A KESWICK hotel which was demolished after a fire is to be rebuilt—with six more bedrooms than its predecessor

Plans for the re-building of the Castlehead House Hotel in Borrowdale Road were approved by 7 votes to 4 when they went before the Lake District National Park Authority’s Development Control Committee in Penrith on Wednesday.

A planning assessment said the replacement was acceptable, but objectors and Keswick Town Council said the size would have a negative impact on neighbours and surrounding properties.

The former hotel was a large Georgian house in the Keswick Conservation Area. The new design has the appearance of a Victorian villa and has been detailed to a high standard, said a report to the meeting.

Objectors had raised several issues, including the height of the building, the scale, claims it would be visually intrusive and dominate neighbouring cottages and they also raised points about overlooking, light, potential noise and nuisance and parking.

However the planning report said the proposed design would enhance the character and appearance of the Conservation Area and neighbours would not suffer impacts on residential amenity to a degree which warranted refusal.

The planners were told the new hotel is to have 18 bedrooms, an increase from the previous 12, and the principal of replacing the previous hotel, which was badly damaged in an early morning blaze last year, was acceptable.

Speaking on behalf of seven residents, Brian Hunt said he did not object to a hotel, but was concerned about the size which is four metres above the height of the original hotel. He described the proposal as “a pastiche of faux Victorian design.”

Planning consultant Peter Winter said they had worked hard to minimise the impact on neighbours and create a building worthy of preserving.

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