Permission has been refused for a long empty hotel, the scene of a huge fire earlier this year, to be demolished and redeveloped on.
The Crosby Hotel and Pub, off Normanby Road, Scunthorpe, has been closed since 2008. In February, Humberside Police and Humberside Fire and Rescue Service had to attend the building after it caught fire.
Now, three years on from a planning application being made, permission has been refused to demolish the remains of the hotel and build affordable homes in its place. Doncaster-based MerryVale Developments was the applicant.
Eight two-bed and two three-bed homes would have been built had permission been granted. All were to be affordable. However, the key sticking point that has seen the application rejected is a lack of a signed S106 agreement ensuring the affordable homes status in the long-term.
Because of it being a brownfield site, there was a presumption in favour of development and the need for affordable homes in Scunthorpe outweighed heritage considerations.
But no signed legally binding agreement ensures the ten homes’ affordable status, or a requested £5,500 donation to Teale Street Park and memorial garden. For these reasons, the application has been refused.
The Crosby Hotel building is 114 years old. It is a non-designated heritage asset of local historic and architectural interest. It was on a local historic list when Scunthorpe Borough Council existed, and is a potential candidate for the current government-backed Local List for North Lincolnshire.
It has been subject to visits since its closure, by urban explorers and children. Incidents this summer led to Humberside Police issuing a warning to not attempt to enter, as the building is very unsafe.
The council’s heritage officer had objected to the proposal during the application’s processing, finding demolition would cause “substantial harm to the heritage significance of the hotel and harm to the setting of the adjacent Masonic Hall”.
The applicant subsequently submitted a heritage statement justifying the building’s loss. It explained the demolition was for reasons of viability, with a conversion not delivering affordable homes to standards required, and still requiring major alterations.
The new mix of semi-detached and terraced housing, fronting onto both Normanby Road and Berkeley Street, would have had nods to the site’s past. This included black brick diamond patterns on facades.
The council officer’s assessment found the loss of the non-designated heritage asset would be “regrettable”. But this “must be balanced against the need for new affordable dwellings in Scunthorpe for residents”.
However, a lack of signed S1O6 agreement guaranteeing the affordable homes and memorial garden donation scuppered the application.
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Original artice: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe
