Cornwallis Street hotel agreement

Hastings Borough Council's new Cabinet is due to discuss and approve in principle a new agreement with Whitbread PLC which means the council will not be responsible for building a new hotel at Cornwallis Street.

Whitbread PLC is proposing to purchase the land from the council. The agreed purchase price will be not less than market value and Whitbread will entirely fund the build of the new Premier Inn hotel themselves. This means the council does not have to find the additional funding at a time when finances are already under pressure.

The legal agreement will also include a timeframe for the hotel to be built.

Cllr Julia Hilton, leader of the council, said: "All councillors are grateful to officers who have been working hard for several months on this to achieve a much better outcome for the council. This project is a legacy project that was agreed before COVID. It will provide much needed hotel bed-spaces for our tourism economy while removing any financial risk to the council. We will be ensuring that Whitbread keep residents in the area fully updated about what is happening and that the hotel is built as quickly as possible."

The hotel build process will create around 35 construction jobs and when the hotel is open it will provide 84 beds, circa 30 jobs and bring an estimated visitor spend of £2.1m a year.

Editor's notes:
The estimated jobs and tourism spend were included in the Economic Impact Statement which was produced when the planning application was submitted in 2021. This can be read through the planning application (search reference HS/FA/21/00851).

The item will be discussed at Cabinet on Monday 29 January at 6pm. The report can be read online.