Grand plans for ‘tired’ hotel

A hotel in a Herefordshire beauty spot plans to build a new 26-room extension to boost trade.

A Mr Rollinson has applied for outline planning permission to demolish an existing eight-room extension at the Royal Lodge Hotel, beside the river Wye at Symonds Yat, and replace it with a larger two- and three-storey structure.

Despite the owners’ investment in the hotel, a former hunting lodge, “the layout and quality and size of many of the rooms is now very tired”, a statement with the application says.

There has also been “low demand” to use the hotel as a wedding venue, despite extensive marketing and the opening of a new function room in 2015, while the mid-week conference market “has dwindled in recent years”, the statement adds.

However the owners believe that occupancy rates “can be increased throughout the year, including increased demand for weddings, if a higher standard of accommodation were available”, it says.

Details of the extension’s layout, scale, appearance and landscaping will be put forward in a future application if the outline plan is approved.

But the current application proposes a building of white render, natural stone and corten steel topped with a flat, planted roof. The large, westward-looking windows would maximise natural light and provide views across the river.

“It is considered that the modest increase in traffic can be safely accommodated on the local highway network,” the application says.

If approved, the work would led to five more full-time and five part-time staff roles at the hotel, it adds.

Comments on the outline plan, numbered 231203, can be made until June 16.