Concerns over plans to turn hotel into flats

The owners of the Moorlands Hotel, in Castleton High Street, have submitted an application to the North York Moors National Park for a change of use and to extend the building to create seven flats.

At Wednesday's meeting of Danby Group Parish Council, members were concerned at the loss of a village amenity and also objected to the planned first-floor extension at the front of the building.

Coun John Randles said: "I would object strongly to the front extension; it would look like a fortress when you look across the valley."

Owners Alan Abrahams and Val Knights-Gibbons said the business was no longer viable as an hotel and was losing money year after year.

They claimed independent reports by business advisers and property experts supported this view and confirmed that it would not be viable to sell it as a going concern.

Mr Abrahams said: "I have been here for 11 years so this is not just trying to make a quick profit.

"We have given it a good go, but since foot-and-mouth, and with more competition, it is just impossible to keep it going."

He added that should planning permission be granted, local firms would be invited to tender for the conversion work.

Ms Knights-Gibbon questioned whether the hotel was, in fact, a village amenity. She said: "For it to be an amenity it has to be something that is used and needed, but it is not."

The parish council decided to inform the national park planning committee that it regretted the loss of amenity and objected to the first-floor front extension.

It was also agreed to ask that, if the application was granted, the properties should be kept affordable for local people and that the highways department look at the car parking arrangements