A businessman has won the right to convert his vacant hotel into flats.

Geoffrey Goddard first applied to Tonbridge and Malling council for permission to re-purpose the Hadlow Manor Hotel in Maidstone Road in Goose Green in June 2022 but when two years later the council had failed to determine the application, he appealed to the Planning Inspectorate on grounds of non-determination.

Now a planning inspector has granted Mr Goddard permission to convert the original Grade II-listed Georgian hotel building into six flats.

He has also won permission to knock down an extension dating from the 1980s and build in its place six detached homes, making 12 homes in total.

The property has stood empty since January 2023 and has been subjected to repeated acts of vandalism, despite being protected by CCTV.

Mr Goddard complained of difficulties in communications with the council and an inability to contact officers via phone, claiming he had made in excess of 50 calls to the local authority during their specified call hours which were not picked up.

The council had finally agreed to the principle of the development, but could not agree the details of a Section 106 contract, which would specify the mitigation payments that Mr Goddard would make.

In exasperation, Mr Goddard made two unilateral declarations setting out his own proposals and these were accepted by the the planning inspector, Guy Davies.

Mr Goddard’s company, CQK Ltd, owns two other hotels, both in Surrey - the Reigate Manor Hotel and the Hartsfield Manor Hotel.

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Details of the appeal decision can be found on the council’s website under application number 22/01237.

When the Hadlow Manor Hotel closed abruptly in January last year, 37 couples who had booked the venue for their wedding reception were left in the lurch, although their deposits were returned.

Twenty-nine members of staff lost their jobs. The company said the venue was no longer economically viable.