Last updated at 16:06, Friday, 29 January 2010

Plans to demolish an historic hotel and build a £3 million care home in its place have been broadly backed by residents of Skinburness.

Proposals to create a 64-bedroomed home on the site of the dilapidated Skinburness Hotel are “better than nothing”, they say.

Skinburness Residents’ Association met at the Golf Hotel in Silloth last week to discuss the plans. The community has long been concerned over the future of the landmark building after it was repossessed, then boarded up, in 2006.

Association member, Peter McRobert said: “The general consensus was that these plans were better than nothing happening at all.

“We’d like to have a hotel, but we’ve got to accept it’s not going to happen.”

The scheme, led by NorthStar Capital Projects, could bring the equivalent of 50 full-time jobs to the area. If Allerdale councillors agree to the plans, the 33,000sq ft site would lead to a four-storey home, a coffee bar, library, gardens, communal living areas and 17 car parking spaces.

Danny Sharpe, NorthStar development director, said in an earlier statement that retaining the 132-year-old hotel was “impossible” due to its condition.

“We have tried to put back a building that reflects some of the grandeur of the hotel and we hope it will be a new focal point for the community,” he added.

First published at 14:11, Friday, 29 January 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk