Hotel Felix in Girton can be demolished and care home built, inspector rules

The former Hotel Felix in Girton can be demolished to make way for a new care home and dementia research centre, a planning inspector has ruled.

South Cambridgeshire district councillors unanimously refused the application from Cassel Hotels (Cambridge) Ltd last July, but the decision was overturned on appeal after the inspector decided the benefits would “clearly outweigh” the harm.

The scheme will lead to the demolition of the existing hotel, which includes a Victorian main house surrounded by later extensions.

District councillors had described the main building as “magnificent” and important to people in Girton, and raised concerns about losing it. They suggested working to improve the fabric of the building, rather than knocking it down.

They also voiced concerns about the impact of the development on the green belt and on the nearby GP practice, which they had heard was already over-capacity.

A representative of the company behind the plans said there were “numerous and significant” benefits to the scheme, including meeting the need for more care home beds.

The spokesperson said there would be provision on site for GP and healthcare services, and the care home would create around 115 jobs.

The dementia research centre, meanwhile, will link in-house care to professionals working at Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

The Planning Inspectorate’s decision accepted that the proposal was “inappropriate development” and was therefore “harmful” but said there would be “negligible loss of openness” and that “substantial weight” had to be given to both of these points.

The inspector said: “Whilst of greater volume and footprint, I consider the scheme’s greater compactness means any potential loss in openness would be negligible such that it would have little appreciable visual effect on the openness of the green belt.”

The inspector said the Victorian main house was “attractive with some pleasing external and internal architectural features”, but noted there was “nothing inherently special” about the design, adding: “It has been substantially extended, unsympathetically in places, and interior features have been lost. It does not meet the criteria for statutory listing.

“The council considered that the building has a ‘medium/moderate’ level of significance in both its design and association, whereas the appellant says the significance is ‘low’. In my view I consider it has a low-to-moderate level of significance.”

The report said Cambridgeshire County Council accepted there was “unmet need” in the area of more car home beds, but argued it was not a “significant”.

The inspector said “contradictory evidence” was presented at the inquiry about future need and agreed with the appellant that there were “certain flaws” with the methodology used by the county council to determine need.

The inspector said: “This is likely to have significantly under-estimated the need for additional care beds.

“Taking evidence in the round, I consider there is an existing and pressing increasing need for additional care beds.

“I consider the timely development of new supply is necessary to meet not only the existing shortfall, but also to address the increasing need based on the substantial growth in the elderly population in South Cambridgeshire.”

The inspector said the benefits outweighed the harm to the green belt and the loss of a non-designated heritage asset.