PLANS for the finer details of a hotel which will controversially be financed by £17m of council borrowing will be considered by councillors this week.

And the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has ruled that Stockton Council has to release some of its feasibility study into the 125-bed Hilton by Hampden hotel, which it has kept under wraps for over a year despite a former councillor trying to get it made public.

The town centre, mid-market hotel will be funded by a council loan to cover the cost of building it, and then the hotel will be leased to a private company.

It is unclear when the information will be released, despite the former Labour councillor, Terry Chapman, calling for it to be made public before Stockton Council's planning meeting on Wednesday.

He said the council had refused to send him the information a year ago, claiming commercial sensitivity, but the ICO has now ordered it to release at least part of the feasibility study.

Mr Chapman wants to see the research done on the business case for the hotel, which 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.

The council says it is estimating around an 85 per cent occupancy rate to make the hotel viable, which campaigners have raised concerns about.

Council leader Bob Cook said the ICO had clearly stated the council "appropriately applied" the exemption to withhold some of the information requested.

"The ICO's decision is very helpful in clarifying the parts that can be extracted and we will, of course, be happy to provide this information within the required timescale.

"And let's not forget this council has a strong track record of sound financial management – year after year we win praise from external auditors for our careful use of public money."