It has stood empty and derelict for most of the past 20 years but finally a church hall once used by St Mary’s, Whittlesey, is set for a new lease of life – as a hotel.
Various schemes have been looked at - and mainly rejected - over the years but now Fenland District Council has agreed it can be converted and extended into an 11-bedroom hotel.
The site is owned by the Jennings family who at one time wanted to demolish the hall and build homes on the site.
But now agreement has been reached with planners for Station Road site - with access from Scaldgate - to become a hotel.
Agent Peter Humphrey told the council that the building remains in poor condition and the rear of the site is overgrown "resulting in an adverse impact on the street scene" from both directions.
He said the intention is to retain the character of the existing church hall and upgrade as necessary with new windows/doors, replacement of broken /missing roof tiles and re-pointing brickwork as necessary.
"The proposed rear extension is to consist of fibre cement cladding boards and render, separated by a single storey, glazed walkway," said Mr Humphrey.
"This creates an attractive structure which is sympathetic to the surrounding area.
"The adjacent club (Childers), to the north is a large, 3-storey structure and these proposals will not have any overbearing impact on neighbouring properties."
He felt that the "proposed extension is well proportioned and will not pose any detrimental to the area.
"We feel that the proposal makes good use of an unused site that currently forms an unattractive feature in the street scene."
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