PLANS to revert one of the best-known hotels in Whitchurch to a residential property have been put in front of Shropshire Council.

The Grade II listed Dodington Lodge, in Dodington, has been a 10-bedroom hotel for the last 70 years before its closure in February after owners spent nearly a decade trying to sell the business.

A full supporting statement into the change has been published on Shropshire Council's planning portal by RPS Design Group on behalf of applicant Jason Lansley, from Dodington Lodge.

In it, RPS has set out the reasons behind the application to revert from a hotel to residential.

It states: "The Dodington Lodge Hotel, currently a 10-bedroom facility with en-suites, has been a hotel for around the last 70 years.

"Previous to that, the Dodington Lodge Hotel was a large family home; this change of use will be returning the building to its original use.

"The applicant's intention is to keep (in its entirety) the (existing) external and internal arrangements of the building, its structures and its listed elements.

"In other words, this application does not seek consent for any alteration works whatsoever.

"No works of any sort are deemed necessary at this stage to accommodate the change of use application.

"The applicant has suggested the change of use would provide a large six-plus bedroom family home.

"Any alterations, further sub-divisional change of use or development of the land will be subject to separate planning and listed building consent in due course.

"The proposal would preserve and sustain the historic building with the proposed re-use."

The hotel is within Whitchurch's Conservation Area and according to the statement, stands close to the soon-to-happen Pauls Moss development, as well as close to Dodington Close and Dodington Road.

According to a statement included in the application from the owners, the Wainwright family, the decision to revert back to a family home is based on the struggle to sell the Lodge as a hotel businesses.

It stated: "A hotel can be a 24/7 operation and its busiest times are at the weekends, which can impact family life.

"Given this and the desire by the directors due to reasons of age to reduce their workload the decision was made to put the property on the market."

It continued: "Though it was accepted by us that we had a limited pool of potential buyers.

"At 10 rooms our small hotel was not big enough for the pub with rooms/small hotel group chains, and the value of the land/property was such that it made it expensive for someone to purchase the property as sole trader/couple unless they had a big cash deposit, given that banks saw hospitality as high risk.

"We had several interested parties throughout this period some of whom wanted it for alternative commercial use, others to continue with the business.

"Throughout that time, we only had one serious offer in 2017/18 that we had agreed a sale with. Sadly, despite both sides incurring considerable expenses it did not go through."

RPS added that previous concerns over loss of employment land, which they say are minimal, are outweighed by the benefits of potential residential space in Whitchurch.

Anyone wishing to comment on the application can do so by Wednesday, June 15 with a July decision expected.

Head to https://pa.shropshire.gov.uk/online-applications