200 jobs pledge with hotel and offices plan
Plans to demolish a derelict 1960s building and replace it with a 200-bedroom hotel and offices have been submitted to council planners.
An investment group says its plans for the former Green Park House old people's home would eventually create more than 200 jobs.
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Green Park Hotel
The Green Park Road site has been unused for more than four years and was sold to investment firm New Liberty Diamond for £7.1 million by Bath and North East Somerset Council last year.
The firm - a subsidiary of expanding company Topland - has now submitted three planning applications to the council.
The first is for the hotel, which it says would be a three-star venue with a coffee shop and restaurant and employ 80 people - 50 full-time and 30 part-time.
Separate applications have been put in to demolish Green Park House and to build offices which the firm says could provide work for 138 people.
Topland staged a public exhibition of its £19 million plans last October and says it has worked with the council and Government agency English Heritage to finetune its vision, and has reduced the height of the proposed hotel.
Martyn Stutchbury, a director at Topland's planning agent Scott Brownrigg, said: "There was universal support for the redevelopment of the existing Green Park House building and the overwhelming majority of people thought our design approach was what Bath needed.
"Over the last few months we have finetuned our design, including a reduction in the height of the building. We still aim to provide a 200-bed hotel , an office as well as a temporary urban garden. The development will give an enormous boost to this side of the city centre and give much-needed hotel accommodation for visitors to Bath."
Last year, Topland said it was aiming to acquire up to 50 sites over a 18-month period with a view to developing low-cost hotels and leasing them to operators such as Travelodge and Premier Inn.
The offices would cover 2,634 square metres and have a basement car park with 26 spaces.
Scott Brownrigg says the offices might be used by firms in the IT or finance sectors.
The firm says in documents submitted to B&NES: "The proposal would bring back into active use a vacant, unsightly site close to a key gateway into the city centre. This would bring benefits to the area in terms of visual impact."
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by Sue Keeling, Bath
Wednesday, November 18 2009, 6:07PM
“There are 117 hotels and guest houses in Bath offering a huge spectrum of accommodation type and price. Potential tourists may be turned away on some Saturdays in the year but noone is full for the remaining 6 nights. Imagine what another 200 rooms will do to the 117 properties. An annual 75.7% accommodation level does not justify the need for more beds. Only if we were running @ 100.00 % occupancy would there be no objection.”
by NickC, Bath
Wednesday, July 08 2009, 1:27PM
“So now the little lane at the rear of this site will be required to allow passage of even more traffic to provide services to this hotel and offices. This lane is barely able to cope with the demands of Kingsmead Leisure. Alternative access must be provided for these additional articulated monsters.”
by Sam, Bath
Sunday, July 05 2009, 6:23AM
“What an excellant location for a hotel and offices - at one of the busiest road junctions in Bath!
Pity the BRT won't be going past it to ease congestion!”
by David, Bath
Saturday, July 04 2009, 3:04PM
“Well, they may have lost out on the £2.5 million funding, but they managed to offload this eyesore for £7.1 million. As it's all about the bottom line with the Wandsdyke Mafia in charge of B&NES, I imagine they see the result as game, set and match to them.”
by bathboy, bath
Saturday, July 04 2009, 11:21AM
“This week BANES found out that it had managed to lose out on funding from the government for a new homeless hostel as it could not find a suitable site. Green Park House was not only an old peoples home but also included a homeless hostel in a seperate part of the building for many years. Ironic.”