Coldeast Mansion wins planning permission for 22 more rooms to cover £35,000-a-month electricity bills

Fareham Borough Council granted the owners of Coldeast Mansion, in Sarisbury, planning permission to extend the listed hotel, restaurant and venue.

The Victorian mansion, which dates back to the 1840s, opened last autumn following a £2m restoration by business partners Jason Parker and Daniel Byrne.

Speaking to the planning committee on Wednesday, Mr Parker said the extra rooms are necessary for the mansion to become commercially viable.

He said: ‘The mansion traded prior to us taking over and failed with significant financial losses suffered, the previous owner had recognised that the number of rooms could not support the business model.

‘The mansion is a very large 25,000sq ft historic building in nine acres of grounds.

‘It was neglected for many years and stood empty bringing no benefits to the community - we have spent over £2m undertaking significant restoration to provide what is widely recognised as a first-class hospitality venue.

‘Buildings of this type require constant maintenance, repair and upkeep and they are extremely hard to heat - our electric bills at the moment are around £35,000 a month.

‘It’s very expensive to insure and period-appropriate materials, fixtures and fittings that we need are hard to find and very costly.

‘The hotel rooms will provide direct room occupancy revenue as well as adding to the food and beverage income.

‘The proposal to add 22 rooms takes the hotel offering to 50 rooms which is the absolute minimum necessary in our opinion to make the mansion a viable commercial business.

‘The mansion currently employs a significant number of staff many of whom live locally, the additional rooms will increase staffing needs and further benefit the local economy.’

After the deputation, Councillor Susan Walker congratulated the applicants.

She said: ‘Having been in that building when it was first owned it was in need of a huge amount of work and to actually bring it into usage now is welcomed.’

Councillors voted unanimously in favour of approving the proposal.