Birmingham Road Site in Lichfield: Hotel Talks Begin

Lichfield District Council is negotiating with a developer to test whether a hotel could be built on the Birmingham Road site. Planning work on the rest of the land has been put on hold because of the uncertainty over local government reorganisation.

Both points are in a progress report to the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee, which meets on Tuesday 17 November. The report covers the four parts of the scheme on the land between Lichfield City station and the city centre. It gives no new dates for any of them.

Where each part stands

The report sets out progress on four projects:

• The hotel. The council and a developer are negotiating “a period of exclusivity” to test the market for a hotel on the site. They would approach hotel operators and brands to gauge interest. Once the exclusivity deal is agreed, the market testing should finish within six months. The report does not name the developer.
• The linear park. The council applied for planning permission in March 2026. The plans include the park, a reshaped pay-and-display car park and a realigned bus station. Staffordshire County Council, the highways authority, has agreed the revised plans and has not objected. Officers are still answering final comments from the Lead Local Flood Authority.
• Lichfield Gateway, the homes on the old Ford garage site. The developer applied for full planning permission in May 2026. More information is being prepared in response to technical and consultee comments, including flood comments. A committee date “will be confirmed” once that is resolved.
• The remaining development land. The council has taken advice on a possible mix of homes, affordable housing, shops, food and drink, and leisure. Further work “has been paused currently due to the uncertainty around LGR and the potential risk of abortive work”. LGR is local government reorganisation.

The park decision has slipped

The council’s own project page for the linear park still gives November 2026 as the month for a planning decision. The scrutiny report does not repeat that date. It says the timing “is dependent in part on third-party responses”.

A start date for building work will be fixed only once permission is granted. The report says the works will be sequenced “to minimise the loss of parking spaces during construction”.

We reported on the amended park plans in September, including the shrinking of the bus station to five stops.

Coaches will need somewhere new to park

The amended park plans show no coach bays on the site. Officers have looked at nine possible locations for coach parking in and around the city centre, with help from the county council’s highways team. A preferred option will be put forward once the appraisal is finished. The report does not list the nine sites.

Why reorganisation matters here

The government withdrew its July decision to replace Staffordshire’s councils with two large unitary authorities on 29 October. The district council welcomed the withdrawal but said the uncertainty made it “incredibly difficult to plan for future services, budgets and staffing”. Its release says the government expects further decisions by early 2027, and that new authorities would take over in April 2029.

Until then, the district council remains the landowner and the planning authority for the Birmingham Road site. A successor council could take a different view of what the remaining land is for.

What it means for you

• Nothing changes on the ground yet. The bus station, the car park and the coach park carry on as they are until planning permission is granted and a programme is published.
• You can still follow both applications on the council’s planning register. The linear park is reference 26/00399/FULM. Our planning news page tracks decisions across the district.
• The scrutiny meeting is public. It starts at 6pm on 17 November. The agenda and papers are on the council’s meetings site.

The report is a progress update and asks the committee only to comment. It carries no decision and no new spending.