Ascot and replace it with six new homes has been quashed.
Developer Pipeline Worldwide was hoping to knock down a bungalow and replace it with three-bedroom homes contained within two terraces.
The bungalow, called Missanda, is located in Wells Lane, a single track rural road with fields and forests lying to the south of it.
Although the plan was submitted back in July 2022, the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead’s planning department made a decision on the project.
That led Pipeline Worldwide to launch an appeal to the government planning inspectorate.
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The appeal was considered by inspector JP Sargent, who judged that the new homes would be ‘dominant’ and “at odds with the subdued rural characteristics” of the area.
He added that the development would detract unacceptably from the character and appearance Wells Lane.
However, an inspector ruled that the development would not respect the character of the area, and therefore dismissed the appeal.
The decision appeared on the council’s planning website on January 31.
You can view the refused application by typing reference 21/02054/FULL into the Royal Borough’s planning website.
The house has been vacant for years, and could even have been unoccupied for almost a decade.
According to The Move Market property website, Missanda was last sold for £750,000 in October 2014.
Imagery from 2016 and 2023 shows it to be in a dilapidated state, with it being referred to as the ‘Former Missanda’ home on the Royal Borough’s planning website.
READ MORE: Plan to demolish grand Ascot house for two new mansions approved
The bungalow has been the subject of several applications to replace it.
Mr Sargent noted that planning permission was granted for two new five-bedroom homes were approved by the council’s planning department in August 2019.
However, that planning permission has since lapsed, as it was approved on the condition that work would start on the project within three years of the approval.
That permission fell away in August 2022, with no apparent work on the project being conducted, as Pipeline Worldwide considered it to be “completely financially unviable.”
An initial plan submitted in 2014 to replace Missanda with three homes was rejected by the Royal Borough.
Then, in 2015, Missanda was the subject of competing plans to either replace it with two homes or a block of 10 two-bed apartments.
While the council rejected the application for the apartments, it approved the project for two new homes.
More plans for two homes on the site followed in 2016.
Although developers submitted details for the demolition and design of replacement homes on the site in 2019, ultimately none of these projects were taken forward, and Missanda remains standing according to the latest imagery from April last year.
It is now valued at £885,000 according to The Move Market website.
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