It is yet to be seen whether a public enquiry costing Croydon Council up to £100,000 will go ahead after a hotel expansion was turned down for the second time.

On Thursday (June 21) night the council’s planning committee went against planning officers’ recommendations and refused the expansion of Queen’s Hotel in Upper Norwood.

The owners of the hotel, Euro Hotels Ltd, want to demolish existing buildings at the centre of the site and build an extension which would create a total of 495 rooms, an increase of 160, as well as 207 parking places.

A similar planning application was put forward in November, and refused by Croydon Council.

The hotel made headlines some years ago when it was used to house hundreds of asylum seekers.

At the meeting this week the borough’s head of planning, Pete Smith told councillors that the hotel had appealed the decision and it would now be the subject of a public enquiry.

No date has been set but planning committee chairman Paul Scott said that this could cost the council up to £100,000.

The latest application recieved 517 letters of support and 40 letters of objection.

Mr Smith said many flooded in as he was in the process of finalising his report.

Both applications recieved opposition from people living nearby, particularly from those in Fitzroy Gardens and Wakefield Gardens who campaigned against the proposed expansion.

Richard Quelch from planning consultants GVA told the meeting that if the building was expanded it could be a four star hotel, and that Best Western had expressed an interest in taking it over.

He said: “The hotel is currently of its time and the hotel needs refurbishment.

"We're targeting the hotel as a four star hotel, this is part of a strategic programme of refurbishment that the client is taking across London.”

He added that it would create 165 jobs at London living wage and mean £2.3million would be spent in the ‘local area’.  

London Assembly member and councillor for Kenley Steve O’Connell spoke in objection to the plans alongside a Crystal Palace resident.

Both described the proposal as ‘indefensible’ and said it would negatively impact on people living in Crystal Palace.

Cllr O’Connell said: “It takes a scheme of epic proportions to bring together cross party agreement and I am very proud to speak against it as a London Assembly member.

“This is a scheme that we have seen before, if agreed it would have a detrimental effect on residents – it is almost impossible to overstate this.

“This is a scheme that is the size of a hotel that you would probably expect next to Heathrow Airport it’s still got the best part of 500 rooms.

“Crystal Palace and Upper Norwood is a delightful district centre, it does not lend itself to a hotel of this size.”

In the following discussion some councillors raised the fact that the hotel had proposed charging for parking which they said could encourage guests to park on residential roads around the hotel.

After nearly two hours of discussion the committee made the decision to turn it down with a majority of six to four councillors.

Speaking after the meeting GVA representatives said they were not yet sure what the decision means for the existing appeal against Croydon Council’s previous decision.