A RENEWED bid to demolish The Red House building in Chester and replace it with seven apartments has been submitted to Cheshire West and Chester Council.

Under linked proposals, the Et Alia restaurant, which is currently running at The Red House, would be converted into office space under a so-called Lawful Development Certificate.

Applicants Pegasus Group, acting on behalf of site owner Raymond Stalker, say planning permission is not needed for the latter proposal, only confirmation.

Currently The Red House has been listed as an Asset of Community Value, following a successful campaign by local residents in June this year, at the same time the original proposal to demolish the iconic building was rejected by planners.

As part of the resubmitted plans, Pegasus Group have criticised that decision and sought its removal.

They say The Red House business "has not been viable for many years", despite Mr Stalker's £2 million investment in the site over the years, and that the restaurant is projected by Savills to make a negligible profit of £20,000 per year on average, although would make a loss in roughly half of future years.

It added that in pre-Covid times, the restaurant made a profit of £4,219 in the year to August 2019, not including any remuneration to the owner of the business, and there was "no possibility" of selling the property to another operator in the hospitality sector due to a lack of on-site car parking facilities and "enormous overheads".

The applicants also criticised the campaign group set up to save The Red House, claiming their vision for an Asset of Community Value had "no clear, overarching vision".

It added that even if the group raised the £3 million required to purchase the site from the owner, plus extra for building works and maintenance, "the site owner is under no obligation to sell to the community group under the ACV Regulations."

Pegasus Group added: "The sale of the site has already been agreed and this cannot be prevented from going ahead, therefore there is no realistic prospect that the community group could purchase the site."

The new planning application seeks to create an underground car park at the site with a total of 24 spaces.

The apartments, created following demolition of the existing building, would have two four-bedroom properties, four three-bedroom properties and one two-bedroom property, each to feature an open-plan kitchen/dining/living space with views overlooking the river and access on to a private terrace/garden or balcony.

The larger apartments would also feature a snug with river views and a second en-suite bedroom.

Several residents have already objected to the plans on the council's planning portal, with one saying it would be a "travesty" for the local community to lose such an important venue, while another said the loss of the Et Alia restaurant would be "a huge drawback for Huntington and the surrounding areas."

Responding to the revised plans, Kate Cousens, who set up the campaign to save The Red House earlier this year, said the plans showed "clearly no regard for all of the hard work of us residents this year to gain the Asset of Community Value for The Red House", adding: "Let's hope Cheshire West and Chester Council do the right thing – the business was supposed to be marketed as a going concern."

The plans can be found on the Cheshire West and Chester Council's planning portal with planning reference 21/04648/FUL.

See plans such as these in The Standard's Public Notices section online and in the paper each Thursday.