IT seems the iconic Grand Hotel is back on the market.

Furious owner of Leigh’s iconic site, Mick Norcross, has now vowed to quit his restoration project after his latest plan was rejected by council bosses - again.

Mr Norcross was present at a Southend Council planning committee meeting on Wednesday- but stormed out after members voted down his application.

The former Towie star has since taken to Twitter to announce the building is going up for sale, simply saying: “I’m out.”

In a second tweet, Mr Norcross added: “Thank you to everyone that has supported my plans re the Grand over the Past 5 years. #dreamsdontcometrue.”

The scheme would have featured 19 flats with a basement wine bar and health club - and ground floor restaurants.

Mr Norcross wanted to build a mansard-style rooftop extension to create a penthouse, which council officers said was inappropriate.

Officers said they had a number of pre-application meetings with Mr Norcross in which he declined to remove the penthouse from the plans following their objections.

They said it would have a “detrimental impact on and be significantly harmful to the character and appearance of the locally listed building and the Leigh cliff conservation area more generally”.

The building has been empty for ten years, but successive planning schemes have faltered.

Leigh councillor Carole Mulroney voted against the plans, citing a need for 200 car park spaces, when only 38 spaces were included.

She said: “From my point of view the application was not acceptable.

“There were reasons why it wasn’t acceptable which could have been rectified with another look and a changing of plans.

“If he chooses not to do that it’s his prerogative, his property. If he chooses not to pursue it any further then it’s up to him.

“But there is already a planning permission on that site which he got for a hotel, with the restaurants and spa underneath. So although he might decide to sell it he’s going to be selling it with a planning permission.

“This was a really, really hard decision, I said my piece and it was the committee’s decision at the end of the day.”

Planning agent Kieron Lilley spoke on behalf of Mr Norcross at the meeting.

He said: “It’s not sufficient or reasonable to maintain a blanket objection in principal substantiated solely on the basis of generic reasoning citing design, sighting, scale and size.”

Mr Norcross was not available for comment.