A new 63-bedroom Premier Inn hotel for the Black Country has been given the go ahead by planners.
Birmingham-based commercial property developer Stoford has won planning permission for the £3.5m development at Castlegate Business Park off the Birmingham Road in Dudley.
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council has agreed to the building of the hotel, along with a café and 60 parking spaces on the land, which is owned by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).
Stoford is already tendering for a contractor to be appointed by the end of September with a view to completing the project by mid 2013.
The three-storey hotel will bring a major boost to the local economy, creating around 25 new jobs on opening as well as employment opportunities during the year-long building phase for the hotel.
John Bates, Head of Acquisitions for Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants in the UK and Ireland, said: “Premier Inn is expanding aggressively across the UK as we keep up with strong demand for our high quality, affordable product and search out new exciting locations for our customers.
“Castlegate Business Park is an ideal site for a new Premier Inn, with great road access and plentiful restaurants and entertainment nearby for our customers. It’s a prime location and with planning permission now secured we can press on with building the hotel, creating new jobs and taking Premier Inn one step closer towards achieving its target of 65,000 Premier Inn bedrooms across the UK by 2016.”
Anne-Marie Simpson, Head of Midlands Central at the HCA, added: “This decision is a great boost for those involved in Castlegate Business Park with the hotel being a key component of the development. We look forward to working with Stoford and its partners to continue to maximise the potential of the site for generating local economic growth in Dudley.”
Gerard Ludlow, Development Manager for Stoford, commented: “We are delighted to have gained a planning consent at Castlegate Business Park and we were most impressed with the prompt manner in which the Council dealt with the application. We are now looking forward to getting construction under way as soon as possible.”
