Business

The new Travelodge would be just yards from the Holiday Inn
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Concern over new hotel for Winnersh

By Lewis Rudd
October 19, 2011

Proposals to build a new 93 bedroom hotel near a Winnersh business park could be given the thumbs up by planning bosses tonight.

The planning committee at Wokingham Borough Council will discuss an application submitted by Travelodge to build the hotel at 100 Berkshire Place in Wharfedale Road when it meets this evening.

Paperwork filed with the authority explains how the proposed four-storey hotel, which will be built with accompanying cafe bar and associated parking, will create nine full-time and 20 part-time jobs for local people.

A design and access statement submitted with the application said: “The hotel clientele shall be business users due to the site location and surrounding office and commercial businesses.

“The Travelodge will provide an economic hotel to the business user within this location.

“This application seeks to provide a high quality design solution appropriate in terms of scale, height and mass for the site and its surroundings.”

The application, however, which has been earmarked by planning officers at the council for approval, has been met with objections from some local residents and businesses.

They have questioned the need for another hotel to be built just yards away from The Holiday Inn at the IQ Winnersh business park, which was only opened last year.

And others are unhappy with the loss of 77 car parking spaces and say Wharfedale Road is prone to flooding.

Bosses at Holiday Inn have also commented on the application, suggesting the number of hotels in and around Winnersh has saturated demand.

The meeting will be held at the council’s Civic Offices in Shute End, starting at 7pm.

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As stated above, there are plenty of hotels round Winnersh. There is no need for more. The brand new holiday Inn has been half empty (at most) since it opened a few months ago....... Why build another hotel opposite it? Surely than can build something better on that spot. Not another half empty hotel please !

It is being built on the car park of the long empty symbol building. So I dont know where the cars will go if that building is let out. All yellow lines around the industrial estate, so the excess cars park in the residential areas. nightmare

mr jolly
22/10/2011 at 15:32

"The new Travelodge would be just yards from the Holiday Inn"

It would, but then the Holiday Inn isn't exactly far from the Moat House just down the road at Sindlesham and St Anne's Manor and The Coppid Beech Hote both just a 5 minute trip down the A329M, and yet permission still got granted for said Holiday Inn, so Holiday Inn themselves are brave to comment on "saturation".

Then there is the fact that the pricing structure will usually be completely different for Travelodge and Holiday Inn establishments, meeting the requirements of a different client base.

I'm confused as to which "local residents" are objecting, given the road is in the middle of a commercial trading estate, just what residents are living there? The site is surely the otherside of the train tracks to the residential housing, so they can't want to complain about noise!

As for local businesses, not sure why they would complain. I see the loss of 77 parking spaces as an issue, but if they are to potentially be lost then do I take it these are parking spaces that aren't currently assigned to the units of business people that are parking there?