Plans for a new hotel and homes in Heston have been rejected after one councillor branded the proposed building an "eyesore".
The owner of the Master Robert Hotel, on the corner of Great West Road and Upper Sutton Lane, had applied to demolish the existing buildings and replace them with a new six-storey hotel and 34 homes.
The applicant described the current distinctive hotel, with its red brick inn and hotchpotch of other buildings, as a "disparate, tired and disjointed set of buildings which detract from the character of the area and give a bad impression on what is a gateway to the borough".
He said the new six-storey blue brick hotel and the homes behind it would improve the appearance of the site and be an "asset" to the area, as well as creating new jobs.
But members of Hounslow Council's planning committee were unconvinced by the design of the hotel when they met to consider the application on Thursday (September 3).
Councillor Shaida Mehrban said: "We want the hotel to expand but that blue building would be an eyesore rather than something we would hope for.
"The height isn't such an issue but we should keep the character of that road with its beautiful Tudor style homes."
Councillor Liz Hughes said people had grown fond of the inn and she wished that building could be retained as part of a new hotel, as had happened with the old Berkeley Arms pub in Cranford when a hotel was built there.
'Frightens me to death'
Councillors also heard from residents living in Palmer Close, a cul-de-sac of six homes which would have been used as the access road for the proposed row of 34 houses and flats.
Keith Miller, who lives in Palmer Close, said he and his neighbours would have to put up with a huge increase in traffic and noise. He also told councillors the size of the planned hotel "frightens me to death".
The plans would have seen a 50% increase in the number of bedrooms at the hotel, from 96 to 142. None of the new homes would have been classed as 'affordable' as the developer said the cost of the scheme meant this was not viable.
The application had been recommended for approval by council planning officers but was overwhelmingly rejected by councillors on the grounds the design was not in keeping with surrounding properties.
