Coach house will be demolished for new 100-bed hotel

17th century building has fallen into disrepair

A derelict coach house once used to grow hundreds of cannabis plants is to be demolished to make way for a 100-bed hotel.

Developers are to bulldoze the historic Old Coach House just off the A2 outside Barham.

The 17th century building was raided by police five years ago after drugs barons hid a skunk cannabis factory producing 660 illegal plants.

But it will now be replaced with a three-storey guesthouse after developers won planning permission from the city council.

Council planning officer Chris Hawkins said: “The building will be demolished and replaced with one that would be no greater in size and scale.

“The hotel to be demolished was previously proposed to be retained as part of an overall redevelopment of the site.

“It is now proposed to be demolished in light of it being structurally unsafe and beyond serviceable repair.

“While the site is within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the existing building and indeed the overall site are a negative feature in the landscape.

“The proposed development would be likely to enhance the special landscape character of the area.”

Developers had gained outline planning permission in December 2010 for the refurbishment and extension of the existing hotel.

But a structural survey found the building had fallen into a bad state of repair and would be uneconomical to repair. “The access arrangements into the site remain unchanged from the access approved in 2010 which was from the lay-by adjoining the A2,” Mr Hawkins said.

“The proposed development would not result in any increased level of accommodation above that previously approved.”

In December 2012, police discovered that 10 rooms – which had once housed hotel guests – were lined with silver insulation sheet sheeting and converted into a sophisticated drugs farm.

The gang which ran the factory managed to bypass the electricity meters to power the lights and hydroponics needed to cultivate the plants.

The farm was capable of raking in more than £1.5m a year for the dealers.

Steven Randall and Darren Barber were jailed in 2013 after both admitted cultivating cannabis.

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How we reported the court case following the raid five years ago