The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead’s borough-wide planning panel, meeting on Tuesday, granted permission for Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot to be demolished and rebuilt adjacent to the existing facility.

Applicant Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust also sought to develop up to 250 homes on the site of the existing hospital, which is in the green belt.

The trust argued that the needs of modern health requirements could not be met by the limitations of the existing building and that the provision of a new purpose-built facility on the site would enable improvements to health care quality.

The health service benefits as well as other factors including employment generation were cited as very special circumstances justifying the proposal in the green belt.

But the planning officer’s report on the application said that car parking for an office building in the development would be located on woodland priority habitat on the site.

"The extent of parking resulting in the significant loss of woodland priority habitat is not justified," the report said.

Proposed improvements to the retained woodland were not considered sufficient mitigation or compensation for the net loss of woodland and harm cause, it said. "A very special circumstances case does not therefore exist," it concluded.

But councillors voted against the officer recommendation, with a motion to approve the scheme being supported by 12 members, with 1 abstaining. The decision will be sent to the communities secretary Sajid Javid for final ratification.

Frimley Health NHS Trust welcomed the decision. "We have worked tirelessly with planners over the last two years and engaged with the local community in order to finalise plans to build a new hospital in Ascot fit for the 21st century," said Sir Andrew Morris, the trust’s chief executive.

"We appreciate all the support received at the planning meeting and are really pleased with the outcome."

The trust says it hopes to start building work early next year, with the hospital opening in 2020.

Source: Planning Recourse