Tory donor issued with demolition order for hotel where Brexit deal signed

Surinder Arora told to demolish all or part of Fairmont Windsor Park hotel where Northern Ireland deal was agreed

Tory donor issued with demolition order for hotel where Brexit deal signed (https://winchesterrawstore.com/)
Surinder Arora told to demolish all or part of Fairmont Windsor Park hotel where Northern Ireland deal was agreed

A multimillionaire businessman with close links to the Conservative party has been told to knock down part or all of a luxury hotel that hosted the signing of Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal because he breached planning regulations.

A planning enforcement notice issued by Runnymede borough council said Surinder Arora’s hotel company had until 7 October to take action at the Fairmont Windsor Park hotel near Windsor.

This would involve either

This would involve either “making the unauthorised building comply with the terms of the planning permission” or else the company would need to “demolish the building in its entirety and remove all resultant waste and material from the land”, the notice said.

Arora, a Tory party donor, has accepted errors were made during extension work to the hotel, saying this was due to a “highly challenging construction site” as a result of the Covid pandemic.

The Fairmont Windsor Park, a converted 19th-century mansion that describes itself as “a luxurious countryside hotel where history and elegance merge”, was where Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, signed a revised Brexit deal in February.

The so-called Windsor framework was an attempt to solve many months of wrangling over trade and border arrangements for Northern Ireland.

In a statement to the Times, which first reported the enforcement notice, Arora said: “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.”