Twickenham's Regal House to be transformed into 111-room hotel (From Your Local Guardian)

Twickenham's Regal House to be transformed into 111-room hotel

6:50am Saturday 20th March 2010 in

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An office block dubbed Twickenham’s “ugliest building” is to be transformed into a 10-storey hotel.

Although the proposal to change Regal House into an 111-room hotel was thrown out by Richmond Council last summer, the decision has been overturned by the Government’s planning inspectorate.

Permission has now been granted for the 1960s office block to be partly demolished and extended to become a hotel.

Twickenham MP Vince Cable is among those to have voiced opposition.

He said: “It is disappointing that the Government planning inspector has chosen to grant planning permission after it was rejected by the council.

“Twickenham town centre is in need of regeneration, but making the town’s ugliest building even uglier is not the answer.”

The development will see the part demolition of the first floor of Regal House and an extension to the northern elevation of the existing building.

The London Road front of the development would remain the same height as the existing building, while the part fronting Mary’s Terrace and extending eastwards would step down in stages from 10 storeys to six and then three.

After extensive campaigning against the proposal, Conservative parliamentary candidate Deborah Thomas said she felt let down by the decision.

She said: “I am absolutely gutted.

“The proposed hotel is a carbuncle on an already ugly building and will cause misery for the hundreds of residents who wrote to me pleading for this not to be built.”

The inspectorate’s decision was revealed on Wednesday following a six-day appeal in January.

Leader of Richmond Conservatives Councillor Nick True hit out at the council, arguing the inspectorate had given the hotel, expected to be turned into a Travelodge, the go-ahead because of a Liberal Democrat policy which encouraged tall buildings in the station area.

The inspector’s report said: “There appears to be considerable local controversy on the appropriateness of tall buildings in Twickenham and their effect on the ambience of the town which goes well beyond the specific concerns raised by the council.

“However, the council’s strategy on the revitalisation of Twickenham town centre encourages tall buildings in the station area, within which the appeal site clearly lies.

“In light of the recently adopted strategy I can see no objection, as a matter of principle, to a tall building on the appeal site.”

Councillor True said: “This horrendous eyesore will be a reminder for generations of this hated Lib Dem council’s total lack of vision for Twickenham.”

But council leader Serge Lourie said: “The planning committee turned this down and were overruled on appeal.

“The local development framework introduced by the Lib Dems is far more against high-rise building than the Conservatives unitary development plan but the inspectorate made a decision which people in Twickenham will regret.”

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