The Grosvenor Pulford Hotel and Spa, in Wrexham Road, has approached Cheshire West and Chester Council with plans to create 63 additional parking spaces, using a patch of woodland within the hotel’s footprint.
The new overflow would utilise a patch of the hotel grounds towards the south west of the main building.
The area is currently designated as Green Belt land and restoration area under the council’s Local Plan, with NSC Planning saying that proposal would seek to ‘safeguard and enhance’ identified areas.
Permeable grass webbing or webbed panels will be installed to support vehicles and to ‘limit the impact on biodiversity’ in the site.
OTHER NEWS:
Some trees and hedges would need to be removed in order for the car park to be completed including three ash trees, an English oak, and some hedgerows, however a survey states that all of the trees identified are in fair to poor condition, with one ash tree already dead.
The planning statement adds that in ‘times of heavy business’ the current parking for the hotel becomes overrun and parking spreads onto Wrexham Road, which can be ‘inconvenient’ or ‘troublesome’ for residents, increasing traffic and reducing access.
Its developers say that the build, if approved, will be ‘in keeping with the rural character of the site’.
They add: ‘When not in use, the car park will seem as it did before, proving sympathetic to the delicate nature of the Green Belt and restoration area minimising the impact on both openness and visual amenity.’