A planning application submitted to Westmorland and Furness council for full planning permission to allow change of use and refurbishment of existing buildings at Newton Rigg so they can be used as a 57 bedroom contemporary hotel, providing a mix of serviced rooms and serviced apartments.
Newton Rigg College closed in June 2021 and was bought in September 2021 by the current owners of the site.
The application submitted to the council will if approved see four existing buildings last used for housing the student population at the former Newton Rigg College, named Bessey, Bessy Annex, Herdman, and Capstick used to create the new hotel.
The owners have promoted buildings suitable for immediate reuse to, attracting new occupiers and bringing activity back to the campus. Some of the buildings now provide facilities for the Viveroptix training academy and high speed broadband delivery hub for the installation of fibre broadband across the region along with Fibrus. Other new occupiers of the former campus site include Newton Rigg Ltd delivering agricultural education along with a refurbished football and sports facility. Newton Rigg is also home to Eden FM with its studio and transmission site on the campus site.
The application submitted to Westmorland and Furness Council sets out plans to create the 57 bedroom hotel from the original purpose-built student living accommodation dating from the 1970s for three of the buildings and an older 1960s building that contains a mix of former student living accommodation, teaching rooms and administrative spaces. The buildings when used as student accommodation provided 77 bedrooms.
The planning application is seeking approval from Westmorland and Furness Council for change of use of the buildings to Class C1 hotel, which the application says would enable the owners to undertaken a comprehensive refurbishment, including internal alterations creating better proportioned spaces needed to serve as contemporary hotel accommodation to create 50 modern units of hotel accommodation providing 57 bedrooms, making use of the existing building structures on the Newton Rigg estate.
Speaking in support of the application KieranMartin, Operations Director at Viberoptix said “Since the commencement of work in Cumbria, Viberoptix have located their main UK base at Newton Rigg, Penrith. One of our main objectives as a Company is to grow a business that not only builds a fibre broadband network to support connectivity in Cumbria, but which also focuses on building futures for people. Our aim is to employ, train, upskill and support both our employees, but also people in the local area, whether that be through direct employment, as a supplier, school, college or any other stakeholder.”
“Evidence of this can be found in our purpose-built Training Academy, which has supported the employment of 170 people, including telecoms apprentices.”
“One major obstacle that we have encountered frequently, and which is becoming more and more prevalent as the business grows, is the lack of available accommodation in the local area. Further accommodation availability will allow Viberoptix to continue to grow and bring more people to Penrith, in turn aiding the local economy.”
Westmorland and Furness Council are currently considering the application that is out for consultation ahead of a decision by the council as the local planning authority for the area.
The statutory time limits for decisions on applications for planning permission in the Town and Country Planning act sets out that the Council must give a planning decision on household and minor planning applications within 8 weeks. Large developments should have a decision within 13 weeks.
If an application is subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment, it is meant to have a decision in 16 weeks and 10 weeks for applications for technical details consent. The consultation period by Westmorland and Furness Council is open until the 21st October 2023.
Full details of the plans can be viewed via https://goto.penrith.town/Newton-Rigg-hotel-plans
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