Poole’s Historic Proposals Rejected | South West real estate news

A mixed-use project in Poole comprising a hotel, apartments and restaurant has been refused permission after facing more than 6,000 objections. Members of the committee had welcomed some of the proposals, but concerns about flooding risks were a major factor in their rejection.

The request is for a trio of historic sites, with The Haven Hotel built in 1887 and the Harbor Heights and Sandbanks hotels in the 1920s.

Since the 1960s there has been a long history of expansion planning at the three individual sites, including supporting facilities for tourists, recreation and business conferences.

This is the first application for the complete redevelopment of the three hotel sites into a single linked development.

It is proposed to demolish the trio to allow for redevelopment in a “phased approach”. This would begin with the construction of a replacement 171-bed hotel on the site of the existing Sandbanks, followed by the replacement of the Harbor Heights Hotel with a 38-bed aparthotel and the construction of 119 apartments on the site of the Haven Hotel.

The application seeks to consolidate existing tourist accommodation at the three sites on the Harbor Heights Hotel and Sandbanks Hotel plots.

Although it is believed that the program would promote the growth of the tourist economy and provide important construction and tourism jobs in the region, objections were received from over 6,000 individual addresses locally and further afield. UK.

The main objection has always been the loss of the Haven Hotel and the proposed redevelopment into residential housing.

The application was recommended for denial before the BCP Council planning committee discussed the proposals. Although it was noted at the meeting that the trio of buildings were outdated and needed replacing, the issue of flood risk was at the forefront of the conversation.

The Environment Agency had objected on these grounds, noting that it “has not been demonstrated how the development will be flood resistant and flood resilient and safe over its lifetime, due to the lack of adequate modeling of flood wave overtopping and without a flood risk assessment that incorporates the results of flood modeling before designing flood defenses”.

During the committee vote, some members expressed reluctance to support the refusal after praising the design of the project, but the concerns raised about flooding risks proved to be too big a hurdle.

The plans were ultimately turned down.

Proposals for a major mixed-use development in Poole – which includes more than 450 apartments, cafes, retail space and a museum and art gallery – were also due to be discussed at the meeting, but were withdrawn on day and will return at a later date.