Melrose hotels want Premier Inn project stopped

by DOUGLAS SHEPHERD

Agents for five Melrose hotel businesses, including prominent accommodation providers in the Borders tourist industry have lodged an objection to a £12 million 'retail park' project including a 70-bedroom Premier Inn planned for nearby Tweedbank.

Edinburgh developers are seeking planning permission for the hotel along with other facilities including a filling station. But they have dropped the idea of incorporating a food store at Tweedbank following strong opposition from local retailers and community councils.

The revised planning application to Scottish Borders Council is currently out for consultation, and the Melrose hoteliers submitted their objection in the last few days via Philip Neaves of Felsham Planning & Development Ltd, also Edinburgh based.

Mr Neaves is objecting on behalf of, Burts Hotel, Townhouse Hotel, George and Abbotsford Hotel Partnership, King's Arms Hotel and Station Hotel. 

A written submission says: "We are instructed to submit an objection to the above application on the grounds of: Landscaping and protection of trees; Impact on Eildons; Undermining town centre vitality and viability by putting local businesses under threat; Unsustainable travel patterns and the need to drive to Melrose for evening entertainment."

According to Felsham Planning: " I consider the proposed development turns the SG Development Vision on its head – proposing the removal of the woodland which will result in the landscape screening being lost, the uninterrupted visibility of the development, and does not comply with the SG Development Vision aspiration to develop an internal principal frontage along the western side of the site.

"I suggest that the proposals amount to overdevelopment of the site and this has required the removal of the majority of the screening woodland. I suggest the southern elevation of the retail store, and Petrol Filling station, seen as they will be, entering Tweedbank do not achieve the high quality built environment that meets the design standards".

In a section headed Impact on Town Centre Vitality and Viability, the submission states: "Town centres are under threat and their vitality and viability needs to be protected.

"The nature of Melrose town centre is a material consideration in assessing this proposal. The vitality and viability of Melrose depends on wider considerations than retail. That vitality and viability will be undermined by a larger hotel than envisaged accompanied by ancillary development that was not part of the Special Planning Zone.

"Melrose is an important centre. It serves the needs and wants of the diverse resident, working and tourist populations. The result of these characteristics is that the café culture has developed which means that the characteristics of Melrose are recognised to be unique to those of other centres in the retail hierarchy. That should not be undermined by unforeseen and unplanned expansion of the hotel element of the SPZ.

"High street shops rely on footfall and the key to success is dwell time providing attractions that will keep people in the shopping street as long as possible and blending retail and other attractions. 

"The range of support features is increasingly what makes people visit a centre, not the retail. Melrose sets a standard of how town centres should develop and we would urge your Council not to grant consent for a development that could undermine the vitality and viability of the town centre by having a significant impact on the hotel sector. For these reasons we respectfully request that your Council refuse this application."

Melrose Community Council, whose members previously argued the retail park would pose a huge threat to the viability of existing businesses have maintained their opposition despite the amendments made by the developers.

In a newly lodged written statement the community council says: "This proposal contravenes Planning Policy as it is placing this development on land retained for Commercial Business. SBC must stand by this and support the already established businesses.

"We in Melrose still need to support what is one of the few still strong vibrant High Streets in the Borders. At present we have five hotels and numerous guest houses, bed and breakfast facilities which all fight for a share of an uncertain market.  Most of our High Street shops are occupied and open for business.

"It is easier to retain a High Street environment than try to regenerate a High Street environment as SBC are finding throughout the Borders with fringe developments sucking the life out of high streets. There is also a feeling that a four-storey hotel is far too high for this location in Tweedbank as there is nothing else this height within the surrounding area."