THE historic Lymm Hotel looks set to be demolished after planners approved proposals to transform the site into three storey retirement and care homes and a two storey children’s nursery.
Nearly 200 residents opposed the application along with local borough councillors and Lymm Parish Council. There were also objections also from Lymm’s two GP practices.
The application had been slightly modified from one turned down by members of Warrington planning committee last April.
Local Cllr Ian Marks agreed that the new application was marginally better than the previous one now at appeal, but claimed it was still a “gross over-development.”
He added: “It is very disappointing that the owner has allowed it to be run down.
“Although its occupancy may be on the low side, its visitors are still an important boost to the local economy.
“The Hotel achieved fame for hosting Pele and the 1966 Brazilian Football team.”
He added: “The mass of the building is huge and quite out of keeping with the street scene. The design is more suited to an urban area than a semi-rural one.”
Cllr Marks said the building at the front was locally listed and while attempts to get it listed had not been successful it had a distinct charm and was an important part of Lymm’s heritage.
He added: “I feel very strongly that even if we lose the Hotel, then the building at the front must be retained.”
Concern was also raised on highway safety issues.
But members of the planning committee voted to approve the application which involves demolishing all existing buildings and replacing them with three storey care and retirement homes and a two storey children’s nursery.
Award winning care home company McGoff Group say the proposal will provide a multi-million pound state-of-the-art ‘new generation’ care facility including a 66 bed care centre.
The proposal has the full support of Macdonald Hotels who need to redevelop the site due to the loss making nature of the current hotel.
The historic Lymm Hotel
1 Comment
How can it be a loss making hotel when the company have refused to spend money on it over the last few years? The last big expenditure was some new mattresses for some of the rooms and a repair to the boiler which had broken due to funding for maintenance being cut. This whole thing stinks, the hotel has been allowed to be run down for years with none of the pleas from staff for improvements being answered. Trust me, I’m a former employee.