Developers pull out of plans for new hotel as part of controversial £46m Derbyshire retail centre

A hotel with an attached pub and restaurant was intended to be a ‘landmark’ building at the entrance to the Park 38 development at South Normanton.

However, it has emerged the developers have withdrawn their plans for a hotel – although council leaders say this will not impact on planning permission for the rest of the site.

A spokesperson for Bolsover District Council said: “The other application is for commercial development on a site allocated in the Local Plan for these types of uses. So, we will continue to process that application as normal.”

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The proposed hotel was just one aspect of the Park 38 development, located just off the A38 at East Midlands Designer Outlet, which would see 10 individual retail stores and a ‘pod’ of food and drink outlets, including a possible restaurant or wine bar, built on the site.

It would involve demolishing dwellings and farm buildings at the site to make way for the retail units.

It also proved controversial in towns close to South Normanton, where campaigners claimed the development would be ‘significantly detrimental’ to businesses and pose a ‘threat to the local economy’.

Campaign group Keep Our Town In Focus, which represents Sutton, said it could cause more than 1,700 job losses up to £33m of losses to Sutton businesses.

Matthew Williams, from town planning advisors Williams Gallagher, who act on behalf of the Keep Our Town In Focus campaign, said previously: “The futures of town centres are at risk if the planning application is approved.

"We are asking people to support the livelihood of surrounding towns through the Keep Our Town In Focus campaign and to register objections to the application."

However, Marcus Jolly, of Limes Developments, the company behind the plans, has described them as ‘a substantial piece of inward investment into the South Normanton area which signals investor confidence’.

"In economic terms, it represents a huge boost to South Normanton with the creation of an estimated 1,100 new full-time jobs and training opportunities,” he added.

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