A HOTEL chain has been told it cannot set up a wedding marquee in front of a popular district hotel.

Britannia Hotels purchased Hollins Hall Hotel, Golf and Country Club in Baildon last year, and last month submitted plans to erect a 30 metre by 20 metre marquee at the front of the building.

The company said the hotel is currently losing business due to a lack of on site function space, and a new marquee space to host functions would help secure the business’ future.

But that application has now been refused, with officers at Bradford Council raising concerns about noise from the proposed marquee and its impact on the Greenbelt.

Britannia had said in the application: “The proposed Marquee will enable us to make the hotel profitable and keep it operating and contributing to Bradford’s local economy.

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“The addition of the Marquee would serve to stimulate the hospitality economy in this area of Bradford especially in the conference, banqueting and wedding markets.

“We receive many requests for these events, but currently cannot accommodate at this scale.”

There had been six public objections to the plans, with objectors saying the marquee would look “unsightly” on the site of the impressive hotel building, that it would increase traffic to the site and that the marquee would create noise late into the night.

A letter from the Council’s Environmental Health department raised similar concerns, with one officer saying: “I have no objection to the permanent siting of the marquee if it used only to house people to dine and converse.

“However, I strongly object to the playing of amplified music/performance or speech from the marquee because of the nearest noise sensitive residential properties.

“This Department has to deal with many complaints from temporary marquees relating to noise emissions from the playing of amplified music or performances and speech.

“It should also be noted that there are no effective methods to reduce noise emissions from marquees.”

Council officers had pointed out the Hotel was already able to host events, even without the marquee, saying: “It should be noted that the hotel already has conference facilities and hosts weddings and wedding receptions within the main hotel building.

“The construction of a permanent marquee would enable the hotel to effectively double their offer on any given day.”

Refusing the application, they said: “The applicants have submitted no justification for what would be inappropriate development which is, by definition, harmful to the Green Belt.

“The marquee is considered to represent a threat to the amenities of nearby residential properties by reason of noise and disturbance, particularly from late night events.

“The marquee would partly obscure the attractive frontage of the main hotel to the detriment of visual amenity and would appear as an alien feature to the detriment of the character of the local landscape.”

Officers also raised concerns about how the marquee might impact protected trees on the site, and said there there was little information on how much extra traffic the development would bring to the hotel.