Fairmont Windsor Park Hotel owner Surinder Arora has been ordered to tear down his hotel after Runnymede Borough Council found he had made multiple changes to the building without planning permission.
Arora added an extra wing to the hotel and extended into the eaves without planning permission. He may also have to demolish five luxury treehouses, which were built despite having planning permission denied by the council. The hotel founder has until October 7 to appeal the decision enforced by the Borough Council, who found the hotel to have had a ‘harmful effect on the green belt’.
In February 2023, the Fairmont Windsor Park Hotel hosted Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen as they signed the Brexit deal that removed Britain from the EU. Sunak also hosted an away day for Conservative Party MPs at the hotel in March, where the party booked the entire hotel.
If Arora appeals the ruling, the appeal could eventually end up in front of the government’s housing secretary Michael Gove, according to The Times.
In a statement, the council said: 'Runnymede Borough Council responded to an enforcement investigation request made on February 21 2023 that claimed that the Fairmont Hotel Windsor Park had been built incorrectly, with significant additions to the rear of the building meaning it was larger than the approved plans.
'Following an enforcement investigation, a Planning Enforcement Notice was issued on July 7 2023 which requires the hotel to either be returned to the approved plans, or demolished.'
Arora has also issued a statement, saying: ‘We are truly sorry for the mistakes made during the construction of the Fairmont Windsor Park. It was a highly challenging construction site being developed in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘We are now constructively engaging with Runnymede council and other local stakeholders to find mutually acceptable solutions to the planning concerns which have been raised. The hotel is a fantastic property. We want to ensure it continues serving the local area and bringing significant economic benefits to Runnymede.
‘We remain extremely proud of it but also accept the need to remedy our mistakes.’
Hotel tycoon Arora is the founder and chairman of the Arora Group, which has a portfolio of 16 hotels, mostly near Heathrow and Gatwick. He featured on the Sunday Times Rich List in 2023 with a family net worth of £1.3bn, and is a prominent Conservative Party donor.
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