High Court next stop in battle over hotel plans

Midlands hotelier Rick Cressman is taking his planning fight to the High Court to win approval to extend his 17th-century country house hotel near Berkswell in Warwickshire.

Cressman claimed he was left with no choice after a planning inspector blocked plans to add another 10 bedrooms to his 38-bedroom Nailcote Hall hotel, following a public inquiry in June.

He is also submitting a new planning application to Solihull council's planning committee, which reduces the size of the extension to the listed property to cut its impact on local green-belt land.

Cressman's battle to get permission for the extension has been going on for the past two years, and the hotelier claims it is costing him £40,000 a month in lost trade and has forced him to cut his 100-strong workforce to 80.

"This is very frustrating because so many other things are being built on green-belt land," said Cressman.

"I am completely and utterly shattered," he added. "The planning authorities are pushing me into early retirement."

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 10-16 August 2000