TEN years after opening a hotel venture based in part of a Victorian mansion, the owner has been granted planning permission.
Richard Sharpe said he was delighted by the decision of Richmondshire District Council. It meant his six-bedroom “quiet rural retreat” at West Layton Manor, near Ravensworth, could continue, securing five rural economy jobs at a time when similar nearby businesses were struggling with economic pressures.
Neighbours of the hotel had complained that despite having raised concerns over unauthorised development at a licensing meeting of the local authority, the enterprise had been allowed to continue, causing them “stress and anxiety” .
The property near the A66 was built in the 1870s by coal tycoon John Easton. In 1880 the heiress Emma Easton died in mysterious cicumstances in a locked room there.
Mr Sharpe said he had been shocked to learn the building’s planning consent to welcome paying guests had expired.
He said: “As far as we were aware, as were all the previous owners for the last ten years, the original hotel planning permission was still valid.”
