Bournemouth hotel demolished to make room for flats

Letting agents may be pleased to hear that a seaside hotel in Bournemouth is set to be demolished to make way for new flats and holiday lets, treehugger.com reports.

The Bournemouth International Hotel on Priory Hill is set to be demolished to make way for the new development, which will comprise 57 self-contained flats, nine holiday properties to rent and an underground parking area.

The nearby Ocean Palace restaurant is also set to be demolished to make way for a larger 4,994-square-feet restaurant to be built in its place.

The development on Bournemouth's West Cliff was narrowly granted planning permission. In the end, the council's planning board chairman, David Kelsey, had to use his deciding vote after the ten-officer committee was split down the middle.

Under Bournemouth's tight building guidelines, tourism accommodation cannot be changed unless it will 'maintain or enhance' the previous tourist options.

Critics described the six-storey venture as "Lego towers", but others - including planning officer Steve Davies - thought the new development would not be too dissimilar to what came before it.

"What is being proposed makes up for what is being lost," he told bournemouthecho.co.uk, "it will fit in quite comfortably with the skyline."

Others believe the development could bring in a new brace of investment to Bournemouth's West Cliff area, as well as contribute to the wider regeneration of the town centre.

Posted 19-04-2012
Author: David Howells