Plan to demolish historic Lymm Hotel to build flats and care home needs 'complete rethink'

Developers have submitted proposals seeking planning permission to demolish the Lymm Hotel and build 52 retirement apartments, a nursery and a 72-bed care home on the Whitbarrow Road site.

But a number of objections have been made by members of the public, while the Neighbours of Lymm Hotel group met on Monday, January 29, to voice their opposition to the plan.

At the centre of their concerns is the ‘woefully inadequate’ parking provision for the development.

The 36 one-bedroom and 16-two bedroom over 55s flats, the nursery catering for 120 children and the care home would be served by only 74 car parking spaces.

Group spokesman Alan Williams said: “Residents initially tried to approach the idea of the redevelopment in a positive frame of mind in spite of the sad potential loss of the hotel with all its history, including the famous stay of Pele and the Brazil team for the 1966 World Cup.

“But we believe that this application should be sent straight back to the developers for a complete rethink.

“This development is untenable for the apartment owners and nursery and care home staff and users, as well as those living in the surrounding area.

“The answer is surely a significant reduction in the scale of the development that then also releases more space for parking whilst reducing traffic volumes.”

Statham resident Gill Emmot’s garden would directly adjoin the nursery playground.

She added: “The application itself states that council guidelines recommend 102 car parking places for a development on this scale, so we were speechless when the developers tried to argue that 37 places would be more than enough.”

Developers say that the 62-room hotel is ‘not viable’ and ‘has little in the way of heritage value’.

While 33 people are currently employed employed at the hotel, 68 jobs would be created by the new scheme.

A consultation on the plans run until Wednesday, February 14.