The company which runs Donington Park race track has submitted plans to turn nearby Donington Hall into a luxury 44-bed country hotel.
MotorSport Vision (MSV) – co-owned by former-F1 driver Jonathan Palmer – has applied for listed building consent for the grand, grade II listed building a year after first revealing the plans.
It said it wants to carry out “sensitive refurbishment” of the buildings, including a chapel and games room and a grade II listed dairy, and said the hotel would eventually create 150 jobs.
The original eight bedrooms will be kept, it said, with most of the new bedrooms going into former staff quarters.
The north Leicestershire estate was home to Norton bikes before the bike builder went bust in 2020 – and the 18 th century hall was home to Norton’s previous owner Stuart Garner and his family.
Prior to that it was the headquarters of British Midland International. Norton is now under new ownership in the West Midlands.
The site was bought by MSV last year, which has a 42 year lease on the next door race track. It wants to re-establish the historic association between the building and neighbouring racing circuit.
Planning documents show MSV wants to take into account the historic significance of the main rooms and spaces, and said the more significant work would be restricted to the “lower status” rooms.
The planning documents state: “Substantial investment is required to restore Donington Hall to the standard of a luxury country hotel.
“This will bring with it significant benefits to the local economy both during the conversion and also once the hotel is operational.
“It is estimated that the hotel will provide direct employment opportunities to circa 150 people, the majority of which are likely to come from the local area.
“This will in turn help to support other jobs in the area through additional spending from the local workforce as well as through the supply chain for goods and services necessary to the day-to-day operation of the hotel.”
The site is separate to the nearby Priest House Hotel.
When it first announced the plans last year MSV said it hoped bike and car racers and classic car owners would be able to fly into nearby East Midlands Airport before being driven the short distance to the hotel.
The next morning their cars and bikes – stored and maintained on-site –would be delivered to the front door of the hotel, ready to be driven straight onto the track.
MSV – which also runs Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Snetterton, Cadwell Park and Bedford Autodrome – owns the whole 28 acre Donington Hall estate.
Back in 2021 MSV said it wanted to create a stabling compound for supercars, vintage cars and racing cars and bikes, as well as mechanics workshops to look after them.
In 2020 marketing material from property consultants Sanderson Weatherall valued Donington Hall, and two other buildings on the estate – Hastings House and The Lansdowne Buildings – at £8,575,000.
The new planning documents state: “The change of use of Donington Hall to a luxury hotel will undoubtedly help to secure its optimal viable use in support of its long-term conservation.
“The use of Donington Hall as a hotel is as close as possible to its original purpose as a country house; it is difficult to conceive a more appropriate use.”
North West Leicestershire District Council will determine planning permission.
