Developer plans 25 homes on Grove Park business estate

A developer is seeking to demolish three office buildings and put 25 homes in their place.

Shanly Homes is seeking permission to knock down Ashwood House, Oakwood and Beechwood, all located inside the Grove Park Business Estate in White Waltham.

Sorbon Estates (part of Shanly Group) was already given permission in 2020 to demolish the majority of the buildings on this site (a former RAF barracks) and build 79 flats plus a nursery.

The controversial decision followed much opposition from White Waltham residents and the parish council.

This application fetched more than 130 objection letters, outlining fears over overdevelopment.

Fresh proposals submitted to RBWM in 2021 saw Sorbon Estates bid to convert the Oakwood offices into 10 flats and Beechwood into 15.

These conversions, plus one for Ashwood House, were approved in 2024.

Now fresh plans have reared their heads again; Shanly Homes has put in a full planning application to demolish these offices altogether and build 25 homes.

Out of these, 19 would be three-bedroom houses.

Each home will have two parking spaces, making 50 bays for future residents.

A new vehicle route is also proposed, connecting the site with Waltham Road.

The land lies within the designated greenbelt area but is on previously developed land, which makes a difference in planning considerations.

Any application proposing a larger built form than what is already there may be thought to have an unacceptable impact on the greenbelt.

In this case, the height of the proposed two-storey homes is lower than the existing commercial buildings.

Normally, for 25 homes, RBWM policy sets the expectation that seven of them (30 per cent) would be affordable housing.

But developer Shanly Homes has proposed no affordable housing at the site as it claims it is ‘not viable’ financially.

A planning statement submitted by Shanly Homes said this is because the scheme is already in deficit by about £1.24million.

The developer is projecting to make a profit of 9.7 per cent from the scheme.

Though an absence of affordable housing can lead RBWM to turn down a proposal, there is a complication – RBWM is not meeting its housing targets.

Under national planning rules, local authorities must show they can deliver enough housing across a five-year period to meet their Government-set targets.

But RBWM can only demonstrate a supply for the next 4.04 years.

This is important because if RBWM is inclined to refuse the application, this shortfall triggers the ‘tilted balance’, which means the developer is more likely to win if it goes to appeal.

To justify turning down new homes during a tilted balance, a local authority should demonstrate the harm would ‘significantly and demonstrably’ outweigh the benefits.

This could be harm to heritage assets, the countryside, neighbours’ quality of life, traffic or highways safety, or risk to future occupants from flooding or other hazards, for example.