Ashby de la Zouch Town Council is holding an Extraordinary General Meeting next Monday to discuss updates on the purchase of the Bath Grounds - and the future of the Royal Hotel.

Councillors will hear that a revised planning application for the Royal Hotel is being prepared by the building's owners, Oakland Hotels Ltd,

An updated application was submitted to North West Leicestershire District Council in January - but that has yet to go before the planning committee.

Now it looks like a new application is being prepared for the Grade II* listed building.

This is not yet in the public domain, but is thought to proposed a number of town houses on the former hotel car park and Hastings Gardens sites.

January's application was for 'the erection of a 30 apartment terrace, office building, cafe kiosk and 69 bed care home with associated car parking access, landscaping and associated access amendments.'.

But those plans drew criticism from Historic England - while a district council report said that the development should not be permitted unless 'fundamental changes' were made.

Revised plans to redevelop the Royal area in Ashby were submitted in January

Councillors will also be told that two documents remain unsigned for the completion of the Bath Grounds purchase.

However, it is hoped that this situation will change over the coming weeks.

In January, Ashby de la Zouch Town Council agreed to go ahead with plans to complete a £620,000 deal to buy the historic green space described as a 'jewel in the crown'.

The move is intended to make the Bath Grounds and the redevelopment of the adjoining Royal Hotel separate - with the money to be used by Oakland Hotels to make improvements to the building.

Although the Royal is on Historic England's 'at risk' list, councillors will be told that the current state of the building is stable.

But there are others issues which will be discussed at the meeting.

One is a dispute over the Bath Grounds area as an Asset of Community Value with North West Leicestershire District Council.

The district council's solicitor has said that an hotel cannot be an Asset of Community Value and therefore the ACV status should never have been attached to the Bath Grounds.

Ashby de la Zouch Town Council is currently challenging this and it remains unresolved with legal advice being sought.

Councillors will also be brought up to date on the Bath Grounds lease which expires in June next year.

Notice of the Town Council's intention to renew the lease must be served on the landlord not earlier than June 2022 and not later than December 2022.

But it is understood this will be addressed in the coming weeks and the Town Council's position will be protected.