The owners of a controversial town centre block of flats built without planning permission are fighting a council order to demolish it.
Slough Borough Council demanded last month that the half-constructed building on Wexham Road, opposite the Royal Mail office, be demolished. But the owners have appealed to the Planning Inspectorate to have the order overturned.
Slough Borough Council told the Observer it is confident the appeal will fail. A spokesperson said: “The council is very confident that it is able to defend its decision, both in terms of the enforcement notice and refusal of the planning application.”
The appeal follows more than a year of twists and turns over whether the flats, which at six storeys high tower over neighbouring houses, should be allowed to be built.
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Councillors on Slough’s planning committee initially gave approval to the towering 27-home development – reaching as tall as six storeys – in July last year. The vote meant formal planning permission would be granted once all necessary legal agreements were signed.
That was against the advice of the council’s own planning officers, who said it would create ‘an overwhelming sense of enclosure and overlooking’ towards neighbouring houses.
He voted to approve the extension along with other Conservative councillors Nadeem Khawar, Gurchuran Manku and Zafar Satti. Only three others voted against – Labour councillors Martin Carter, Harjinder Gahir and Pavitar Mann. Liberal Democrat councillor Asim Naveed abstained.
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Yet formal planning permission wasn’t granted as Wexham Construction Ltd failed to sign an agreement to contribute to the costs of new infrastructure to support the development within a six month time frame.
Such agreements are a normal part of the planning process and have to be signed for formal permission to be granted.
With the deadline passed, planning officers brought the application back to the planning committee in May this year – again recommending that it be refused.
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By that time, all the councillors who previously voted to approve it had been replaced on the committee. This time the committee voted to reject the application – meaning it never had planning permission. But by this point construction work was already underway.
In the enforcement notice the council says the building should either be demolished or made to fit with plans for a smaller block of flats of up to four storeys that was granted planning permission in 2022.
The notice was due to come into force on 7 November, but Wexham Construction lodged an appeal against it. The firm’s director, solicitor Ramandeep Purewall also lodged an appeal, as did Gian Purewall, Amrita Purewall and Mandeep Ajula.
That means a Government planning inspector will have the final say after a hearing set to take place next year.
The Observer attempted to contact Ramandeep Purewall at the Harrow-based solicitors firm Aston Brooke where he is also a director, but received no response.
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