A NEW hotel plan for the Hungate site is likely to get the go ahead, despite fears it would dwarf and dominate an historic pub nearby.

In 2015 developers revealed that Moxy Hotels were planning a new 120 bed hotel on the site, and earlier this year a planning application emerged.

It shows Vastint Hospitality want to put an L-shaped building on the site, with five storeys stepping down to three storeys behind the grade II* listed Black Swan pub on Peasholme Green.

York Press:

The case is due before a planning committee this week, and planning officers are recommending it gets the go ahead despite objections from neighbours and concerns about the heritage impact.

The Guildhall Planning Panel have written to councillors objecting to the planned building’s “excessive” scale and its materials, saying it is wrong for the area and would overwhelm not only the Black Swan but also the new Hiscox office building.

While Historic England have not objected to the plans, they have voiced concerns over a tall and sheer glass facade onto Peasholme Green, and said they are worried about “a visual clash between the flat glass triangular gable of the proposed hotel and the curved glass treatment of the adjacent Hiscox building.”

Seventeen letters of objections have also been sent in by members of the public with fears about design and heritage impacts, and road safety particularly for cyclists as area becomes busier with hotel guests and deliveries.

Hiscox however have given the proposals their backing, and the developers have argued the new hotel building will be the same distance from the Black Swan as the insurance company’s new base, and will arguably be less prominent on the street scene.

The planners’ report shows they too think the new hotel will not harm any heritage assets or their setting, and will not damage road safety or disturb people who live nearby.

Instead they say it will in fact help regenerate the area.

If developers will agree to pay £18,000 towards public realm improvements, the planners are urging councillors to give planning permission.