PLANS for a new restaurant and a separate cafe will bring more activity to a “fairly rundown” part of York city centre, according to a report submitted to council planners.

City of York Council has approved a scheme to create the new food outlets in part of Roman House, in Rougier Street.

The five-storey office building was previously used by Aviva Life,which left in 2010, and a scheme to convert and extend it to create 100 extra bedrooms for the nearby five-star Grand Hotel & Spa is due to be completed this summer.

But hotel owners The Splendid Hospitality Group have reconsidered their plans for the lower ground floor of Roman House, which previously included a back-of-house area, valet parking spaces, plant and services rooms, public toilets and a business and conferencing suite.

They have now won approval for a small coffee shop and a larger restaurant, which a report from council officers says could lead to the loss of a retail unit but would mean an increase in commercial floorspace overall “and therefore potentially improved vitality and viability in the area”. It adds that the uses are acceptable in this city-centre area.

A document from planning consultants O’Neill Associates on behalf of the hospitality group says the frontage of the building is concealed by scaffolding, but before that “this area had already become a fairly rundown part of the city centre”.

It adds: “In townscape and historic terms Roman House lies within an area of real importance and significance,” being within the Historic Core Conservation Area, about 30 metres from the City Walls and near to a number of other important buildings.

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The supporting statement says: “The conversion of Roman House into a five-star hotel will improve the quality of the built environment in this area of the city, resulting in a positive impact on the character and appearance of the conservation area,” a point it says was acknowledged by planning officers when the hotel extension was approved in July 2015.

In addition the statement says: “The introduction of two cafés/restaurants on the lower ground floor of Roman House will further increase the level of activity along Rougier Street, particularly in the sheltered space at the corner of Tanner Row. which otherwise carries the potential for misuse.”

The bus shelter on the street frontage and seating in the recessed bays means it would “not be possible or desirable to open up the entire frontage”. But the proposed uses and the position of the entrance doors “will go some way towards increasing the amount of pedestrian movement and natural surveillance along the street”, the statement adds.