Runnymede Borough Council issued a planning enforcement notice this summer ordering Arora’s development company to either make good the building so it conformed with the approved plans or knock the entire hotel down. But Arora, as first reported by The Times, said it would be 'inconceivable' to flatten the hotel. He has offered instead to demolish a derelict mansion on Parkwood Estate, an adjacent plot in the green belt that he also owns, to balance out the extra floor area gained by the hotel. He said he would not redevelop the site. He also offered to knock down a barn, cottages and a bungalow.

A new planning statement issued on his behalf said: ‘Given the scale and value of the hotel, it is inconceivable that the owner would comply with the enforcement notice by demolishing it, due to the financial consequences of such a course of action that could both bankrupt the hotel and result in an unwarranted waste of the resources and carbon used to construct it.

‘The rectification requirement of the enforcement notice would also result in additional carbon emissions and wasted expenditure due to extensive and very complex works of demolition and making good.’ He said that by knocking down the Parkwood Estate building instead, he would be losing 2,981m² of floor space, which, he argued, would make up for the 2,868m² of extra space in the hotel not covered by planning permission. The planning breach was first flagged to the council in February this year. Officers served the planning enforcement notice in early July. Rishi Sunak and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen visited the hotel in February to sign the Windsor Agreement, which adjusted the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol.

Arora said that he was 'truly sorry' and claimed that building the hotel in contravention of the agreed plans had been done by mistake. He attributed the error to the Covid-19 pandemic, and 'commercial pressures' from the hotel operator. Arora was first given planning permission to redevelop the hotel, which is set in 8.9ha of parkland, in November 2016. The existing four-star, 141-bedroom hotel was to be completely refurbished and more than doubled in size to become a five-star, 219-bed facility. Changes to the original permission included a single-storey extension on the north elevation, an L-shaped ground-floor dining area, a three-storey extension for extra bedrooms and an increase in overall building height. Arora has now applied for retrospective planning permission for these, along with demolition of the Parkwood Estate building.

Unum said it initially planned to retain the building's façade but this proved too ‘structurally complex’, so the brief changed to replicating the design and detail of the original hotel while adding the new features. The new hotel finally opened in 2022. Unum declined to comment on the earlier enforcement order. The practice says on its website that ‘the final approved planning replicated the design and detail of the original hotel and added extensive new-build wings that both define and engage with the surrounding formal and parkland landscape’. The council said at the time of the enforcement: ‘[We] responded to an enforcement investigation request made on 21 February 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 7 July 2023 which requires the hotel to either be returned to the approved plans or demolished. ‘There are also additional structures on the site that have been built without planning permission which are currently being considered in line with the council’s enforcement charter. ‘It is understood that the developer is considering submitting a retrospective planning application to try to mitigate the impact upon the green belt caused by unauthorised construction works by knocking down other volume in the green belt. 

‘If such an application were to be received it would be considered in line with normal planning processes. The developer also has the option to appeal to the planning inspectorate. ‘In completing an enforcement investigation and issuing a notice within four months of it being brought to the council’s attention, the council has acted swiftly to address this breach of planning control.’ 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 Unum... ‘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.’