Le Spa care home plan goes in front of inspector

MEMBERSHIP of Cirencester health club le Spa has fallen badly in recent years and the owners are looking at other ways to make money from the site, a planning inspector has been told.
At the appeal hearing this week into the rejection of plans for le Spa to be turned into a 60-bed care home and 23 houses, Paul Tucker, representing le Spa, said membership of the club had halved in the past two years.
"The future of the business is not looking rosy," he told the inspector.
Following a rejected proposal to demolish le Spa and start again, the owners had looked down the care home route, he said.
"A subsequent application was submitted promoting its conversion, together with development within its grounds which provided a viable development for which the owner was able to generate developer interest," said Mr Tucker.
He added that permission should be granted because the key characteristsics of the site would be protected, the development would provide a viable future for the building and the scheme was acceptable in design terms.
He also raised the issue of a five-year housing supply shortfall but Cotswold District Council replied that recent approval for 150 homes in South Cerney would go some way to filling it.
A group of 40 residents from Stratton Place and Albion Street, neighbouring the le Spa site, were granted Rule 6 party status at the appeal, which allowed them to be represented on an equal footing with le Spa and the district council.
Colin Forbes, who has spent months preparing for the appeal, represented the objectors, referred to at the appeal as Local Residents' Group (LRG).
Fighting from the same corner, LRG and CDC said they were concerned about the harm the development of 23 houses would have on the landscape.
CDC's development control leader, Deborah Smith, told the hearing that the application had been refused for a number of reasons, including the closeness of the new homes to neighbouring properties, the scale of the development and because it goes against planning policies.
The council's team also said several mature trees would need to be removed.
Mr Forbes said the group was also worried about a second application submitted by le Spa for seven large houses on the same site, which it looks set to proceed if the appeal is turned down by the inspector.
"The new application is expected to go to CDC planning in July but the footprint, volume and mass of the new build is almost identical, so all our previous arguments will apply," he said.
If the current bid by Le Spa is successful, developers have promised six affordable homes within the development and a £30,000 sustainable transport contribution.
Source http://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/