Unit to look at Travelodge plan

Plans to demolish a town-centre eyesore to make way for a 66-bed hotel have been referred to the National Planning Casework Unit.

MF Strawson wants to knock down the remains of the Grade II-listed Robin Hood Hotel and replace it with shops and a Travelodge.

It gained planning permission and listed building consent from Newark and Sherwood District Council last week.

The application was referred to the planning casework unit on Wednesday last week and it will decide within 21 days whether to send it to Sajid Javid, secretary of state for communities and local government, for a final decision.

If the unit does not send it to the secretary of state, the council’s decision will stand. If it is called-in, the developers could have to wait months before a final decision is made.