A fortnight since Castell Rhuthun/Ruthin Castle appeared on the market with an asking price widely reported to be in excess of £5.5m, the price seems to have plummeted by 10 per cent already. Agents Colliers Robert Barry have the price of the three-star hotel at £5m. Few in the town believe a sale in these credit crunchy times will be anything like this amount.There’s a widespread belief in the town that millionaire owners the Saint Claires put the stately pile on the market following on-going planning difficulties in obtaining permission for up to 15 two-storey wooden chalets at the wooded rear of the site, in spite of town council approval. Cadw has objected to the siting of five of the chalets in proximity to the medieval walls of the castle and currently the Welsh Assembly's considering whether it should adjudicate.
And the sale is also in spite of permission granted last month to construct a £3m international quality health spa largely within existing buildings, integral to the owners’ plans to elevate the hotel to the premier league of hotels.
Views in Rhuthun on the sale are polarised:
- Some believe that the Saint Claires have put the property on the market out of sheer spite after long-running objections over the spa and from Cadw in blocking the chalet development.
- Others feel it’s a negotiating ploy at a critical time with the Assembly.
- Some feel that planting chalets of the type jeopardises the grade I listed structures and parkland, and should be dismissed out of hand.
- Still others believe that the owners are simply set to retire.
At the heart of the issue is how to raise the necessary funding to ensure the site’s long-term sustainability. First, although the business is apparently sound, it could benefit from significant investment such as the spa and chalets might bring. The type of guest this might attract would inevitably have a positive effect on the town. But at any price?Secondly, while the main buildings are in a good heart, others have been disused since the Second World War and the remaining medieval walls are crumbling and overgrown with ivy. It’s estimated that the cost of repairs alone could be several millions of pounds.
The parkland sets off the castle buildings and is central to the conservation area. The chalets are thought by some to be unsuited for the ancient parkland, yet no one (other than guests) currently has access to this site. The establishment of a trust as part and parcel of the application is designed to give (limited?) public access while addressing the conservation of the walls, though the chalet construction work may alter the nature of the parkland site for ever. Again, should this be allowed at any price?
Here, there are many inter-related issues at play. It would be nice if the public purse could step in and fund the necessary conservation at the site but this is unlikely, specially given its private ownershp. Yet, do the owners, though wealthy, have the resources to fund this? Nevertheless, securing those walls for the future should be a number one priority.
Are any or all parties likely to compromise enough to safeguard them, though? And does the asking price of £5m reflect the work new owners will need to do?