Apartments plan for former hotel
PLANS to bulldoze a former Stockport hotel to make way for 39 apartments have been tabled.
Clowes Developments is seeking permission from the authority to demolish the derelict Davenport Park Hotel located at Buxton Road.
The proposal is to build a five-storey block that includes 20 one and 19 two-bed flats.
Access to the site would be via a modified single track off Corbar Road with space for 30 cars.
However, planning documents say that no ‘affordable’ properties will be provided.
“The building is on a vacant site and, as such, benefits from an allowance towards affordable housing provision under vacant building credit,” the report reads.
“The allowance given from the vacant building credit combined with the proposal’s general viability means that no affordable housing will be provided within the development.”
In 2014, the Department for Communities and Local Government introduced the ‘credit’ to promote development on brownfield sites.
It allows the floor space of existing buildings that are redeveloped to be offset against section 106 affordable housing requirements.
“However, there is a need for new housing in the borough,” stated a planning report.
“Also, it is significant to note that Stockport council does not have a five-year housing supply.
“The proposed development will provide 39 homes that will effectively reuse this previously developed site and contribute to the council’s housing shortage.”
The applicant also described the building as being in a ‘poor’ state both internally and externally.
“Recent hotel developments in central Stockport, like the Holiday Inn Express and the Travelodge, provide modern facilities for modern customers,” the report added.
“The combined effect is that the site can no longer be used to house a hotel.
“Given the condition and appearance of the building, conversion to an alternative hotel use is also not a commercially viable option.
“The loss of the hotel and any associated employment is therefore not considered to be a determinative factor in this application.”
The council’s planning committee is scheduled to make a decision on the application on Thursday.