Plans for hotel and banquet hall unveiled
JON MACPHERSON
PLANS to build a 150-bed hotel and 1,400-seater conference and banqueting hall have been revealed.
These images show what the scheme could look like at the new multimillion pound Frontier Park development on land off Blackburn Road in Knuzden which is set to create up to 2,000 new jobs.
Hyndburn council’s leader said it was ‘ very pleasing’ to see progress being made at the ‘important’ employment site.
Documents sent to Hyndburn council claim that work on the hotel scheme - which forms phase four of the overall development - could start by the ‘second quarter of 2018’ if planning permis- sion is granted. The hotel and conference hall could be joined by a pub or restaurant, petrol station, drive thru Starbucks and KFC, a Greggs and Subway at the site off Junction 6 of the M65.
A design and access statement, drawn up by Campbell Driver Partnership Architects on behalf of applicant Monte Blackburn Ltd, said the five-storey hotel ‘will form a prominent gateway to the site’ and is ‘set on the edge of the new water feature’.
It said: “Overall the composition of hotel and conference building signifies a bold and deliberate effort to create a regionally significant facility.
“The conference building is designed to compliment the hotel in both scale and materials and establish a destination setting for both hotel and conferencing.”
A total of 288 car parking spaces, including 28 disabled bays, 28 cycle spaces and 12 motorcycle spaces, will be created with an overflow car park with 187 car spaces and five coach spaces.
Council leader Coun Miles Parkinson said: “It’s very pleasing that this large strategic employment site is coming to fruition after many years with nothing happening.
“It’s pleasing that Euro Garages are delivering on the aspiration to create jobs in the local economy and invest in the borough.
“We see the applications coming in which will create much-needed new jobs and it’s pleasing as I regularly drive past to see the work progressing.
“It’s a strategic employment site, not just for Hyndburn but for Lancashire and the North West.”
The Observer reported in July this year how plans have also drawn up for a ‘large storage and distribution unit’ at the park.
A decision on the hotel scheme will be made by the council in the next few months.