A plan to replace a grand house with two mansions at an exclusive private road near Ascot has been given the go-ahead.

Fireball Hill in Sunningdale is a private road characterised by multi-million pound mansion houses set amongst the Swinley Forest and near the Charters School and leisure centre.

The owners of a house called Lynthorpe have been seeking to replace it with two six-bedroom homes built in a classical style.

Lynthorpe itself is a grand two-storey house with a generously sized garden and an outdoor swimming pool.

Slough Observer: The existing garden and pool at the home called Lynthorpe in the exclusive Fireball Hill private road in Sunningdale. Credit: Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead planning departmentThe existing garden and pool at the home called Lynthorpe in the exclusive Fireball Hill private road in Sunningdale. Credit: Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead planning department

But its owners had settled on demolishing it. Now approval for the project has been granted.

A previous plan had been refused by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead’s (RBWM) planning department, as it was judged that it would have resulted in a cramped development that would have a negative impact on trees on the site.

Furthermore, no ecological information was been provided in the previous plan to determine how risks to protected animals such as bats, badgers, reptiles or great crested newts would be managed.

The developers now have two options to progress with the development.

READ MORE: Plans to demolish villa in private estate for two mansions approved despite concerns

A meeting to determine a revised plan for Lynthorpe with adaptations was held in June 2022.

During the meeting, Patrick Griffin, chairman of the Society for the Protection of Ascot and Environs (SPAE), argued that the proposed homes had been ‘cramped’ and ‘squeezed’ into the plot.

On the other hand, Douglas Bond a planning agent for the owners said the width, height and depth had been reduced following a redesign after the previous refusal.

These changes were approved by the council’s Windsor and Ascot development management committee on June 1, 2022.

Slough Observer: The designs for the new homes to replace Lynthorpe in Fireball Hill, Sunningdale. Credit: Ascot DesignThe designs for the new homes to replace Lynthorpe in Fireball Hill, Sunningdale. Credit: Ascot Design

But shortly after that meeting, the owners won approval for their original plan for the site following an appeal to the planning inspectorate on July 18 of that year.

In the latest development, the second adapted plan that was approved at the council’s planning meeting in June 2022 has been given final approval.

At the time of the meeting in June 2022, it was decided that the project would be approved subject to a section 106 agreement determining developer contributions agreed between the owners and the council.

That legal agreement was signed on Wednesday, February 14.

This gives the owners the option of enacting either the project approved on appeal or the adapted project that was approved by the council.

You can view both plans using the application references below:

  • Application refused on appeal on July 18, 2022 – 21/01844/FULL
  • Application approved by council on February 14 – 21/03347/FULL

It is understood that the swimming pool will be filled in and the land restored to serve as a grass field for a garden of one of the new homes.