Plans submitted to build retirement housing at Windsor Thames Hospice site

Plans to transform Thames Hospice’s Pine Lodge into retirement housing have been submitted to the Royal Borough.

The charity, which provides care for people living with life-limiting illness, is due to move to a new purpose-built facility at Bray Lake next year, making its current base in Hatch Lane, Windsor, redundant.

A planning application has been submitted for the Windsor site by Beechcroft Development Ltd, which creates retirement communities for people aged 55 and over.

The planned redevelopment involves demolishing the existing building and constructing 50 homes consisting of three two-storey terraced houses, four two-storey semi-detached houses, two two-and-a-half-storey apartment blocks and one three-storey apartment block with associated parking.

A design and access statement for the plans said the mixture of houses and apartments has been proposed in order to promote a balance of accommodation and each house will include a private garden and parking area.

The apartments have been designed with a private balcony or terraced areas.

Initial proposals were submitted to the Royal Borough in the spring and the plans have now been further developed through input from a team of professional consultants and feedback from the council, which made several recommendations.

These include a biodiversity survey and report, transport assessment, flood risk assessment, a surface water drainage strategy, arboriculturalist assessment, landscaping details and a draft landscape management plan, lighting assessment and affordable housing assessment.

The application has proposed 15 affordable housing units, made up of shared ownership properties.

A new pedestrian gated access has been proposed from the north boundary between the apartment buildings which will lead directly to a public footpath from Hatch Lane to Longbourn, giving residents from the new homes easy access to open space.

The proposed site is located outside the flood zone area and is not allocated in the Borough Local Plan (BLP), which was submitted for examination in January 2018 and is currently in a consultation period.

Thames Hospice had not responded to a request for comment at the time of going to press.