Issue - decisions

Matter for Decision:

In February 2012, the Council commissioned consultants to advise it on the performance, plus existing and future demand and supply for new hotels in the City and immediate surrounding area. This was to update the Council’s evidence base for the review of the Local Plan, and help inform any decisions relating to applications for hotel development in Cambridge.

 

The interim study (Appendix A of the Officer’s report) has been the subject of a stakeholder consultation on 29th March 2012.

 

Further work is in progress on comparator historic town benchmarking. ‘Fair share analysis’ is exploring the role of the colleges, the bed and breakfast and guesthouse sector in relation to recent expansion of budget provision. Work on this will be concluded by the end of April 2012.

 

As part of the Local Plan review, housing and employment forecasts are being updated and the hotel forecasts will therefore be adjusted accordingly before the report is finalised. The final report will be brought back to committee in June 2012.

 

Decision of Executive Councillor for Planning and Sustainable Transport:

Noted the findings of the interim report (Cambridge Hotel Futuresby Hotel Solutions) and supported officer engagement in concluding the study and developing the implications within the Council’s Issues and Options Consultation planned for summer 2012.

 

Reason for the Decision:

As set out in the Officer’s report.

 

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected:

Not applicable.

 

Scrutiny Considerations:

The committee received a report from the Principal Planning Policy Officer regarding the Cambridge Hotel Futures Study. The Officer highlighted some typographical errors in the report:

(i)                Table 1 (P49) – Total Cumulative Need (2016 Rooms) should read 507 not 347.

(ii)              Table 1 (P49) – Total Cumulative Need (2021 Rooms) should read 714 not 748.

(iii)            Paragraph 4.7 (P51) – Following concerns about loss of permanent residential apartments, an investigation by Enforcement Officers revealed that conversion to serviced apartments did not require planning permission.

 

In response to Members’ questions the Director of Hotel Solutions, Planning Policy Manager and Principal Planning Policy Officer confirmed the following:

 

(i)                The Officer’s report referred to hotels in the city and Greater Cambridge area that serviced Cambridge. Only hotels in Cambridge City and the areas immediately bordering the city boundaries were included in the bedroom forecast.

(ii)              Projections for future hotel demand were forecasts from a model developed by the consultants. Details were set out in the full report. Growth assumptions were based on primary source information (ie trend information direct from hotels). City centre and periphery trends were modelled. 70% occupancy expectations were standard for the industry.

(iii)            Demand for hotels in Cambridge was split 35% for leisure/tourism (including UK and overseas visitors), 65% for business and corporate demand. Other historic towns/cities generally had a 40% tourism and 60% corporate business split, whereas ‘corporate’ towns had a 30/70% split. Despite being a historic city, Cambridge appeared to have a greater corporate bias than other historic towns/cities. International visitors wanted to stay in the city centre and were prepared to pay a premium to do so.

(iv)            Methodology for measuring business denied (eg people turned away when a hotel was full) varied between hotels and companies. Some monitored and compiled figures more than others.

(v)              The report referred to the potential to locate hotels near to business parks. Opportunities for new hotels could be explored through the Cambridge Local Plan Review.

(vi)            There appeared to be more demand for hotel bed space in Cambridge city centre than on the outskirts. If hotels were built on the outskirts, customers were likely to travel into the city centre, which impacted on traffic generation and demand for city centre car parking.

(vii)          If it was deemed appropriate to source a five star hotel for the city, a location site would have to be identified prior to considering other options. Interest would have to be sought from a relevant hotel chain. A site would likely have to accomodate a minimum of 130 bedrooms. Officers recognised that it was not possible to allocate land for a five star hotel. Competing economic and housing land needs would have to be reviewed through the Local Plan and market forces.

(viii)        Some hotels were currently rebranding and looking at selling sites. The Council could meet hotel bed space demand through planning policy and engaging with land owners, property developers and hotel companies.

 

The committee resolved unanimously to endorse the recommendation.

 

The Executive Councillor approved the recommendation.

 

Conflicts of interest declared by the Executive Councillor (and any dispensations granted)

Not applicable.