Liverpool hotel plans set to be backed

Plans for a 150-bedroom hotel fronting Liverpool’s Speke Boulevard look set to be backed next week, with the proposals aiming to breathe life into a vacant area and create jobs.Velocity Leisure is behind the application, which would stand at five storeys and provide parking for 150 cars.The venue would also include space for a ground floor restaurant with an external patio seating area.The site is currently vacant and, according to a planning statement submitted to Liverpool City Council, is “not providing any remunerative employment benefits and no economic vitality benefit to the locality”.A contract value of about £5m has been attached to the project, which would help secure existing construction jobs and potentially create new ones. About 30 hotel roles would also be filled.Approval has been recommended, with Liverpool City Council’s planning committee set to meet on 10 March.