New Meriden hotel in farm barn near NEC and Birmingham Airport clears key planning hurdle
An historic family-run farm in Meriden has moved a step closer to opening a new 32-room hotel.
As the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) previously reported the application by Berryfields Farm to convert an old agricultural barn next door to the farm shop in the Berkswell Road site was given planning permission by Solihull planners in June 2023.
Berryfields Farm has been passed down through four generations and has over 90 years of history but the operations director of the farm, Tom Barber, said in 2023 the idea for the hotel had been born out of a need to diversify the business.
“The hotel really feels like a no-brainer,” he told the LDRS. It felt like the most natural step being so close to the NEC and Birmingham Airport. ”
The application proposed having the barn converted with lifts located inside, while a spiral staircase intended to look like a feed silo on the outside of the building.
And once built the hotel would create eight full-time jobs as well as two more in the kitchen and bakery to deal with extra demand.
The director also said in 2023 he hoped construction of the hotel could begin that year – but progress slowed. Three years after a planning permission is granted it expires if no work has commenced which means Berryfields Farm now only has a year left for work to get underway.
Earlier this year an application was lodged with Solihull Council to sign off preparatory conditions which feature in the planning permission agreement to allow construction work to begin.
An application to formally ‘discharge’ conditions four (noise control measures), six (hard and soft landscaping), nine (cycle parking) and 10 (refuse storage) was submitted to the authority on March 18.
The authority’s website has now been updated to show that on June 2 Mark Andrews, Solihull Council’s head of planning, design and engagement service, signed off the conditions.
To view the application on the authority’s website search for application PL/2025/00553/DIS at https://publicaccess.solihull.gov.uk/online-applications.