The hotel would make a significant and positive addition to the town centre through a series of benefits:
Creation of approx. 20 full and part time job opportunities directly at Travelodge, a National Living Wage employer.
The hotel would have no restaurant or bar/café offer, so guests would use town centre pubs and restaurants during their stay. Travelodge guest surveys confirm that a high proportion of guests visit local pubs and restaurants, supporting the local economy. Travelodge guests would likely spend up to £1.85m at local businesses each year.
The scheme would bolster Leighton Buzzard’s existing attraction as a destination, increasing town centre footfall and regenerating a redundant brownfield site.
The new flexible commercial building would lend itself well to office space, retail and/or small-scale leisure use, such as a gym, providing further town centre activity and investment.
The hotel would meet Travelodge’s identified local demand for value hotel accommodation, boosting the town’s economy through new business and tourism visitors to the town.
Additional employment at the new commercial space with further indirect job opportunities and town centre spending during scheme construction.
CGI of proposals from site access
A catalyst for regeneration of land to the south of High Street
As well as a significant attraction in its own right, the scheme would act as a catalyst to kick start the regeneration of the wider land to the south of High Street.
The regeneration of this area has been an aspiration of Central Bedfordshire Council for some time and they have created a development brief to guide its vision.
Our proposals would fully reflect this brief. The Travelodge would act as a gateway into the wider future development area and our scheme has been designed to allow a road to be provided through to the wider site, as required by the brief.
The Travelodge would be well designed and present an attractive entrance to this part of the town centre, whilst also being respectful of its location in the town’s conservation area.
Dedicated car parking for the hotel would be included, with 21 parking spaces, alongside 8 cycle parking spaces. This reflects the town centre location, which benefits from excellent public transport links. Hotel guests could also access a small number of town centre car parking spaces, typically for overnight use when the car parks are least busy.
Extract from Leighton Buzzard Development Brief: Land South of the High Street
