The leader of a public campaign against plans to build a Premier Inn hotel in Keswick says he is encouraged after Cumbria County Council joined the opposition to the controversial proposal.
Whitbread, which owns the national chain, wants to open a 71-bedroom hotel with bar, restaurant and 30 parking spaces on the vacant half-acre site of the former Ravensfield old people’s home in High Hill.
More than 3,300 people have backed an online petition against the planning application, which Keswick Town Council unanimously objected to in February, due to concerns about overdevelopment and flooding.
The plan was then due to go before the Lake District National Park Authority for approval or rejection but its decision has been held up by lockdown.
In the meantime, the county council’s highways department has contacted the authority to recommend that the scheme be refused, saying there is inadequate car parking and no on-site turning circle for delivery vehicles. More significantly, the county council raises traffic safety concerns.
Its recommendation was welcomed by petition organiser Tony Pinnick, who owns Avondale guest house in Southey Street and who also arranged a well-attended public meeting against the hotel in March. He said: “It is encouraging to see that the highways authority are recommending that the plan is refused on these grounds.
“We definitely don’t want a Premier Inn in Keswick. A Premier Inn would not support the local economy.
“There would be no local spend on products or services as theirs all come from national suppliers. People like plumbers, electricians, builders, caterers would all miss out as everyone and everything comes from Premier Inn’s head office – and they won’t be ploughing money back into Keswick. It will go to their shareholders.
“The hotel itself would be an eyesore from the back. It is too high and overshadows the old Keswick School of Industrial Arts building next to it. This is why Friends of the Lake District have also raised concerns.”
Copeland MP Trudy Harrison, who represents Keswick, said she was backing the campaign against the hotel after she had met him and the town’s mayor before lockdown. She said the building would have a negative impact on the town.
The site opposite Keswick’s flood defence windows has flooded in the past but the Environment Agency is not objecting to the plan. Ravensfield care home was vacated in 2009 and later demolished.
Nearly 80 per cent of 223 people who responded to a public consultation exercise carried out in Keswick and on-line last October thought the vacant site was not appropriate for a Premier Inn.
Only 22 people agreed with the proposed design of the hotel compared to 168 against. When asked if a new Premier Inn hotel and restaurant would have a positive impact in Keswick’s economy, only 31 said yes, 166 saying no.
However, the applicants insist the site is an appropriate location for a Premier Inn, adding: “We remain committed to delivering a new Premier Inn hotel in Keswick and believe the proposed hotel will make a positive and long-lasting contribution to the town.”
No date has yet been set for the Kendal-based LDNPA’s development control committee to make a decision about the planning application.
