REVISED plans for an eco-hotel in a derelict York car park are recommended for approval by councillors when they meet on Wednesday (June 8).

HCLP Ltd, which is part of the York-based Helmsley Group, seeks to build a six-storey hotel to the back of Mill House in Micklegate.

Six months ago, the developer sought to build an eight-story ‘zero carbon’ hotel, but it has now scaled down its plans, delivering 82 rooms, instead of an original 99, after objections from Historic England, the York Civic Trust and others.

The site is in a conservation area and close to other hotels such as the Park Inn and the Micklegate Travelodge.

However, the latest, smaller scheme, still faces some opposition, as the council’s planning committee determines the application tomorrow.

The Micklegate Planning Panel says the rooms are ‘inadequate’ and says the plans offer little evidence about the carbon neutral nature of the application.

The panel also said just because the site is hidden away, the hotel’s architecture should not be ‘mediocre’.

York Civic Trust said the scheme would deliver a building ‘excessively tall and out of character’ with the area.

The trust also believed the scheme would impact negatively on nearby listed buildings. It also said room sizes seemed small, raising questions about the quality of the accommodation offered.

Historic England said the latest plans went some way to address previous concerns, adding a further reduction in height would better fit in with the historic surroundings.

The council’s Conservation Area Advisory Panel also welcomed the revised plans but also expressed concerns over the size of the rooms.

The report said council consultation delivered four letters of objection, with people saying North Street was a poor environment with too many cars. Hotels do not contribute to community, they said, and the scheme would be detrimental to people’s well-being.

However, council planning staff say the reduced scheme will have a ‘very limited’ impact on the setting of the nearby former Church of St John the Evangelist and All Saints Church.

They also said the scheme won’t harm the character and appearance of the Conservation Area and the proposal and its ‘industrial’ nature fitted in with the heritage of the site.

Furthermore, with the hotel not having a restaurant or bar, the proposal was unlikely to result in significant noise or odour disturbance to neighbouring residents.

Council planning staff concluded the application was acceptable in principle, given the city centre use.

Their report added: “The proposal, as a result of its design and scale, preserves the character and appearance of the conservation area and the setting of the listed buildings.”

The plan was also car free, helping the council meet its ambitious climate change targets.

“The proposal is considered to be a distinctive and positive design solution for the location and acceptable on amenity grounds,” planning staff also said.