A NEW planning application has been made to build holiday lodges in the grounds of a former hotel and retirement home near Tenbury.

Earlier this year a bid to build 50 holiday lodges in the grounds of Cadmore Lodge was withdrawn before it went before Malvern Hills planners following widespread objections.

Now a new scheme for 25 holiday lodges has been made.

There is a consultation period for comments on the plans that ends on Friday, September 18.

The application has been made made by the owners of the hotel that has seen a number of changes in recent years.

For a long time, the hotel was run by the Weston family before being sold and becoming a high-end residential care home that at one time intended to include a helicopter pad.

However, the facility was not a commercial success and reverted back to being a hotel.

The care home closed in 2017, less than two years after it opened with an expectation of creating up to 80 jobs and injecting millions into the local economy.

Cadmore Lodge opened as a care home in the autumn of 2015 but the uptake by wealthy elderly was disappointing and with just six residents it closed down.

Eighteen staff lost their jobs although some were offered alternative work within the group.

Residents were also offered a move to one of the other homes run by the family.

Cadmore Lodge that includes a nine-hole golf course was for many years a successful hotel.

It was hoped that the care home would prove an attractive facility for the super-rich and it included a helicopter pad so that residents, their families and friends could fly in and out.

The family business that has a string of care homes across the West Midlands invested more than £1 million in the refurbishment. Further investment was on-going at the time that the closure decision was made.

Future plans had included constructing a nursing facility with the ability to cater for people suffering from dementia.

The project was expected to provide a boost to the local economy with a commitment to provide work for people from the Tenbury area.

Tenbury and its businesses have benefitted from local tourism over the summer since lockdown was lifted in June as more people seem to have been deciding to take their holidays closer to home in the UK because to travel concerns relating to Covid-19.