Herald Express (Torbay, Brixham & South Hams Edition)
£14m seafront hotel cleared for Paignton
TORBAY is to get a new £14 million 161-bed seafront hotel creating 100 jobs.
Planners approved an application from the Fragrance Group to demolish and replace the closed Park Hotel overlooking Paignton Green.
The three-storey terrace of Victorian villas is not listed or in a conservation area and has been closed for more than a year, Torbay Council’s development control committee was told on Monday. The new hotel, to be built by the Singapore-based business, will attract an estimated 95,000 guests a year who will bring a £2 million annual spending boost to the Bay, councillors were told.
Planning officer Alexis Moran said: “The proposal would result in the modernisation of the existing site, with a significantly improved hotel and leisure facility.”
A spokesman for the developer told councillors: “The proposal represents the greatest tourism investment in Paignton for a generation.”
TORBAY is to get a new £14 million 161-bed seafront hotel creating 100 jobs.
Planners approved an application from the Fragrance Group to demolish and replace the closed Park Hotel overlooking Paignton Green.
The three-storey terrace of Victorian villas is not listed or in a conservation area and has been closed for more than a year, Torbay Council’s development control committee was told on Monday.
The new hotel, to be built by the Singapore-based business, will attract an estimated 95,000 guests a year who will bring a £2m annual spending boost, councillors were told.
Planning officer Alexis Moran said: “The proposal would result in the modernisation of the existing site, with a significantly improved hotel and leisure facility.”
A spokesman for the developer told councillors: “The proposal here today represents the greatest tourism investment in Paignton for a generation.”
Tim Godfrey, chairman of the English Riviera Business Improvement District, supported the application and said: “I think it is critical for us to invest and provide jobs for the future.”
There will be the equivalent of 100 full-time permanent jobs at the hotel, with more jobs during the construction phase, councillors were told.
The committee unanimously approved the application, subject to a series of conditions including a payment by the developer of more than £50,000 towards flood defence works.
There were 12 objections, councillors heard, including the loss of an historic hotel, the impact on parking and the size of the proposed new building be- ing out of keeping with the area. Cllr Jane Barnby, forGoodrington with Roselands, said: “I’m thrilled to see something is going to happen in Paignton for a change, considering how sad it has been looking.
“I think this is going to be tremendous.
“It will probably encourage other such things happening along the rest of the front in Paignton, and the fact that it will have 100 full-time jobs is such a good thing.”
Committee chairman Mark Kingscote said: “This is a vote of confidence in Paignton.”
The 47-bedroom Park Hotel on Esplanade Road is one of three sites the global hospitality business has bought in Torbay.
It also owns the closed Palace Hotel at Babbacombe and the Corbyn Head Hotel on Torquay seafront, which is being operated by a management company.
Plans for the new hotel at Paignton show a proposed five-storey block at the front of the site 100m (328ft) from the sea, with a ground floor reception and restaurant raised above the local ground level to take into account a one-in-200-year flood risk.
The sleeping accommodation is a further 1m (3ft) higher for extra safety.
The plans show a spa and three-storey rear section above a ground floor car park.
The design and access statement submitted to Torbay council says: “In addition to relating to the wider context, the building is designed to respond to flood risk and climate change while meeting current accommodation standards.”
A planning statement with the application says the current building is in a poor state and unsuitable for continued hotel use.
The design of the new “internationally branded” three-star hotel will reflect the use of local building materials
The closed Park Hotel and, above, an artist’s impression of the new hotel (main picture) in Paignton, with sandstone on the lower levels, ground floor entrance and restaurant, and stucco - a type of fine plaster.
On behalf of The Fragrance Group, Martin Rogers, Savills’ Head of UK Hotel Transactions, said when the application was submitted: “The redevelopment of the Park Hotel represents a significant investment into the tourism industry of Torbay and Paignton in particular.
“The new hotel will generate a significant number of jobs and boost the economy. Historic England refused a bid to list the hotel, which would have protected it from development. It said the standard late-Victorian terrace was not architecturally important and had been substantially altered.”