Controversial plans to build a £6 million Premier Inn hotel in Keswick are set to get the go-ahead tomorrow.
The hotel chain has lodged plans with the Lake District National Park Authority to build the 71-bedroom three-storey hotel on land on the site of the former Ravensfield residential home at High Hill.
The authority’s development control committee is set to discuss the application at its meeting tomorrow at 10am.
There have been 136 objections to the scheme and a 3,300-name petition against the development sent in to the authority.
A report to the planning committee says: “Many of the objections we have received
have referred to the proposed occupant, the nature of their business and how it operates.
“Neither the identity of the applicant nor the identity of the proposed occupant of the building are material considerations in the determination of this application for planning permission.”
Keswick Town Council has also objected to the scheme, because it says the scale is too large; there is no justification fo a 71-bedroom hotel in the town; there is not enough car parking for guests as the proposed car park is for 29 spaces and it is on a site in a flood risk area.
Keswick Flood Action Group also objected, as did Keswick Tourism Association and Cumbria Tourism also lodged an objection.
It said: ” The choice of great independent businesses and lack of national chain is integral to the unique sense of place that that makes somewhere like Keswick so special to visitors.
“There are areas of wider Cumbria where national and international businesses provide significant employment and contribute to the economy of the county but in this instance we cannot see the added benefits such a business would bring.”
The town council had objected to the first Premier Inn plan in February but coronavirus prevented it going before the LDNPA.
The delay saw it replaced by a fresh application with a modified design and new turning circle for visiting vehicles.
Cumbria County Council had opposed the first plan on traffic and car parking grounds but offered no objection to the current one.
The hotel would create 30 jobs and be the first in Keswick owned by a national chain.
In conclusion, the report to the planning committee said: “The proposals would result in public benefits to the town and to the wider area but would also result in limited low level harm to the Keswick Conservation Area and the World Heritage Site.
“The planning balance has demonstrated that those public benefits would outweigh the identified harm.
“The level of parking provision proposed is less than that which is advised by the Cumbria Design Guide and the evidence from the applicant indicates that at peak times the under-provision of car parking would displace 25 cars who would need to find alternative parking in the town.
“However, the evidence indicates that parking problems in the town are caused by under-utilisation of existing car parks and the applicant intends to direct guests to these car parks in the first instance.”
The report recommends that members delegate to the head of development management to approve the scheme.
