Plans to transform Bath’s historic Royal Mineral Water Hospital into a 167-bedroom lifestyle hotel have been tipped for approval despite 187 objections.
The Min in Bath | Photo © The Fragrance Group
Developer Fragrance Group UK will find out next week if its proposals for the Grade II*-listed building, better known as the Min, win the backing of Bath and North East Somerset Council.
Opponents said the “ungainly and too modern” design was inappropriate for a conservation area and World Heritage Site, and claimed there were better uses for the building than another hotel.
One objector said: “The city of Bath’s hospitality businesses cannot sustain another 150-bedroom hotel on top of the vast Hotel Indigo due to open this year.”
Another said: “Increased visitor numbers will cause an increased volume of traffic in a city already struggling to improve air quality and to accommodate more cars and coaches.
“This building would be put to better use providing homes rather than adding to the surfeit of visitor accommodation.”
Neighbours were concerned about a loss of privacy and they would soon be facing a “huge black, glass wall”.
The hospital was originally planned to provide access to treatment in the thermal waters of Bath for the “sick poor from Britain and Ireland”.
Royal Assent was given in 1830 for the mineral waters to be diverted into the hospital from the Kings Bath spring.
It was last used by the Royal National Hospital For Rheumatic Diseases but was sold by the Royal United Hospitals Trust in 2017 to fund purpose-built facilities at its main site in Combe Park.
If approved, Fragrance Group’s plans will transform it into a lifestyle hotel with a health spa and restaurant.
After initially objecting, Historic England said the harm had been “minimised as far as possible”.
The Bath Preservation Trust, which had also opposed a previous version of the plans, said it recognised the importance of finding a use for the building,
But the Federation of Bath Residents Association questioned its suitability as a hotel or whether the rooms were needed.
Recommending approval, planning officers said: “Whilst the evidence indicates that there is no need for additional hotel accommodation, it is not for the planning system in this context, to intervene in the operation of the market or protect individual businesses/hotel operators.
“Securing the optimum viable use for this building is essential to achieve a successful sustainable outcome for this site.
“The development will have an impact upon the neighbouring occupiers and will change how they experience the site. However, the development will not result in a situation where they no longer have appropriate living conditions in this city centre location.”
They said the harm was outweighed by the public benefit of securing the future of the building, and it would not significantly affect neighbouring residents.
The application will be considered by B&NES Council’s planning committee on 26th August.
Stephen Sumner, Local Democracy Reporter
