Artist's impression
Stobart Group, owner of Southend Airport, has submitted a planning application to Southend Borough Council to build a 129 bedroom hotel.
Permission to extend the runway at Southend Airport was given by the Council in January 2010, and the decision was approved by Secretary of State John Denham in March, following opposition from local residents and pressure group Stop Airport Extension Now (SAEN).
Stobart’s application is for a hotel at the airport, adjacent to the Harp House roundabout. The hotel would provide three and five star facilities, 12 executive suites, cafes, bars, meeting and conference facilities, and a restaurant on the top floor.
Stobart has called the hotel an “ambitious and innovative concept” and claims that it will provide “high quality facilities for airport passengers [and] local residents” as well as “serving airport businesses.”
Alastair Welch, Managing Director of London Southend Airport, said:
“High quality, convenient hotel facilities are an essential ingredient of successful regional airports and are an important part of our plans to modernise London Southend.
“The new hotel will greatly improve facilities for passengers and flight crews using the airport. It will also benefit local businesses.
“We hope that the local community will make use of the services, particularly the restaurant; our vision is to make it one of the top places to eat in the region.
“The hotel application follows on closely from the plans approved earlier this year to extend the airport’s runway and the ongoing construction works, which are progressing well, for the new airport railway station and control tower.
“Like our other developments, we hope to have the hotel open for business prior to the 2012 London Olympics. “
The hotel operator has not yet been announced.
