Controversial plans to transform a city centre landmark into a hotel have been given the green light.
Britannia Hotels won planning permission to turn the historic London Road fire station, near Piccadilly, into a 227-bed hotel, restaurant and bar complex.
But the hotel chain, who own the site, remain at loggerheads with Manchester council who are pushing ahead with plans to force the sale of the Grade II-listed Edwardian property using a compulsory purchase order.
Council bosses announced this year that they wanted to buy the building amid concerns over its future. It has been vacant since 1986 under Britannia’s ownership and is on English Heritage’s at-risk register.
Town hall chiefs claimed the Hale-based hotel group had failed to act for too long and they would seek to buy it and sell it on for appropriate re-development. Britannia responded in June by submitting the plans, approved by the town hall planning committee who act independently of the council’s executive decision-making body.
A council spokesman has previously said: “Britannia have failed to satisfy us that they intend to bring the building back into appropriate use within an acceptable time frame.”
A public inquiry early next year will decide whether to grant the compulsory purchase order.
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Nearly 25 years and they have still done nothing, this will be the same. The sooner the CPO the better.
Brittian Hotels have been very lax-a-daisy over this building, they have for years been saying that they dont have the money to do it up well what are they going to do with it, Manchester Council should buy it back off them, and turn it into a Fire service Museum, the building has been allowed to detariate over the last few years and it is as though the Brittian Group do not care, i was a Fireman here during the last years of this building operational life, and i would hate (along with lots of other people) to see this building go beond repair, Manchester City Council do somthing right for once buy this building back before it's to late.
While I agree Britannia Estates should now be served with a CPO, I would ask people to remember that Manchester City Council are not the best custodians of buildings that they have owned. Example Phillips Park Cemetery Buildings all of them left for decades to go to ruin. Then sold off for a £.
Bring on the CPO....they don't exactly run quality hotels the Britannia group do they? Several hotels in the dirtiest hotels of the year awards in 2009 if I remember rightly, anything similar to Sachas and the Airport Hotel isn't going to bring people flocking into Manchester.
The only way the building will survive is for the council to take ownership. Clearly the lackadaisical approach by the hotel group has shown that they do not care about maintaining an important heritage only playing the game of disrepair until it has to be knocked down into prime realestate. In any other situation this would be classed as fraud. Come on council, purchase the building and save Manchesters Past
This is a beautiful building that this city should be cherishing, and I'm not keen to hear this hotel chain might get their stamp on it. Fight it all the way, and get the CPO going.