No go for new health and leisure club in Windsor

Councillors unanimously rejected an application for a new health and leisure club close to Eton Excelsior Rowing Club at a meeting on Wednesday.

The application included plans for squash courts, a swimming pool and car parking for 144 cars at the health club.

Ann Taylor, a member of the Oakley Green and Fifield Residents Association, told the Windsor Urban Development Panel that plans to build the new club on green belt land were ‘inappropriate’.

She said it would increase traffic around the area, especially on Maidenhead Road, which would provide the main access route to the site.

“Imagine the impact on residents’ lives living on the old Maidenhead Road as a result of the increased traffic that would result from this development,” she said.

Applicant Nick Pellew, voluntary chairman of The Windsor Club, told the panel that a new club was needed near the rowing club site as their current site is soon to be demolished.

But Cllr Phillip Bicknell said the application did not have enough ‘meat on the bones’ and had not taken into account the impact the building would have on the surrounding area.