Previously refused flats will be allowed to stay

27 December 2025

Nathan BriantSouth of England

News image — The building on the site of the former Willow Tree pub in Langley had been built when the council refused planning permission

Google A part-five storey building containing 51 flats. They are made out of a sandstone-coloured brick and the picture was taken on a pleasant sunny day. — The building on the site of the former Willow Tree pub in Langley had been built when the council refused planning permission

A residential building that was refused permission by councillors, despite already being constructed and let to tenants, will be allowed to remain after a planning inspector overturned their objection.

Property developer Redsky Homes built 51 flats at Willow Tree House in Station Road, Langley but only had permission for 41.

Slough Borough Council's planning committee voted unanimously to refuse the retrospective planning application for the 51 flats in February.

But inspector Beverley Wilders subsequently found that, while the development caused "limited harm" to neighbours and "significant harm" to one flat's occupiers, the benefits of the homes outweighed the harms created.

Planning permission for the 41-home development on the site of the former Willow Tree pub was granted on appeal by the government's Planning Inspectorate in August 2021.

Redsky Homes applied for permission for a six-storey block of 53 flats on the site in August 2023, later amended to 47 flats the following May.

The company then started construction work that the council said "didn't appear to reflect the original consents".

Redsky Homes withdrew its application for a six-storey development in November 2024.

In the same month it applied for permission for the 51-home building, which had already been built.