Express & Star

Hotel that closed due to Covid could be bulldozed and replaced with care home

A care home could be built on the site of a former Stafford hotel that closed during the coronavirus pandemic.

Published
An old aerial shot of Stafford showing the Tillington Hall Hotel, centre

Tillington Hall Hotel was run by Best Western until it shut last May. Previously the Eccleshall Road site had used to accommodate NHS staff and key workers during the pandemic, but the impact of Covid-19 on the hospitality industry was detailed by the departing general manager on social media.

The hotel has now been demolished. And an application has been submitted to Stafford Borough Council by Restfull Homes Developments Ltd, proposing a four storey care home.

Now an application has been submitted to Stafford Borough Council by Restfull Homes Developments Ltd, proposing a four-storey care home.

A statement submitted as part of the application said the facility would provide 145 beds.

It added: “In all cases the care home has been designed to be sympathetic to its context and to sit comfortably within its setting. The footprint of the proposed building largely occupies the same area as the existing hotel.

“Consideration has been given to ensure that the building minimises the impact on the existing trees and adjacent dwellings whilst maximising the potential of the site and providing the applicant with the necessary amount of accommodation. The existing mature trees along the vehicle access will be retained.

An artist's impression of how the new care home could look

“The proposed care home is a four storey building with the fourth storey also being a roof garden. The existing hotel is also a four storey building so the scale of the proposal is comparable to the existing building.

“The care home is only a ‘part storey’ on the top floor. The roof garden is accessible by all residents and provides a quality external amenity space. Its location is ideal as it benefits from views over the open playing fields to the north-east of the site.

“The building encloses an internal resident’s courtyard at its centre which provides quality private external space for its residents. There are also additional external amenity spaces along the site boundary.

“The care home will be the latest development by Restfull Homes Group and as such will be very much a state of the art facility. All areas have been designed to promote dignified living standards for the frail, elderly and those suffering with dementia.”

The Tillington Hall Hotel in Stafford, shown before it was taken over by Great Western

Two Meakin Grove residents have objected to the plans. One said the proposed development would be far too high and result in loss of light.

The other said: “The section of the hotel that faced Meakin Grove was only a two-storey extension building. The proposed development consists of a three storey elevation opposite Meakin Grove.

“There appears to be no evidence in any of the documents filed online that clearly evidences that the three-storey construction will not have a negative effect on daylight, but clearly the three storey construction will be higher than the previous two storey construction. The increase in storey height also has implications (for) the privacy of the existing properties on Meakin Grove.

“There will be 39 visitor parking spaces and the proposed development will have 145 bedrooms. Is (this) considered adequate, particularly at presumed busier visiting times at weekends?

“Should there be insufficient parking spaces it is highly likely that on street parking to Meakin Grove will be used as an overspill. The carriageway width of Meakin Grove is less than four metres and when cars park on either side of Meakin Grove they invariably do so with two wheels on the footway or verge. Access to the private drives on Meakin Grove can be made impossible as there is insufficient space to physically turn our vehicles onto or off Meakin Grove.

“Currently this is only an issue for two to three hours when football matches are held on the playing field at the end of Meakin Grove. Any increase in this by visitors to the development using Meakin Grove as an overspill could make the situation intolerable.”

But another Meakin Grove resident said: “I fully support the construction of the care home as I think it will enrich the community and support those in need of such a service.”