Residents vow to fight on as developer appeals against hotel refusal

In November, Rother District Council refused planning permission for the 74-bedroom hotel at 10-12 Egerton Road.

The planning committee branded the building ‘too tall and too big’ for the residential street.

Cllr Bridget George likened the design of the building to ‘a prison’.

More than one hundred residents and business owners had lodged objections to the plans, expressing concerns about the size of the building, the out-of-character design and the lack of parking provision.

Residents expressed their disappointment at the news of the appeal.

Sara Stokes, speaking on behalf of the Egerton Road Hotel Action Group, said: “I was disappointed. Really disappointed.

“There were over one hundred residents objections and the council had rejected the proposals.

“The planning officer said the hotel is too large for the area and would result in an overdevelopment. Then there was the traffic and the noise.”

She added: “It’s in the wrong place, it’s in a conservation area, it’s massive for what it is and there’s a worry that if local B&Bs are closing down then this hotel won’t be used to capacity and then what happens to it?”

She added: “It caused a lot of stress last time to try and fight this and now we are having to go through this again.

“We would urge anyone who has objected before to write to the planning inspectorate and re-iterate their concerns.

“It’s vital that anyone who objected before objects again.

“As far as the residents are concerned, nothing has changed.”

All objections must be submitted via the Rother website by June 16. A decision will be made by the planning inspectorate at a later date.

The plans were backed by Bexhill Chamber of Commerce, 1066 Country Marketing and the De La Warr Pavilion.