Plans for All Saints Hotel Golf and Spa near Bury St Edmunds including three market housing flats refused by West Suffolk Council

A planning application for a leisure complex just outside Bury St Edmunds has been refused.

M&D Developments submitted plans for a four-storey linked extension creating 37 bedrooms and three residential apartments on the second floor at All Saints Hotel in Fornham St Genevieve.

The applicant also wanted to reconfigure the second-floor roof to an existing bedroom wing.

A document with the application said the serviced apartments would form a 'fundamental part' of creating a more sustainable future for the leisure facilities.

But it was this market housing element within a countryside location that led to the application being refused by West Suffolk Council on the grounds it went against planning policies.

A design statement with the application said: "The proposal is to develop the existing and approved bedroom wings to create three residential properties above the new bedroom wing and redefine the office accommodation of the existing hotel bedrooms in a roof form to match the extension.

"The project and proposals have come forward to create a diversification of use and as a fundamental economic requirement to create a sustainable future for the locality and project.

"This industry has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and previous recession.”

The applicant was approached for comment.