Plans for Padworth flats refused
West Berkshire Council planning officers said the development would be 'out of keeping'
PLANS to demolish a 33-room hotel in Padworth and build flats on the site have been refused by planning officers at West Berkshire Council who believe the development would ‘out of keeping' with an area of natural beauty.
SKC Group, who run the 33-room Comfort Inn in Bath Road, Padworth, as a franchise, submitted a planning application earlier in the year to demolish the hotel, change the use of the site and build affordable housing including between nine and twelve one to three bedroom flats.
Head of planning and countryside at West Berkshire Council, Gary Lugg, described the development as ‘inappropriate' in a report which read: “The proposed apartment blocks are taller and of greater bulk than any of the surrounding buildings. Bearing in mind the proximity of the site to the area of natural beauty as well as the open countryside and Right of Way along the Kennet and Avon canal, the proposal is considered to be of a scale and bulk which is inappropriate in this location and would be out of keeping with this location on the fringe of the open countryside.”
Padworth Parish Council also objected to the plans as it believed the development would be a visual intrusion in an area of natural beauty and thought the proposed development lacked amenity space.
Padworth Parish Council chairman Keith Gilbert, who has been on the council for 39 years, said: “I think the plans that were put forward were pretty hideous. The building that's there at the moment is in keeping but a big apartment wouldn't look right and that was the view of the parish council.”
Sales and operation director for SKC Group, Andrew Plimmer, previously told Newburytoday.co.uk's sister paper, the Newbury Weekly News, that the application was a way of ‘investigating opportunities' and there were ‘no immediate plans to demolish the hotel or make people redundant'.
SKC Group were approached to comment on the application's refusal but declined.
