An application for permission to convert the Great Western Hotel beside Exeter St David’s station for mainly residential use has been submitted to Exeter City Council for approval.
The upper floors of the hotel would be converted to twelve one-bedroom and three two-bedroom flats.
The ground floor would be retained for commercial use under the recently-introduced combined commercial use class E, which confers rights to residential use without planning permission.
A three-storey extension would be added at the rear of the building, where an external staircase would be removed.
Great Western Hotel beside Exeter St David’s railway station
The hotel was used to house rough sleepers in temporary accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic, paid for by Exeter City Council via a national emergency fund.
Since then the city council has used the hotel to house people requiring emergency accommodation, with all 30 of its rooms reserved for this use in June this year.
The hotel’s ground floor bar has been closed since April last year and the adjacent restaurant closed the previous year.
Comments on the application can be submitted via the city council website until 29 September.
