A HOTELIER'S plans to build a new conference centre at his site have been scuppered.

Outline plans to build new bedrooms and a conference facility on green belt land beside the Forest Hills Hotel in Frodsham were rejected following a Government planning inquiry.

Main reasons for blocking the bid centred on the fact that the new buildings were not appropriate for a green belt site.

The bid was sent to Vale Royal Council in August last year and the Government decided to take responsibility for the outcome.

But a public inquiry carried out for Environment Secretary John Prescott has recommended that the development be blocked.

The idea involved building a two-storey bedroom complex and conference suite on green belt land and, although the inpector found that there would be no real affect on people living in the area, he said it ran against local development plans.

The hotel now has six weeks to lodge a High Court appeal against the ruling.

Management were not available for comment at the Forest Hills this week.

The company had argued that there was an issue of financial viability at stake for the hotel, but the inspector rejected this saying the building would outlast any transitory need.

He also decided that previous planning permissions granted at the site should not positively influence this plan.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.