A Widnes pub and hotel is set to be turned into a block of flats.

Halton Council's planning department has rubber-stamped an application to convert Kingsway Hotel and pub on Victoria Road into nine apartments.

According to the now approved plans submitted by Bradford-based Qadria Properties, six of the flats will be one bed and three will be two bedroom properties.

A design and access statement submitted in support of the project by Manchester-based architects Mason and Marlowe, said: "The Kingsway Hotel is a pub on  the ground floor and first and second floors house the hotel establishment. Both uses co-exist and share the garden area where bins and cycles are stored."

It added: "The hotel and drinking establishment have separate entrances. The building has a modern extension at the rear. It is also the entrance to the basement which used by the drinking establishment.

"There are 22 rooms in the hotel. The hotel benefits from large rooms in which some have their own separate toilet and bathrooms. Nine out the 22 rooms are en-suite, with their separate bathrooms, and there are four common bathrooms and toilets in the hotel, two on each floor."

It added: "The proposal is the conversion of the 22-room hotel and pub into nine number apartments. All the apartments meet the National Space standards and amenities. Materials The external façade of the building remains unchanged."

Planners have now signed off on the scheme but stipulated a number of conditions, including that vehicle access and parking areas should be laid out and surfaced to the satisfaction of the council, window restrictors should be placed on ground floor apartments to restrict how far they can open so as not to get in the way of passing pedestrians.

Noise restrictions will also be imposed along with specified construction hours of Mondays to Fridays, 7.30am -7pm, Saturdays 7.30am- 1pm with no construction work allowed on Sundays, public holidays or bank holidays.