Plans to turn a hotel in Bury into two nine-bed houses in multiple occupation (HMO) have been approved.

The Rostrevor Hotel, situated on Manchester Road opposite Holy Cross College and Manchester Road Park, is comprised of two Victorian houses made into one hotel.

The property was originally constructed in 1895 and has been in use as a hotel since at least 1995.

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The building is considered to be a non-designated heritage asset as it has local importance as a historical building.

The plans state that there would be seven car parking spaces, two motorbike spaces and eight bicycle spaces.

But there are concerns this would not offer enough spaces for the development. 

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Speaking at the planning committee on Tuesday, Cllr Tamoor Tariq, said: “The current application is something that local residents feel passionately is unrealistic, and will put a significant demand on the area, especially in terms of infrastructure and parking.

“The report isn’t very clear in terms of where we stand in Bury around the demand for HMOs, there’s a statement that says the government supports such initiatives, but it doesn’t state where we are at as a borough.

“Wider points in terms of what is going on in the neighbourhood is there are flats, namely 150 – 152 Manchester Road to the left-hand side of the building hosted by great places have 10 flats very much struggle with their bins and parking.

“There is another HMO to the south of the road and one behind the hotel.”

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Another fear aired was a loss of the historical features of the building with it being lauded as a fine example of late Victorian, early Edwardian architecture.

But a planning report prepared for the meeting addressed the concerns.

It said: “Overall, internal alterations and changes to the original layout of the building are proposed to be kept to a minimum to ensure original features would not be removed or damaged as part of the proposed works.

“Internal works to unlisted buildings can be undertaken without planning permission, and therefore the council has no jurisdiction over the proposed internal works and therefore there are no justified reasons to resist the application on this ground.”

The committee approved the plans with conditions.

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