Green light for extended city centre hotel plans

Joe Griffin
LDRS
Brian Farmer
BBC News, Peterborough
Google Westgate, Peterborough: The side of a street. Shoppers are walking past buildings in a street. Some building has names and signs written on them. One the right is a sign saying "ELECTRIC WORKSHOP". In the centre is a sign saying "WESTGATE"Google
Expanded plans have been approved for a new hotel in Westgate, Peterborough

A development firm has been given the go-ahead to increase the size of a planned city-centre hotel.

Peterborough City Council has given Gujjar Investments permission to add more rooms to the proposed hotel in Westgate.

The company, which is based in Peterborough, had already been given approval to create a 34-room hotel above the Westgate Galleria at 35 Westgate.

Council members have now approved plans to add nine more bedrooms - and create a 43-room hotel.

Gujjar's initial application - which was approved by the city council in October 2023 - said the hotel would benefit the city centre by providing accommodation and creating jobs.

Emma Baugh/BBC A six-storey building with beige cladding and glass sides is pictured from across a riverEmma Baugh/BBC
Another Peterborough hotel site - the Hilton Garden Inn - remains empty after a deal fell through before Christmas

In January, Peterborough City Council said it was "hugely disappointed" that a buyer for an unfinished hotel elsewhere in the city had pulled out.

The council was on the cusp of selling the Hilton Garden Inn in December but the deal fell through when the developer walked away two weeks before contracts were due to be exchanged.

The unnamed buyer was one of three parties interested in buying the Fletton Quays hotel, which was originally due to open in 2019 but was beset by construction delays.

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