Hotel rooftop canopy plans blocked for sixth time

A hotel which has had plans for a roof canopy rejected six times has been told they might never be approved.

In the latest refusal, the Varsity Hotel and Spa in Thompsons Lane, Cambridge, was told its plans for a canopy on its rooftop bar and terrace had failed to overcome the reasons behind the previous refusals, which included the impact on the city's historic skyline.

Cambridge City councillor Katie Porrer, Liberal Democrats, said she was "struggling" to see what could fit on top of the hotel roof and be appropriate.

The hotel said it would not give up on its plans to build the canopy, which it has been trying to gain permission for since 2022.

Will Davies, from the hotel, said the hospitality industry was in a "precarious state" and said the hotel was "struggling at the moment".

He believed the canopy could help attract customers and give more people the chance for elevated views across the city, which he claimed were normally only accessible to members of the University of Cambridge, or at a cost.

The latest two designs were presented to councillors at a planning committee meeting on 25 June.

The first proposal was for a pergola on the roof with a retractable canopy.

The second was for a new all-weather, stepped-in, retractable roof canopy, with an independently supported tensile roof fabric above it.

However, planning officers said the designs would still be an "incongruous, dominating extension to the rooftop that would detrimentally impact the historic skyline of Cambridge".

Porrer said she had been "really hoping" the hotel would come forward with different plans, but said they were "very similar" to what had been submitted before.

She said the proposals did "break the skyline" and highlighted planning inspectors had concluded that the public and economic benefits did not outweigh this harm.

She also said she was "struggling" to see what could fit on top of the hotel and was "not sure what else can be built on there".

Martin Smart, from the ruling Labour party, said he was "struggling to find something in this application I can agree with".

But Robert Dryden, also Labour, believed the proposals offered a "modern design that respects the Cambridge skyline", and argued it did not "overwhelm or clash", but offered a "contrast".

Both of the applications were ultimately refused by a majority of councillors on the planning committee.

This article was written by a trusted journalist and then edited for length and style with the help of AI, before being checked again by a BBC Journalist. It's part of a pilot.

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