THE next small step in bringing a business-class hotel to Basingstoke has been taken.

As previously reported in the Gazette, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council had granted Village Hotels permission to build a 153-room hotel in Basing View.

With planning permission granted, the hotel franchise is now seeking additional planning permission to place advertising signage around plot W of the Basing View site.

The application submitted to the borough council is to get consent for eight illuminated signs around the site and one four-metre-high advertising totem by the site entrance.

The planning statement says four of the signs would be placed on each side of the hotel with the words “Village Hotel” branded on them while the other four would indicate a ‘pub’, ‘gym’, ‘grill’ and a ‘V’ above the entrance.

A planning statement from Lichfields, on behalf of Village Hotels, reads: “The installation of the proposed advertisements and totem sign on the site frontage are particularly important to the consented hotel development as they will help raise the profile of the new hotel, café, pub, grill and gym within the surrounding area.

“Please note that one ‘Starbucks’ sign is proposed within the cafe unit on the corner of the south west and south east elevations. The sign will be displayed internally with the hotel.”

The planning application for the hotel itself, which is estimated to create around 100 new jobs, was granted in May this year, but it was not without its challengers.

Many opposition councillors and residents claimed that the leisure aspect of the multi-million-pound facility would have an adverse effect on the Basingstoke Sports Centre.

To view the newly-submitted signage planning application, go to planning.basingstoke.gov.uk and search for the reference code 18/02766/ADV.