On Wednesday (February 23), Hastings Borough Council’s planning committee granted permission to build a five-storey, 84-bedroom hotel at the Cornwallis Street Car Park.
While the finished building is expected to be operated by the hotel chain Premier Inn, the application itself was led by Hastings Borough Council, which owns the land.
This fact saw some criticism for the council, as there had been only limited public consultation on the proposals, which officers said was as a result of the scheme coming forward at a time of strict coronavirus restrictions.
Among those to raise this concern was ward councillor Judy Rogers, who said: “I fully understand the restrictions imposed by covid but I do feel disappointed that at no point have residents been involved in any of the discussions.
“It doesn’t help them to feel ownership of what is happening there.”
Cllr Rogers went on to argue the building would be overbearing and could lead to a loss of privacy for neighbouring properties in Mann Street and St Andrews Square, so further revisions should be sought before the application was approved.
She also raised concerns about the impact of the loss of the free overnight car parking, saying it would put additional pressure on local residents.
While there was some sympathy for this argument among committee members, the committee ultimately decided to approve the scheme “on balance” primarily because the town needed more hotel accommodation.
Heather Bishop (Lab) said: “Consultation really should be done. It is a really bad look when consultation isn’t done with the residents. Yes, there was a pandemic, but there is a limit to how much I think we can accept it being used as a reason not to do something that could have been done.
“But there are no statutory consultees that have objected and some of the other concerns that have been raised can be mitigated during the course of the discharge of the conditions that have been set.”
She added: “I also hope that if people have got access to hotel beds, quality hotel beds, it may mitigate the scourge of AirBnbs and holiday lets that we’ve seen all across the town.
“There are so many perfectly good homes, family homes that are basically held up for AirBnbs for a number of weeks. So I would hope that good hotel beds will help to stop AirBnb being quite so significant in the depletion of housing for residents of this town.”
Other councillors felt the balance fell another way, however.
Matthew Beaver (Con) said: “My main objection is on the grounds of housing. It has been drummed into us by the leadership of the council that Hastings needs housing. It is the mantra of the council at the moment.
“To actually turn round to us and say on this site — which could have 20 dwellings, 20 family houses, 20 families being able to live in the town — we don’t think that actually important any more, we think a hotel is better.
“That to me is absurd, because we are sadly lacking in housing at the moment in this town. We all know that and here we have a chance to put up to 20 houses on a spot in the town centre it amazes me that this is even being considered.”
Following further discussion, however, the application was approved with eight votes in favour to two against.
For further information on the proposals see application reference HS/FA/21/00851 on the Hastings Borough Council website.
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Proposed design of new Premier Inn for Hastings
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Cornwallis Street Car Park in Hastings SUS-210612-111505001
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Cornwallis Street Car Park in Hastings SUS-210612-111518001
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Cornwallis Street Car Park in Hastings SUS-210612-111531001