Call for 30-bed Ford motel plan to be scrapped
Controversial plans by former football manager Jake King to build a new 30-bedroom motel in a Shropshire village should be scrapped, a council planning chief said today.
Dyanne Humphreys, principal planner at Shropshire Council, has said proposals by the ex-Shrewsbury Town and Telford boss to construct the motel opposite his Ye Olde Cross Gates pub in Ford are not suitable in their current format.
Under the plans, the new motel capable of dealing with 60 guests would be built on land used by Ford Bowling Club – but this has lead to protests from club members and residents.
Now a new letter sent to development manager Martin Parrish, of the Planning Group Ltd, said Shropshire Council has a number of serious concerns about the current proposals, including its size, design and impact on the bowling club.
"The application is not supported by any evidence that there is a need for the accommodation to be provided," it said.
"You refer to the various shows that are held in Shrewsbury or on the outskirts of the town, but there are no specific activities in Ford itself to justify a 60-bed motel.
"The submitted scheme has the appearance of a 'Travelodge/Premier Inn' type build – this falls far short of what is expected on this sensitive, prominent corner rural site."
The letter suggested that a scaled-down version of the motel be built on the hotel's grounds, especially given that planning permission had previously been given to proposals to put up a 14-bedroom building there.
"I would suggest your client considers reverting to the original scheme and perhaps reduces the scale of the accommodation to say perhaps six, and this may be considered to be in scale with the rural location," it said.
Mr Parrish was not available for comment today.
