BUDGET hotel chain Travelodge has written to 12 Welsh local authorities, including three in Gwent, in search of new partners for its pioneering local regeneration scheme.

The letter, which has gone to Newport City Council, Monmouthshire County Council and Torfaen County Borough Council, outlines the pivotal role Travelodge is playing supporting local regeneration, creating jobs and boosting the economy in certain areas – and how it can do the same for many other local communities across Wales.

Travelodge currently operates 14 hotels across Wales and over the last three years, the chain has completed seven local authority development partnership deals. These included the opening of a new Travelodge hotel in the following locations: Aylesbury, Bicester, Dudley, Eastleigh, Redhill (scheduled to open end of 2017), Telford (Opening 2018) and Thetford.

These bespoke agreements have had unique funding structures, all of which have enabled local authorities to utilise their existing assets, create jobs, generate income, and help to regenerate land in strategically important locations.

Hotels in the programme are built on surplus local authority land, with the funding provided either through the local authority’s internal resource or via low-cost funding from the Public Works Loan Board or third party resources.

Upon completion of the hotel development, local authorities have the choice of either retaining ownership of the hotel and receiving an annual rent into the council’s revenue budget or selling the hotel with Travelodge as its operator.

Travelodge has a growth strategy in place to grow its business with more than 200 hotels over the next ten years and working in partnership with local authorities is a key route to help deliver this programme.

Peter Gowers, Travelodge chief executive said: “More and more local authorities are under pressure to find ways to help regenerate their historic town centres and local communities. Adding a low-cost hotel like Travelodge is an increasingly attractive choice, as it draws visitors, creates jobs and helps boost the local economy.

“Our customers are travelling more frequently and we are opening new hotels to ensure we are in locations where they want to be. We are looking for more sites to drive our expansion programme and today we are writing to more than 200 other local authorities, to invite them to consider how Travelodge can act as a catalyst to drive their local development agenda.”