Coventry’s £40 million Phoenix Initiative gained momentum today with news that John F Kennedy House can be demolished.

The 1960s youth hostel, designed by world-renowned architect Sir Basil Spence – the man responsible for Coventry Cathedral – stands in the way of the scheme designed to transform the face of the city for the new century and could have been listed after protests about its fate.

But government inspectors have ruled that the hostel, owned by the church authorities, is not important enough to protect.

Now a new hostel will be built in its place, offering the most up-to-date accommodation for youngsters visiting the city from overseas.

Phoenix Initiative project director Chris Beck denied the listing would have threatened the whole project but said the decision was good news.

He said:

"It would have made things more difficult. We would have had a rather tired building right in the middle of the scheme and possibly very prominent.

"We still would have built the scheme and had the dilemma of whether to hide it or promote it as a wonderful building. That has now been solved.

"It will be demolished in May or June, there will then be an archaeological excavation and then a new hostel will be built.

"It will have the same size accommodation but facilities will obviously be more modern and there will be far better access for the disabled."