Holiday apartment plan for village's old hotel is thrown out

PLANS to demolish a Victorian hotel at Port Isaac and replace it with eight holiday apartments have been refused.

An application was submitted to North Cornwall District Council by Knapton Holdings to bulldoze the Bay Hotel and a small bungalow in New Road and use the site to build a three-storey building consisting of eight self-contained holiday apartments.

The proposal also included the provision to build an underground car park on the site with eight spaces, one for each apartment.

In the application the company said that the last year as trading as a hotel was the worst on record, it said: "The business has struggled to be viable for many years. The previous owners could not make the business run profitably, and when purchasing the property the current incumbents were aware that in the long term some alternative use would have to be found foe the property."

The application received a number of objections from nearby residents concerned that the proposed development would cause loss of daylight to adjoining properties, loss of letting beds and local employment opportunity, loss of view and was too big. St Endellion Parish Council also objected and requested a site meeting. Clerk Elizabeth Uglow said: "The building is considerably larger than the existing Bay Hotel, going up from 570 square metres to 820.

"The increased ridge height would change the appearance of the whole street."

The parish council also made reference to there not being adequate parking and no provisions for affordable housing.

The application went before NCDC's planning and development committee this week and was refused on the grounds of lack of affordable housing, excessive scale and the adverse overbearing impact to the adjoining property.