Public asked to give views on hotel

Members of the public have until March 1 to make their views known about the plans for Castle Hill, Almondbury, Huddersfield, a hilltop site regarded as one of Yorkshire's most important early Iron Age hill forts.

The site is home to a listed building, Victoria Tower, opened in 1899 to mark 60 years of the reign of Queen Victoria (marked two years earlier, in 1897) and is a popular site with families and for kiting, drawing around 100,000 visitors every year.

Huddersfield company the Thandi Partnership, run by brothers Barry and Mick Thandi, has applied to Kirklees Council to build a hotel and restaurant on the site of the former Castle Hill Hotel which was demolished five years ago.

The council has been in discussions with the Thandis and the result is a design which is very similar to the original hotel, although the applicants say the talks gave them no clear guidance on whether to submit a traditional design or a or contemporary one.

In a 61-page planning statement, the applicants say the public would like to see a hotel and restaurant back on the site.

The application concludes: "Reinstatement of the Castle Hill Hotel will meet an essential need associated with outdoor recreation as expressed by respondents to the public consultation exercise.

"As such it is an appropriate development in the Green Belt.

"There are persuasive special circumstances which additionally favour the development which would outweigh any harm to the Green Belt even if the development were inappropriate. These include the delivery of visitor facilities....the improvement of the siting of Victoria Tower and the general visual amenity of Castle Hill. The scheme benefits the setting of Victoria Tower as a listed building."

The report says that the scheme would not have any detrimental effects on the archaeological value of the site "but offers the opportunity to introduce visitor and interpretation facilities to aid in the education and advice related to the site available by the general public."

The planning statement says the design of the building is based on the original architectural designs for the former Castle Hill Hotel.

The building would comprise a lobby, restaurant/bar area, a small snug, a kitchen, a visitor interpretation room, public and private toilets, and a small basement for storage.On the first floor there would be seven en-suite bedrooms.

The building would include interpretation facilities showing the history of the site and there would be public toilets provided for visitors.

In the design statement, the applicants say it is clear what the public wants to happen.

"The Conservation Management Plan concludes that there is a general consensus that basic visitor facilities would be desirable with the highest number of respondents, 130, indicating that a pub/restaurant would be one of their top three most important improvements.

"It is clear and evident that there is a groundswell of opinion which favours the reconstruction of a pub/restaurant on the site of the former Castle Hill Hotel."

Public consultation on the plans opened on February 8 and will end on March 1.

Comments can be made via the Kirklees Council website or by emailing: [email protected] – quoting reference 2009/93504.