A former hotel can be turned into flats, having stood empty for four years, now that plans have been approved by Arun District Council.
Rustington Manor Hotel, in Broadmark Lane, closed in 2020 after the previous owners retired.
The building, now owned by investor Peter Leach, 46, is expected to become four apartments – two of them with three bedrooms and two with two bedrooms.
An existing couple of two-bedroom apartments on the site are not affected by the newly approved plans.
Brighton consultancy Lewis and Co Planning said that the previous owners had unsuccessfully been trying to sell the hotel since 2017.
It was most recently on the market from February to November last year, according to a statement included with the planning application.
In 2022, plans to demolish the hotel and build a three-storey block of ten flats were refused because the proposal would be too “dominant” and not in keeping with the area.
The council also said that the hotel had been marketed appropriately to try to find a new operator for the business.
These plans also drew an objection from Rustington Parish Council and from 45 residents in the area, as well as Arun District Council’s ecology officer over bat roosts.
Lewis and Co said that the latest plans were within the built-up-area boundary and not within any conservation areas.
And the visual impact on the area would be “limited”, especially with the reduction in the number of apartments from ten to four.
