Burnley hotel clears planning hurdle

Crow Wood Leisure is seeking funding for a £10.5m hotel extension to the popular spa and restaurant complex on the edge of the Pennines in Burnley following clearance for planning from the Secretary of State.

Andrew Brown, managing director of Crow Wood, said: “This is a significant milestone and we’re delighted to have got this far, but we now have to secure the funding to take the project forward, so there is still a great deal of work to be done. Now we have to prepare the final cost plan and business plan to enable the financial institutions to lend, so even if everything goes according to plan, it’s unlikely that any works will begin on site before May 2017.

“We are all really excited about this project and we’ll work really hard to make the hotel a great success and a wonderful asset to Burnley. It’s going to be a quality development, but it will represent an affordable luxury – much like The Woodland Spa. With the Global Luxury Spa, we’ve demonstrated that we can make Burnley a destination, so this is the logical next step.”

The clearance by Communities Secretary Sajid Javid follows planning permission by Burnley Council.

Brown continued: “We’re very proud of the fact that Crow Wood has become a haven for wildlife and we’ll be looking to extend this. We’ve already planted 25,000 native trees and many kilometres of native hedgerow on the 100-acre site and we’ll be adding to that by installing an ornamental lake and wetlands that will be planted with a wide range of species to encourage and sustain a whole range of wildlife, providing a great habitat for native flora and fauna.”