1:30pm Friday 3rd September 2010
By John Geoghegan
PLANS for a £10million hotel at Southend Airport are set to be given the go-ahead.
The five-storey 129-bedroom hotel proposal, which would include the town’s first five-star facilities, was unveiled by the airport in June.
Members of the council’s development control committee will now decide, but council officers have urged them to approve the plan.
Airport bosses expect the hotel to create 40 jobs, according to a report by Andy Lewis, the council’s corporate director of enterprise, tourism and the environment, It will be built on land to the north-west of the Harp House roundabout, facing Eastwoodbury Crescent.
The building will include two separate hotels with different entrances – a three-star hotel with 117 bedrooms and a five-star facility with 12 executive suites on top.
There will also be a restaurant, a bar and conference facilities, plus a parking area in front of the hotel with 66 spaces for guests and visitors, who will arrive via an entrance from Eastwoodbury Crescent on the western side. Staff will park off the site on another car park within the airport’s grounds.
The report states: “Overall, the design will create a new landmark for this part of Southend and mark the entrance to the airport which at present is lacking.
“The design of the building also takes advantage of its position by locating the high end restaurant and conference facility on the top floor, which will have extensive views over the airport and will be a unique selling point.
“It is considered that the proposed development is a comprehensive, high quality design.”
Airport owner Stobart, which drew up the application, hopes the hotel will be open in time for the 2012 London Olympics.
The company also plans to create a piece of public art on the hotel site.
The council gave outline planning permission for a four-storey, four-star, 131-bedroom hotel on the same site in October 2007.
According to the report, two letters from neighbours were received, one of which praised the development as “a wonderful modern building” which will bring jobs to the area.
The other expressed concerns about the effect of traffic using the roundabout.
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