A COUNCIL’S ambitious plan to borrow up to £17m to fund a hotel has been approved despite a protest outside the meeting amid concerns about the impact it could have on council tax payers.

Placard waving protesters greeted members of Stockton Borough Council ahead of the meeting to decide whether to agree the plans for the hotel.

The council will now secure a loan to cover the cost of building the new hotel which will then be leased to a private company once it is completed.

Campaigners claim that if the scheme fails, it will be the borough’s residents who will be footing the hotel bill.

Outlining the proposal at full council, Cllr Nigel Cooke, the cabinet member for regeneration and transport, reassured members that the plan was financially safe and would create revenue for the authority.

He said: “We are not here to squander resources but to put them to the best use for this borough.”

The 125-bed Hampton by Hilton hotel will be built on the former dairy site on Bishop Street on Stockton Riverside, as part of the town’s North Shore regeneration scheme.

Projections forecast the council would receive net operating profits of £1.2m per year, which it says would more than cover the estimated £830,000 per year required to pay back the borrowing over 35 years.

Conservative councillor Ben Houchen, who is standing as the party’s Tees Valley Mayoral candidate, branded the scheme a ‘vanity project’.

He said: “Firstly, I can honestly say that no resident I have spoken to supports the huge amount of borrowing this council is making on behalf of a private enterprise. I don’t think this is the way we should be using tax payers money. We need to take a step back– this is a vanity project for the council.”

And fellow Conservative councillor Phil Dennis the council should use the scheme as leverage to bring external finance into the borough.

Labour councillor Paul Rowling was in full support of the finance deal and told members that the borough needed a hotel of the calibre of the one proposed to attract people to stay in the area.

And deputy council leader, Cllr Jim Beall said. “I’m not a gambler, I wouldn’t gamble with the public’s money. It gives a return that will help to protect services in the borough.”

The plan was passed by 34 votes to 14.