This week’s planning round up features a pub’s second bid to expand into a hotel and a refusal for new homes on a greenfield site.

You can find out more about each application by searching the application number in Bracknell Forest Council or Wokingham Borough council’s online planning portals.

Bracknell Forest Council: 24/00535/LB

Binfield House will be getting a new lift after plans were approved by Bracknell Forest Council.

The Grade II listed building dating back to 1776 was purchased by the Bracknell Forest District Council in 1974 and converted into apartments in the 1980s.

It now offers accommodation for elderly people.

The planning statement says that ‘the lack of lift to provide step-free access to the first-floor dwellings presents a significant impediment to their occupation’.

Bracknell Forest Council: 24/00471/LB

A bid to build an adventure playground next to Warfield House has been scrapped as plans were withdrawn from Bracknell Forest Council.

Another listed building, applicants wanted to build the playground on the grounds including slides and climbing frames.

Warfield Parish Council said that the space should only be used by the owners of the home and could not be hired for external use.

But before plans could be decided by Bracknell Forest Council, it was withdrawn.

Wokingham Borough Council: 242654

Ye Olde Leathern Bottel in Barkham is bidding to expand into a hotel for the second time after original plans were refused by Wokingham Borough Council.

This would comprise of a single-storey extension to the existing building to remodel the pub and kitchen areas.

Owners would also extend the first floor and convert the loft to provide five accommodation rooms.

In August, plans to expand the pub to create a 13-bed hotel were refused by the council. While the same loft conversion had been proposed, applicants also wanted to build a new building of eight rooms next door.

Neighbours had worried the impact it would have on the surrounding roads and countryside feel of the area.

The updated plans have been validated by Wokingham Borough Council, with a decision pending.

Bracknell Forest Council: 23/00843/OUT

A plan to build two new homes on a greenfield site in Winkfield has been refused by Bracknell Forest Council.

Plans first submitted in December 2023 set out to build two self-contained homes on land south of Lambrook Chavey Down Road in Winkfield Row.

But Bracknell Forest Council rejected the plans claiming it would ‘harm the rural setting’ of the village and result in ‘urbanisation of the site’.

It would also be at high risk of flooding and increase pressure on community facilities and public open space, according to planning officers.