Hotel wants to add new rooms
A hotel has applied to add new rooms, saying its current limited capacity has cost it potential bookings.
The Norwood House Hotel near Newport has applied to convert its existing dining and function room, which was built in 2014, into five bedrooms with shared washing and toilet facilities.
A design statement, submitted on behalf of Norwood House Hotel Ltd director John Watson, says the venue, on Pave Lane, Chetwynd Aston, hopes future guests will include business visitors drawn to the area by the nearby Newport Innovation Park.
Chetwynd Aston and Woodcote Parish Council will be consulted about the change-of-use application, and Telford and Wrekin Council’s planning department will make its decision at a later date.
The statement, prepared by Lilleshall-based planning agent John Nickson, says: “The Norwood House Hotel presently is a three-storey brick-construction, roof-tiled building with a cellar for the storage and operation of beer casks with the bars, kitchen, restaurant and toilet facilities at ground level and hotel accommodation at first- and second-floor levels.”
Five guest rooms are currently available, a number that “does not satisfy the levels of enquiries we get for B&B requests in the area,” Mr Nickson adds.
The Norwood House Hotel has had to divert customers to other accommodation, “losing business and trade through our lack of room capacity”.
The proposed change would add “five one-bed budget rooms” with a “communal shower room with toilet and wash hand basin facilities”, he adds.
Blueprints submitted to the council show four of the bedrooms and the bathroom in a row along the back wall of the hotel, with the fifth in front, next to the reception.
“There is also a significant new development 1.2 miles from Norwood House, in the form of the NI Park, and we would like to be able to provide local accommodations and food facilities for those businesses,” Mr Nickson writes.
The statement adds that new facilities are also planned, including complimentary bicycles for guests’ use and a twice-daily minibus service, also open for use by local residents.
