PLANS to convert council offices in an historic York crescent into an upmarket hotel look set to be given the go-ahead.

Officials are recommending City of York Council ’s planning committee to approve Rushbond Plc’s “speculative” scheme for an 88-bedroom hotel in St Leonard’s Place and Museum Street when it meets next week.

They say it would be an “appropriate” use for the Grade II listed building when it becomes vacant, as it would retain the important character while providing a new, sustainable use.

Michael Jones, development management officer, said: “Maintaining an active and economic use for these buildings is considered of utmost importance.” He said that because council staff were moving to new headquarters at West Offices, there would be no loss of office accommodation in real terms.

He said the hotel’s bedrooms would be created over five floors, including the basement, with existing public access in St Leonard’s Place used as the primary entrance.

He said English Heritage “broadly supported” the principle of a hotel, and Visit York welcomed the continuing interest in high-quality hotel accommodation in York and the investment in what would become a very large, empty building in the heart of the city centre.

However, it said there was now planning permission for more than 600 extra hotel beds in York, and the organisation increasingly believed there was a need for a formal study into visitor accommodation capacity, taking the views of existing hoteliers into account.

Jeremy Cassel, managing director of Cassel Hotels Ltd, which operates The Grange Hotel in Clifton , has backed Visit York’s calls, claiming the proliferation of budget hotels was encouraging drunken stag and hen parties to come to York.

Rushbond managing director Jonathan Maud said St Leonard’s Place was a great location for a new luxury hotel, close to many of the city’s major cultural attractions, which would complement the superb range of hotels in the city.

“This fabulous collection of important listed buildings are now much in need of a high quality renovation,” he said. “They lend themselves to a very different type of hotel, which will widen the range of accommodation available at the top end of the market.”