Travelodge granted planning permission for hotel at Vauxhall bus station

Travelodge have received consent from Lambeth Council to build a new hotel at Vauxhall Bus Station that is expected to open by September 2012 (in time for the Paralympics, at least).  I wrote a post last year giving more details of the planned 148 bedroom Travelodge in Vauxhall.  I was quite positive about the development, considering that retail outlets on the ground floor would offer additional possibilities for commuters and locals on what is essentially at present a concrete island containing a lone Starbucks.  However, the Vauxhall Society objected on the basis that the application didn't come with an environmental assessment...  It seems Lambeth thought the positives outweighed the negatives.

Salmon Developments (the developers) have a few shots of how they expect the hotel to look.  It's worth noting that the six-storey building is to be constructed after the destruction of the current building on site, so that might cause a little mess for a year or so!

The formal address of the hotel is likely to be 1-9 Bondway, but hotel residents will (at least on one side) look on to the magnificent Vauxhall transport hub as they rub their bleary eyes in the morning.   Still, according to Property Week, the Travelodge central London development manager noted:

"There is no better location for a hotel in Vauxhall than this..."

I'm not so sure!  I'd have thought that the river views of the Albert Embankment might be more attractive.  But it's a central location, offers budget to medium-range accommodation and is likely to benefit commuters and local people who desire a more diverse range of shops/restaurants in the area.