Plans for a 147-bedroom hotel in Stretford are due back before Trafford council again.
The original proposals for the 197-bedroom hotel on Barton Road had to be redrawn after planners unanimously dismissed them in September 2020 due to the building's height and scale.
Before the application went before Trafford council, Trafford Centre owners Intu wrote to the authority to indicate their concerns about the plans, saying that the ‘mid-range’ hotel chain (either Holiday Inn Express or similar) proposed for the site was not of a high enough standard.
Residents of the nearby Circle Court tower block also wrote to make their feelings of strong opposition heard over potential noise, congestion and a shared entrance to the hotel which they believed could cause real issues.
Now, with a reduced height level and fewer rooms, the site on land between Barton Road and the slip road of Junction 9 of the M60, near the roundabout at Lostock Circle, the smaller hotel is set to feature a gym, all en suite rooms, reception, a restaurant and meeting rooms.
The hotel was originally expected to employ around 40 staff within a 15-minute drive of the Trafford Centre.
Those behind the plans, Create Developments, opened a public consultation in November 2020 so locals could have their say before they submitted this new application.
Create said the new hotel took concerns raised by the council and residents on board and if approved will represent a £16m investment in the local area.
In addition to the two-storey and 50 bedroom reductions to the hotel in the new plans, 147 car parking spaces will be delivered at the site – a space for each bedroom and an increase of 20 spaces from the original application.
Residents of Circle Court are also set to get a new wellbeing garden from the designers, if the application is approved in full.
The hotel is set to employ local people both during and after the construction phase, if approved, with Create promising to buy all materials from local builder’s merchants and keep money invested within Trafford and the North West.
Gill Mathison, spokesperson for Create Developments, said: “Our exciting plans will breathe new life into a vacant brownfield site and deliver a development that will significantly benefit the local community and wider Borough.
“We would like to thank everyone who took part in the consultation and provided their feedback. All comments received were taken into consideration in the development of the final plans.”
The plans will go through the usual planning processes and be decided upon by Trafford council on Thursday March 11.
