Historic hotel restoration moves a step closer

A plan to reinvent the Park Hotel as a 65-room "apart-hotel" was given the green light in February

The long-awaited restoration of a hotel in Preston has moved a step closer after councillors agreed to forgo a potential future affordable housing windfall in order to get the project off the ground.

A plan to reinvent the Park Hotel as a 65-room "apart-hotel" was given the green light in February.

It had been used as offices for Lancashire County Council but has been vacant since 2011.

However, the project has since been held up by a wrangle over payments to be made by developer The Heaton Group depending on the profit the scheme ultimately makes.

'Up in flames'

When planning permission was granted, the firm argued that the development would not be financially viable if it was subject to the council's usual policy demanding 30% of the new properties were offered at a discounted affordable rate.

With 321 apartments to be created across two newly-built blocks alongside the hotel and a further six as part of the refurbishment of a nearby Grade-II-listed property known as number 8 East Cliff, a total of 98 of them would have had to be sold at less than market value.

While Preston City Council accepted the developer's case and waived the affordable requirement, it also put in place a safety net known as a "review mechanism" to reassess the profitability of the project at a later date.

That way, if the scheme were to make more money than currently forecast, the council would be able to claw back some of the cash and use it to fund the creation of affordable housing elsewhere in the city.

However, The Heaton Group has since claimed that the arrangement is threatening to derail the scheme, because of the uncertainty it creates for investors. 

Town hall planners recommended that committee members should therefore agree to remove it for the sake of ensuring the hotel, which is considered a local heritage asset, although not a listed building, is salvaged.

Head of development and building control Natalie Somers said the derelict site was plagued by antisocial behaviour and warned: "We really don't want this building to go up in flames."

"Either we agree this now and prevent delay – or we allow delay and it causes further risk [and] further deterioration."