A billionaire Tory donor has offered to demolish a derelict mansion if he is allowed to keep a five-star hotel next door which breached planning permission.
Surinder Arora has made a last ditch bid to save the Fairmont Windsor Park Hotel from demolition after adding an extra wing and extending the building without planning permission.
He was told in August to tear down the hotel, where Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen signed the Windsor Framework Brexit deal in February.
But the hotel tycoon, and Arora Group founder and chairman, submitted a revised planning application last month. He has offered to demolish the mansion on the neighbouring Parkwood Estate and refrain from building a luxury home on the plot.
Parkwood Estate has already been granted planning permission for a 10-bedroom mansion with an indoor swimming pool and spa.
The proposed development, which would be 30 times the size of an average new home, would also have a cinema, library and accommodation for staff.
It is rumoured the Prince and Princess of Wales had once expressed interest in the estate, planning documents state.
And Runnymede Council has approved plans for the owner of the site to demolish the existing mansion, parts of which have fallen into disrepair, to replace it with the new luxury property.
But in a new submission to the council, aimed at saving the Fairmont hotel, the Arora Group has said it is willing to demolish the existing development at the Parkwood Estate, which neighbours the hotel’s site.
It has also offered to relinquish approved plans for redevelopment within the Parkwood Estate.
The group claims the changes will see 2,891 sqm of floor space either demolished or not built – all of which is located within the Green Belt.
As built, the Fairmont Hotel comprises 2,868sqm of additional unauthorised floor space, which the group has apologised for.
“The retention of the Fairmont extensions, coupled with the removal of the Parkwood Estate buildings will offer both visual and spatial benefits to the Green Belt,” its proposal states.
The group goes on to list the benefits of the Fairmont hotel to the local community, including creating hundreds of jobs and bringing millions of pounds of tourism.
One resident said Mr Arora had been ‘more than economic with the truth’ in arguing his planning breaches were an honest mistake
But some locals were unimpressed by the new plans, with one submission to Runnymede Council objecting “on the strongest possible grounds”. “The Arora Group deliberately, wilfully and persistently ignored planning regulations to exceed their then planning permissions to extend the hotel in size and scope – well aware they were breaking the law,” the complainant said.
Another said Mr Arora had been “more than economic with the truth” in arguing his planning breaches were an honest mistake.
In August, Mr Arora was told to demolish all or part of the hotel after adding an extra wing and extending the building without planning permission.
The council found the development had a “harmful effect on the green belt” and the row could eventually end up on the desk of housing secretary Michael Gove.
Mr Arora is a former baggage handler who started his business empire with four derelict houses near Heathrow.
Mr Arora converted the homes into bed-and-breakfast accommodation for British Airways cabin crew in 1993.
Today he has a portfolio of 16 hotels with more than 6,000 rooms, mostly near Heathrow and Gatwick, and a family net worth of £1.3bn, according to The 2023 Sunday Times Rich List.
The Indian-born businessman worked as a baggage handler and a wine waiter at the Heathrow Pena hotel — now the Renaissance Hotel, part of the Arora group.
His Fairmont Windsor Park Hotel also played host to a March away day for Tory MPs hosted by Mr Sunak.
The Conservatives booked the entire hotel for lectures, drinks receptions and a dinner with the PM, where MPs were able to eat Hereford beef, Atlantic cod and roast Scottish salmon.
That came after the £400+ a night hotel in Berkshire served as the backdrop for Mr Sunak and Ms von der Leyen to agree the Windsor Framework this year – a victory for the PM.
General manager Ryan Nicholls said at the time staff were “delighted to be part of the historic occasion”.
The five-star hotel is surrounded by 40 acres of green space and situated on the edge of Windsor Great Park, a royal park that spans 4,800 acres.
Aside from accommodation, facilities include an award-winning luxury spa and wellness centre, seven restaurants and bars, and event spaces.
Fairmont Windsor Park also has 15 meeting rooms, one of which served as the venue for the political meeting, and a ballroom that can cater for events of up to 700 guests.
Dozens of residents made submissions over the hotel, while a report by a local residents’ association found “a number of large additions to the hotel” that did not appear to have planning permission, including an extra wing and two extensions.
It said that the hotel was around two-and-a-half metres taller than planned and that out of around 20 applications, there were none approved online that “show these apparent additions to the hotel”.
Through Arora Management Services Ltd, Mr Arora has previously donated £5,000 to the Conservatives in Runnymede and Weybridge, plus another £1,450 in sponsorship.
Mr Arora said he is “truly sorry” for mistakes made during the construction of the Fairmont Windsor Park.
He said: “It was a highly challenging construction site being developed in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
