Planners have been busy in Bracknell and Wokingham this week — refusing developments on historic parkland, turning down new double glazing on a town centre building, and checking that bat boxes meet planning conditions.
BRACKNELL — Bracknell Rugby Club — no permission to build padel courts — 25/00462/FUL.
Bracknell Rugby Club, based in Lily Hill Park behind the Running Horse Roundabout, has had an application to build three padel courts refused. The club, founded in 1955, said it wanted to “.. benefit the local community by affording both paid and free of charge access to a highly inclusive sport that is otherwise unavailable in the county.”
Planners note Lily Hill Park is a 23-hectare historic site owned by Bracknell Forest Council with woodlands, recreation areas and public walks. The planning officer said the courts and their canopies would be inappropriate for the location, harming the openness of the park, and that there were not special circumstances to outweigh that harm.
They also raised concerns the proposal would worsen parking in Lily Hill Park car park and could lead to unsafe roadside parking. The decision references the Bracknell Forest Local Plan protections for Play, Open Space and Sports provision and for biodiversity, and flags potential adverse impacts on open spaces, biodiversity and trees.
WOKINGHAM — No permission to replace historic windows with new double glazing — 253040
Occupiers of 3–4 Market Place (Market Chambers), the late-1700s town house next to HSBC in Wokingham town centre, were refused permission to install double-glazed replica sash windows. The building has historic sash windows with glazing bars.
Keith Frost, the council’s built heritage officer, said that the intention to replicate the casements to include individual sealed double-glazed panes goes contrary to the established heritage principle of replacement window units being faithful reproductions of the original, including the use of single glazing. He felt it had not been proved that the existing windows were no longer repairable.
WOKINGHAM — 45cm bat boxes at a residential house — 193012
A Woodley resident has submitted proof to Wokingham Borough Council that they installed two 45cm wooden bat houses in their garden to satisfy condition six of a planning permission after building a new house. The resident sent a certificate to confirm the installation.
Planners normally consider bats where habitats or bat 'flyways' are affected; this property is in a residential area near the Winnersh Triangle A329M junction.
Ted O'Neill, Local Democracy Reporter
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