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Spa plan for old manison
Sep 13 2007
By Poppy Brady, Birmingham Mail
RESIDENTS who saw off plans to convert an Edwardian mansion into a posh restaurant are now fighting to stop it becoming a health spa.
Plans for an upmarket restaurant at the property in Church Road, Edgbaston, were thrown out last year because it was considered a threat to the area's residential character.
But now landlord Calthorpe Estates has returned with a proposal for a "premier salon spa and health centre", offering treatments like hot stone therapy massage, detoxification wraps and hydrotherapy.
In a letter to residents, the company said it wanted to change the use of the property, which has been empty for years, to "enhance the estate".
But Edgbaston's constituency chairman, Coun Deirdre Alden, said the move would represent "creeping" commercial development in a residential area.
"This scheme may not have the problems of a restaurant, such as cooking smells and customers leaving late at night," she said. "But it does not overcome the problem that this is a commercial development, which would creep into a residential area."
Writing to residents, Calthorpe spokeswoman Natasha Walkden said the house could not be occupied as a home because of its position.
"The property suffers from constant vibrations caused by being situated immediately above the railway and canal tunnel," she wrote.
