Royal Clarence Hotel Exeter: plans recommended for approval

The hotel site is in a central location near Exeter's Cathedral

Multimillion pound plans to redevelop an historic hotel destroyed by fire have been recommended for approval.

The £17m proposal to turn Exeter's Grade II-listed Royal Clarence Hotel into luxury flats, with a restaurant and bar, will go before the city council's planning committee on Monday.

The prominent site facing Exeter Cathedral was wrecked by a fire in 2016.

A previous plan to build a hotel on the site failed to materialise.

The fire did extensive damage to the hotel in October 2016

The iconic building dates back to 1769 and was ravaged by the blaze that started in neighbouring buildings and spread to the hotel.

It was sold to Southwest Lifestyle Brands Ltd - a company run by former Plymouth Argyle owner James Brent.

After his firm called an initial hotel plan "unviable," it revealed its scheme to build 23 luxury apartments over five floors, with a restaurant and a bar on the site.

The development will contain 15 two-bed apartments and eight three-bed apartments, with an entrance to the front of the building from Cathedral Yard, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

According to the planning report, it has been designed to "retain and showcase as many historical features of the remaining building fabric as possible".

Recommending approval, officers conclude the development "will result in substantial public benefits, primarily by redeveloping a derelict site in the heart of the city centre whilst retaining and restoring as much of the listed historic fabric of the remaining buildings on the site as possible".

The report added: "The public benefits of the scheme are considered to outweigh the harm of the partial demolition works of some of the listed buildings on the site, including the demolition of the remains of 6 Martin's Lane."