Hotel plan for site attracts no interest (From Gazette Series)

Hotel plan for site attracts no interest

NO-ONE is prepared to take on a prime site in Dursley as a hotel, the town council learned this week, and the developers are now seeking permission to market the building as a care home.

The developers of the Littlecombe site, the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) and St Modwen, have applied to Stroud District Council to amend their planning application to include a care home at The Towers instead of the planned hotel.

The change is due to the fact that there has been no interest from companies in running the building as a hotel.

At Tuesday's meeting of Dursley Town Council's planning and town improvements committee, however, councillors voted to object to the change in the plan as they would rather have an hotel.

Committee chairman Anne-Marie Rutter said: "I am not at all happy about this. The idea was that The Towers would have been an hotel and it would have fitted in with the industrial and business units on the Littlecombe site. It could be turned in to a development of flats or God knows what."

However, Cllr Geoff Wheeler said he would rather see the site used as a care home because there was a need for such a facility.

He said: "The Towers has been marketed for some considerable time as a hotel but nobody has come forward. I would rather have seen an hotel first but rather than nothing I would like to see it as a care home because there is a need."

After a vote, members agreed to write to Stroud District Council expressing a preference for an hotel.