Hotel memories fade as MoT site developed
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AN MoT centre and hand car wash on the site of a former hotel in Sinfin are beginning to take shape.
The County Hotel in Sinfin Lane was demolished last year after a protracted battle stretching several years.
Residents and councillors had opposed the plans but a victory at Government appeal paved the way for the hotel – which had been closed since 2018 – to be demolished under plans from Long Eaton firm 8B UK.
This brought an end to the hotel after more than 70 years of service.
The replacement development is now almost complete. Plans submitted to the city council aim to push the scheme forward and make some changes to access and clear some of the conditions attached by the Government at appeal.
The site will have 25 parking spaces around the perimeter of the plot – some with electric charging points – with the new MoT service centre built in the centre.
The hand car wash will be built in the top right corner of the site.
Access to the car wash will be off Sinfin Lane to the right of the former hotel and a separate access for the MoT service centre will be off a side road to the left of the hotel. Bollards will separate one part of the site from the other.
Dozens of residents had opposed the demolition of the former hotel, along with the Sinfin ward councillors. They had celebrated success after the demolition plans were refused and withdrawn and subsequent retention plans were refused, but this was pre-emptive.
The city council refused demolition plans in January last year and the developer then appealed to the Government to overturn the refusal.
After this, in June, the developer submitted new plans to retain the pub and reuse it as a micropub and flats, with an MoT testing station built separately on the site.
A Government inspector approved the demolition plans in October and three weeks later the city council also approved the retention plans. The demolition of the building took place shortly after.
In the October 1 appeal victory for B8 UK, the Planning Inspectorate wrote: “I consider that the proposal would not look out of place or represent a discordant addition to the street scene in this location.
“While I acknowledge that the loss of a more traditionallydesigned building and its replacement with a more utilitarian building would have a visual impact, I consider that this impact would not be a significantly adverse one.
“Whilst I acknowledge that the proposal would result in the loss of a community asset in the former public house…the appellant has provided evidence showing that the now vacant public house has been actively marketed for sale for a reasonable period of time with no sale taking place.
“I therefore consider that this demonstrates that it would be difficult for its current use to be retained and that it may no longer be needed.
“While on my site visit, I observed that the former car park to the rear of the empty County Hotel building was vacant and the building itself appeared to be dilapidated and partially boarded-up, and whilst this is but a snapshot in time, I consider that this plus the evidence before me sufficiently demonstrates that it would be unlikely that the hotel could easily or viably be brought back into use.
“I also acknowledge that there are other garages and MoT test centres located near to the appeal site.
“However, from what I observed on my site visit, none of these appeared to have a car wash, and there were not so many of them as to be the dominant commercial use in the vicinity.
“I consider that the proposal would not result in an unacceptable proliferation of MoT testing stations and hand car wash services in the area.”