St Maurice’s Road hotel set to be rejected (From York Press)

St Maurice’s Road hotel set to be rejected

8:32am Thursday 9th September 2010 in

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PLANS for a new hotel next to York’s Bar Walls which could create 50 new jobs are hanging in the balance.

The firm hoping to create a three-storey building boasting 26 beds and a restaurant in the shadow of one of the city’s most popular tourist trails will discover whether its application has been successful next week.

However, City of York Council’s west and city centre area planning sub-committee has been recommended to reject the St Maurice’s Road scheme, after officers said it would have “an unacceptable impact” on the historic city walls.

The project, drawn up by S A Properties, has focused on a patch of land currently used as a car park. The company said 50 people could be employed there if the hotel, inspired by a design in the Spanish town of Toledo, gets the go-ahead.

But it has been criticised by York Civic Trust. It branded it “a disastrous addition to the townscape of York” because of its visibility from the Bar Walls. The council’s own conservation and archaeology teams have also opposed the plans.

In a report which will go before next Thursday’s meeting, the authority’s development management officer, Jonathan Kenyon, said: “The building proposed would not respect its context and have an undue adverse impact on the historic character and setting of the city, in particular over the city walls, which are of the utmost importance.

“The proposed removal of existing trees and the replacement row of lime trees along St Maurice’s Road would result in the loss of trees which make a positive impact to the visual amenity of the area and setting.

“The open character of the site and public views of the city walls from the east side of St Maurice’s Road would be lost, along with vistas from the city walls of the varied townscape beyond, in exchange for views of the proposed building.”

He also said the hotel could create traffic and safety problems on St Maurice’s Road and “inadequate details” about how motorists would enter and leave the site had been provided.

Architects acting for the applicants have previously said the design would allow people walking along the Bar Walls to see their reflection in the hotel’s windows and the scheme had “respect for its surroundings”.