An appeal has been lodged after yet another application to turn a grade II listed hotel into homes was turned down by Warwick District Council.

High Desert International Limited was refused permission to convert the Glebe Hotel into four houses and four apartments at the end of last year, after 35 members of the public raised objections.

District planners criticised the poor quality of the design and said it would "dominate" the street scene.

But High Desert, who said the pandemic had "effectively hastened" the Barford hotel's struggles, have now appealed the decision.

"We have made the case that the proposed development would be high-quality and will provide an appropriate use for the listed building, taking full account of the site constraints, hotel viability and the research into alternative uses," the appeal said.

It added: "In fact, it is argued that there are many benefits associated with proposed development, including the removal of a significant part of the sprawling inappropriate hotel additions; removal of some frontage parking and return some of this space to an attractive landscaped garden; and, remove the unsympathetic dormer bungalow which was subsumed into the hotel extensions."

WDC will now present a case for why permission should be refused, and a planning inspector will make a final decision.

An artist's impression of what the development would have looked like (image via planning application)

When the application was first refused last year, a council report said: "The proposed development is considered to provide poor quality design which fails to provide a subservient and appropriate form of development. 

"The proposal would result in a dominating development within the street scene, which fails to harmonise well or enhance the existing settlement, and also fails to respect and reinforce local architecture. 

"This has a harmful impact on the listed building and the conservation area. 

"The harm is considered to be less than substantial, but there are insufficient public benefits to outweigh this harm."

The hotel was built in the 1820's as a rectory to the Church of St Peter and remained in private use until 1948 when it became a hotel.

See the application in full here.