New hotel owners have been 'inconsiderate' to Blackpool guest houses over parking and disruption

Sutton Park Hotel spent the busiest part of their season watching the building next door being demolished, through dust and debris-covered windows.

Now, the family-run business on Woodfield road are bracing themselves for another year of disruption, as well as huge fears for the future if plans for a new £30m hotel are approved.

The owner, Stewart Norris, says it could all be solved by having a proper conversation - which he says hasn't happened.

'We want a conversation'

Mr Norris told Blackpool Gazette: "We had a letter in the post but I've never had a one to one conversation, so somebody writing down what they want to do and then not giving me any recourse to answer that is not really a conversation. I just want some of my views aired and spoken about."

The planning application for the new hotel, set to be located on the site of the former St Chad’s on Blackpool Promenade, was submitted in late November and is awaiting approval by the council.

Dust and debris

The old building was demolished in May 2023 - which coincided with the bank holiday and the King's Coronation.

Mr Norris added: "It was very hard to get information about when they were going to demolish it. We didn't know until plant and machinery started to arrive on site."

During the demolition process, Stewart recalls that the site manager promised that after they finished, he would wash down their building and clean the windows and gutters - which were covered in dust and debris.

"I trusted them. I thought this was the way to go, you build a bit of rapport with your neighbours. None of this happened, the side of the hotel was filthy dirty."

30 parking spaces for a 143 room hotel

The 4-star hotel will feature 143 rooms and ancillary facilities such as a lounge area, kitchen, restaurant and bars, guest luggage store, offices, and meeting rooms.

But local B&B owners, including Stewart, have raised concerns about the lack of local parking spaces, claiming that there is already a paucity of parking which will only be exacerbated by the opening of a brand new, 143-room hotel.

"From what I’ve seen on the planning, they are going to allow 30 parking spaces to the rear of the building. As far as I can see, they’re allowing 143 rooms to be built; now if all those rooms have brought a car, that leaves a shortfall of 110 parking spaces. Where do these people park?"

Sandra Stringer, Blackpool Hoteliers’ Group administrator said: “The roads along the seafront are going to be adjacent to the hotel - they are the ones that are really going to suffer and they’re already suffering as it is because it’s such limited parking. If you’re a hotel with eight bedrooms, you’ve got to find eight spaces for your guests or send them to an alternative car park… [visitors] want to be near to the hotel they’re staying in.

“A lot of hotels don’t have the luxury of car parking, so they rely on their guests parking on the main road and, as it is, it’s a fight during the peak seasons to get a space,” added Mrs Stringer. “What people are worried about is that the new plans have got less parking that previously and, with even more rooms than before, the parking is going to become a major issue."

Fragrance Group listened to some concerns

A pre-planning call for comments was published in Blackpool Gazette on June 28, 2023. At that time, the project was proposed as 184 rooms.

This attracted concerns from local residents, that it would look 'out of place' and 'cast a significant shadow over the streets and properties behind'.

The latest application has reduced from seven storeys - as initially proposed - to 'part five, part six' storeys.

But this is still taller than the previous edifice, although occupies a smaller footprint. “We’ve got an extra two floors of inhabited rooms looking down on us, so it will be considerably higher and blot out a lot more of the sky [and have] quite an impact on us,” added Mr Norris.

Ian White, a director of hoteliers group StayBlackpool, said: "Credit should be given for a degree of listening to what the public are likely to have said when comments were called for at the back end of June. However the scale of the build and the impact on the nearest buildings are clear that the substantial impact will be overbearing and detrimental to the business shown and all the others close by, due to the loss of day light.

Each planning application can only ever be considered on its own merits, however inside understanding that the Lyndene hotel (next door) with the same owner suffers many of the issues as the St Chads had. What cannot be allowed is for planning to be over lenient with this application just to secure the investment. as any relaxation of standards could potentially be used at a later date on the neighbouring property."

The Fragrance Group have been approached for comment.