A planning inspector has backed a decision by council officers to turn down plans for a 115-bed hotel at the site of an "eyesore" derelict building.
Plans to knock down Ailwyn Hall, the former railway social club at Lower Clarence Road in Norwich, to make way for the six-storey hotel were turned down by city council officers in March last year.
Officers at Norwich City Council rejected the plans by Lower Clarence Road Investments Ltd.
They said the scale, bulk and massing would be "unduly dominant" and cause harm to the character of the street scene and to the conservation area.
They also said the proposal would overshadow and overbear homes in Thorpe Road and Regency Court.
The applicant appealed to the Planning Inspectorate over the refusal.
City-based One Planning, on behalf of the applicants, said the site would add to the vibrancy and character of Lower Clarence Road and provide "high quality, affordable hotel accommodation within the city centre of Norwich in a highly sustainable location".
They said the proposal "responds to the variety of building heights within the surrounding area and would not appear out of keeping or at odds with the surrounding built form".
But planning inspector Nick Palmer backed the council's refusal.
He said it "would be out of scale" and "unacceptably harm" the living conditions of people living nearby.
A spokesperson for the city council said: "The council welcomes the decision of the Planning Inspectorate to uphold the decision to refuse planning permission."
However, the applicants are still hoping to secure permission for a hotel at the site.
Shortly after the launch of the appeal, last summer, plans were lodged to demolish the hall to build a five-storey, 94-bed hotel.
A decision on whether that will be allowed will be made in due course.
Gail Harris, the council’s cabinet member for social housing, said at that time: “It can only be described as an eyesore and we cannot allow people to leave sites like that undeveloped, bringing down the whole area.”
The council confirmed the process to secure a compulsory purchase order was on hold, pending a decision on the revised plans.
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