A DEAL to turn Chester Castle into a hotel has been dealt a blow by county councillors.

City MP Christine Russell has slammed Cheshire County Council for refusing to allow 30 of its parking spaces to be used by hotel guests.

Chester City Council planning chief Andy Farrall said the authority, site owner Crown Estates and English Heritage had been near to agreeing a deal with a major hotel group - believed to be Malmaison/Hotel du Vin.

But the county's seven-strong resources strategic panel said it did not wish to give up parking rights at Castle Square, a decision confirmed by executive member for business and asset management Cllr Peter Mason.

Mr Farrall said 'alternative' car parking arrangements were being explored.

'While the city council is going to be asking most of its staff to use Park & Ride and alternative forms of transport from 2007/08, here we were only talking about 30 spaces,' he said.

An irritated Mrs Russell said: 'This is a key historic site we need to bring back into use but we have a ridiculous impasse over a limited number of spaces at the front of the building.

'There are around 400 parking spaces there used by county council staff.

'The talking has dragged on for two years and it's now time for action.'

County property officer Ian Gould said: 'They wanted to acquire 30 spaces from us and I put the options to our resources strategic panel.

'Of 275 spaces on Castle Square and some on the lower car park, 40 are used by court staff and the others by council staff, and it is managed with permits.

'It was felt it would be unmanageable to hand over these spaces because you could have members of the public parking there saying they were using the hotel.

'It would be impossible to put physical barriers on the car park.'

Mrs Russell said she supported the idea of a boutique hotel at listed buildings Colvin House and Napier House, which were most recently used by the Ministry of Defence.

Facilities such as a restaurant and bar would be open to the public.

Mr Farrall said Chester needed more hotel space to achieve its aim of becoming a 'must-see' European destination, with the Cheshire and Warrington Tourist Board aiming to double the city's 8.5 million visitors a year by 2015.

Mr Gould added he was in talks with Chester Civic Trust about the castle gun shed being turned into an art gallery, which could be used by local group Art for Art's Sake.

The county currently leases the building from Crown Estates as a workshop for its maintenance team. rob.devey@cheshirenews.co.uk