Decision due on new hotel

A decision is set to be made on whether work to convert a listed building into a new hotel will be allowed to stay.

Pitmaston House in Worcester is finally set to open as a new hotel under plans by Blockworks after years of wrangles between the developer and neighbours over fears that late-night revelry had turned the listed building into a ‘party’ house.

Blockworks, which owns the grade II listed building off Malvern Road, had to apply again to Worcester City Council for ‘retrospective’ permission to build two en-suite bathrooms – work which has already been carried out – and convert five existing bathrooms into bedrooms.

The city council’s planning committee meets in the Guildhall on Thursday to make a ruling on whether the work can stay with a recommendation from the council’s planning officers that the plan is given the green light.

A decision was supposed to have been made by the end of April but an agreement was reached to allow the planning committee the time to decide on the plan at the request of ward councillor Alan Amos.

The owners of Pitmaston House had been battling with the council over gaining the correct planning permission after its proposals to convert seven rooms into a mix of residential and holiday flats – work that had already been carried out – was rejected at the end of 2020.

The owners were then served with an enforcement notice by the city council after continuing to open up as a guesthouse and holiday apartments without the correct planning permission.

Last year, a controversial bid to convert the grade II listed building into a hotel was backed by the council’s planning committee despite long-standing concerns about noise.

The decision came after years of complaints from neighbours who said that ‘shouting, screaming and loud music into the early hours’ at the short-term let had turned a quiet residential street into ‘a holiday resort in Spain.’

Blockworks was ordered to cancel all future bookings in March last year after it was discovered the building did not have the correct planning permission.

The planning committee meets in the Guildhall from 3pm on Thursday (June 22).