Green light for historic Chateau Impney revamp

Plans to renovate a country hotel which has been shut since the pandemic have been approved - along with plans to build more than 100 homes on its wider estate.

Modern extensions to the hall at Chateau Impney in Droitwich, Worcestershire, will be removed and the Grade II* listed building reopened as a hotel and restaurant.

Meanwhile unused parking areas, roads and other parts of the estate will be reinstated as extensive parkland under the multi-million pound revamp.

A total of 127 homes will be built by Spitfire Homes within the parkland and four new commercial units will be created.

The scheme was approved by Wychavon District Council's planning committee on Thursday.

Councillor George Duffy said Droitwich Town Council was "keen to see this development underway for the improvements and access it brings to the wider Impney site with quality and convenient relocated housing".

He added: "These plans are an exciting opportunity to make a unique part of our history more publicly available than I have ever known it."

Councillor Rick Deller said the planning application should be approved, adding: "This is protecting our heritage, choosing beauty and defending greatness - it is stewardship done properly."

Rod Spollon, managing director of Greyfort Properties which brought forward the plans, said it had been seeking a sustainable future for the estate.

"This is a transformational regeneration project," he said.

Spollon said the scheme would bring "undoubted public benefits" including the creation of public open space, improved access to the countryside and "high quality homes utilising green technology".

The new homes in Little Impney would sit alongside the existing businesses and residents within the Impney estate, he said, adding that the works to Impney Hall and its setting would take it "a step closer to John Corbett's original creation".

The firm's finance director Corrina Watson said the "ambitious proposals" would uncover parts of the building not seen for more than a century.

She said experts who have previously worked on Shugborough Hall and Blenheim Palace had been brought in to carry out restoration work.

Planning officers said they thought the "unique circumstances" of the scheme meant it would not set a precedent for developing on green belt land in the future.

After the meeting Spollon said it could take around 18 months to two years to undertake the work.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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