A BUDGET hotel chain has won permission to open a branch in the historic heart of Oxford.

The new Premier Inn will now replace the 1980s Critchleys office block opposite the Westgate Centre and next door to the Jolly Farmers pub.

Oxford City Council's West Area Planning Committee approved the 90-bedroom hotel on Tuesday night eight votes to one, saying it would improve the area.

Lord Mayor of Oxford Jean Fooks, who sat on the committee, said: "There were some concerns that it might be too high and impact on the heritage, but overall we felt it would be a huge improvement on that office block and tidy up Norfolk Street."

The site, which is in the protected Oxford Conservation Area, is also bounded on two sides by three listed buildings: the Jolly Farmers – formerly The Castle Tavern – and the Greyfriars Health Centre to the north, and a Victorian rectory to the south west.

Paradise Square, which the hotel will overlook, was a 19th century development on the former Paradise Gardens, once home to the Greyfriar's Priory.

The office block most recently occupied by Critchleys accountants, is largely three storeys with a four storey part.

The Premier Inn would soar up to six storeys at some points, with other portions three or five storey.

In its application, the hotel chain's owner Whitbread, which bought the site 2013 and has been planning ever since, said it had taken the historic nature of the area into account.

Addressing city council heritage and planning officers the company said: "The Paradise Square site has a long history although little historic building remains on the square and the Medieval and later Victorian square have been lost.

"To the north, Paradise Street retains a number of listed earlier buildings requiring a sensitive new addition.

"The design both provides a much-needed hotel for Oxford but also a carefully considered building for this prominent site.

"The scheme provides significant public realm and landscape improvements to the site and adjoining south-facing square."

A ground-floor restaurant will face onto Paradise Square.

It added: "The scheme has taken a well established hotel typology and has tested, stretched and changed it to provide a site specific bespoke design."

The company also pointed out that a new hotel would accommodate growing numbers of visitors to the city after the completion of the new Westgate Centre next door.

The planning permission follows the opening of the new 83-bed Travelodge on Abingdon Road in December 2015.

There is one other Premier Inn in the city at Oxford Business Park in Cowley.