Date set to decide fate of Robin Hood Hotel

A date has been set for a public inquiry that could finally decide the fate of what remains of a former hotel that has been derelict for almost 20 years.

The Planning Inspectorate will rule whether the controversial Robin Hood Hotel, Lombard Street, Newark, should be demolished to make way for a 66-bed Travelodge and retail units.

It has been at the centre of a long-running debate between those who believe what is left could be restored, and those who say it is an eyesore and should go.

An independent Government inspector will begin hearing evidence at 10am on May 15. The inquiry venue is yet to be decided.

All sides have been urged to accept the outcome.

Newark and Sherwood District Council granted permission for the hotel remains to be knocked down and the site redeveloped.

That decision was called-in by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Mr Sajid Javid, at the request of Newark MP Robert Jenrick.

The hotel, once one of Newark’s finest, closed in 1999 and has been empty since.

It was partially demolished in 2010 but three 18th Century townhouses, which are listed, remain.

'The outcome will be what the outcome will be'

District council leader Mr Roger Blaney, a member of its planning committee, said: “Whatever the outcome, some will be pleased and some not.

“The officers made a recommendation to support approval of the planning application.

“I was in favour of that and the planning committee agreed the recommendation to demolish and replace it with a 66-bed hotel.

“That is the council’s position and that is the position the council will be arguing at the public inquiry.

“We wait to see what arguments are put forward against demolition. The outcome will be what the outcome will be.”

Mr Jenrick called on all sides to accept the outcome of the inquiry.

He said: “I hope the public inquiry will bring this matter to a close and do so in a manner that commands public confidence, through an open and independent decision.

“If the decision is to reject the application, I would expect the developer to honour their commitment to restore the buildings and proceed with that work as quickly as possible.

“People in Newark have been let down very badly in this protracted saga. It now needs to move into its final chapter.”

The inquiry is estimated to take 12 days and will be held on weekdays, with the exception of Mondays.

The inquiry is scheduled to finish on June 1, after which a report will be sent to the Secretary of State who will make the final decision.

'It is possible to retain the listed part of the site'

That decision could only be challenged in the High Court and interested parties have up to six weeks after the decision date to do so.

If there is no challenge the Secretary of State’s decision will be final.

Nottinghamshire Building Preservation Trust wants to save the buildings and had proposed transforming them into office suites in an estimated £1m project.

Secretary Mr David Atkins said: “[An inquiry] has to be the right place to decide this although we would have hoped there would be an alternative proposal to the one on the table, but that does not seem to have happened.

“We look forward to the public inquiry and the result of what obviously is a very local problem but one that has wider national implications on what to do with our listed buildings.

“A listed building carries with it a responsibility for the owner to maintain it and keep it in good repair, which obviously has not been done in this instance.”

Mr Atkins said a listed building should only be demolished in special circumstances.

“We still feel it is possible to retain the listed part of the site,” he said.

“There is a large site there that could be used for another purpose, a hotel or otherwise, provided that the listed parts of it were retained, which they could be.”

Mr Atkins said the trust was prepared to make its case at the public inquiry.

“Whether we shall be allowed to do that we don’t know,” he said. “We look forward to an outcome, whether we are pleased with it or not.”

The Potterdyke development, which included the former Robin Hood Hotel, Asda store, shops, bus station, taxi rank, doctors’ surgery and houses, should have been completed by November 2015 under the terms of a contract between site owners MF Strawson and Newark and Sherwood District Council.

The council had the option of enforcing a requirement on MF Strawson to complete the development after that date but the enforcement was discretionary, not mandatory, and has never been enforced.

Banks Long and Co, planning consultants for MF Strawson, declined to comment.