Find, save and share Public Notices that affect you in the area.
Search the Public Notice Portal What is the Public Notice Portal?What is the Public Notice Portal?
The Public Notice Portal carries statutory public notices published in local newspapers and is the fastest and most effective way of finding out what is happening in YOUR neighbourhood.
Search the Public Notice PortalPlans have been lodged for nine new rooms at a city centre hotel which is being met with opposition.
The Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Oxford city centre has added nine new rooms to the 149-room accommodation, as it submits a licence to the council which contested the plans.
The hotel in Paradise Street, which opened next to St George's Tower and Castle Mound in 2019, lodged a planning application to Oxford City Council for nine additional bedrooms through an extension to the roof, making the building taller by one floor, in January 2024.
After considering the important city skyline views and the prominence of the hotel from the top of the tower, the planning authority rejected the application on the grounds of its visual harm caused by its 'size, mass and design' next to the heritage assets.
The applicant appealed the decision, and a planning inspector overruled the council's refusing at a public inquiry in November 2024.
READ MORE: Oxford man arrested for 'aggressive' public order incident
In his ruling, the inspector said: "The proposal would not have a harmful effect on the significance of the listed buildings identified, and it would preserve the character and appearance of the Central Conservation Area."
He added that the hotel, as it was previously seen from the viewpoint on St George's Tower, actually detracted from the view due to the plant-clad walls at the top of the building, designed to soften the view, which had failed and looked 'unconventional and untidy'.
Following the appeal ruling, the additional floor was built and The Courtyard by Marriott applied for a variation to the premises licence to account for the change of layout with the addition of nine rooms.
The licence application is under consideration and open for consultation on the Oxford City Council website.
Share