Future of east Berkshire aqua park to be discussed
Liquid leisure is where 11-year-old Kyra Hill drowned in 2022
The water park where 11-year-old Kyra Hill drowned did not have planning permission to be used as a party venue or child’s play centre, documents from the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead show.
Kyra, from Croydon in south London, died after getting into difficulty in a designated swimming area during a birthday party at Liquid Leisure on Horton Road near Datchet in August 2022.
A new report to a council planning committee shows there was no planning permission for the site to be used as an ‘aqua theme park’, ‘party venue’ or ‘child’s play centre’.
It comes after an inquest into Kyra’s death concluded last month that she had been unlawfully killed as a result of ‘gross breaches’ in health and safety at the park.
The water park was also fined £80,000 in June last year for health and safety failures.
Liquid Leisure was originally granted planning permission to be used for water-skiing and wind surfing in 1988.
But a planning enforcement notice issued to Liquid Leisure on December 21, 2020 accused it of several planning breaches.
The notice said these included: “Without planning permission, the material change of use of the land from a water-skiing and windsurfing use to a mixed use that comprises an aqua theme park (including water skiing), caravan and camping site, party venue and child’s play centre.”
Liquid Leisure appealed to the government’s planning inspectorate in February 2021 to overturn the enforcement notice.
Its grounds for appeal included arguments that many of the activities were covered by the permitted use and that the council’s description of the park as a ‘theme park’ was inaccurate.
However it withdrew its appeal in September 2022 following Kyra’s death.
RBWM also issued Liquid Leisure a ‘breach of condition’ notice in October 2021.
This was for breaching conditions in its original planning permission restricting the erection of buildings and extensions.
A company called Horton Leisure applied for retrospective planning permission for elements of the water park in February 2024.
Councillors on RBWM’s Windsor development management committee are set to consider this on Thursday, June 5.
The application wants to keep planning permission for water-skiing on the southern lake and for permission to use the northern lake for open water swimming, paddle boarding and ‘a small aqua park’.
A planning officer’s report says this would ‘reduce the scale of activities’, and recommends that councillors vote to approve it.
The report says this ‘would not cause issues relating to public safety provided the correct precautions are carried out in the operation of the site as required by health and safety legislation’.
An RBWM spokesperson told the LDRS that the current enforcement notice had been ‘partially complied with’ but was still in place.
They added: “The outcome of the current planning application will inform the next steps.”
Liquid Leisure did not respond to a request for comment.