Consultation held on plans for new hotel at one of Staffordshire’s most popular wedding venues

The proposed hotel complete with premium wedding suites and comfortable business rooms has already received positive feedback from Stafford Borough Council. Positive feedback was also received from members of the public during the consultation.

The planning consultation that was given to residents reads: “Stone has a multitude of local attractions on the doorstep such as Alton Towers, the Monkey Forest, Trentham Gardens and Cannock Chase. In addition, local business parks are currently experiencing exponential growth bringing increased need for quality accommodation to the area with a limited selection of hotels able to meet the required demand.

“In the increasingly competitive market of hospitality, weddings and conferences it is important for the business to be able to offer high quality accommodation to remain competitive and appealing to future clients.

“The proposed solution to continue to grow the business and enhance the local economy is to build, manage and operate a new 35 bedroom hotel on site, linking the venue and restaurant with premium, convenient accommodation on ground that part of the existing developed site. The local area has a growing demand for this facility.

“One of the defining assets of the site is the open, rolling landscape and marina scenes. By constructing the hotel accommodation to sit sympathetically between the two existing buildings we will be able to maintain the level of aesthetics that draw people to the site whilst simultaneously being able to offer quality, premium accommodation.”

Margaret Jones said: “The marina is a lovely facility in the area and I think the hotel will just enhance everything else down here. It’s well run, it’s well managed and we wish them all the best with it.”

Michael Jones added: “There are never any problems here, there’s no loud noise or whatever, it’s great it just fits in with the neighbourhood. Throughout the process they’ve been very upfront and tell everyone what’s going on.”

Despite consulting with the public now the potential timeline for development is not until after 2027 as weddings are already booked and will allow the maximum time to get the development right.

Joyce Smith commented: “I think this is fantastic, I like how it doesn’t look intrusive from the outside, it looks to be at the same roof level as the other building. Clearly the business is very popular so why would they be denied if this will help them grow and expand.”