MAJOR plans resubmitted for the development of three Sandbanks hotels still cannot be viewed by members of the public due to missing or out of date documents.
In August, developer Richard Carr of Fortitudo resubmitted plans to replace the Sandbanks Hotel with a new 171-bedroom hotel, replace the Haven Hotel with three blocks of residential apartments and erect a 38-suite ‘aparthotel’ in place of the Harbour Heights Hotel.
This came weeks after BCP Council refused the plans due to flooding concerns following an officer's recommendation to reject the scheme.
Around three months after the new plans were resubmitted, they still have not appeared on BCP Council’s online planning portal for viewing due to validation issues over updated documents.
Mr Carr has told the Echo essentially every single report compiled for the original plans has had to be updated to fit the new design plans – which address the flooding concerns raised by the Environment Agency.
He said: “Realistically, we hope to be set in early January for the new planning application to go live.
“We had to almost update every report because most of them were four to five years old and don’t reflect the changes. We also have a new consultant to deal with the Environment Agency.”
Mr Carr added that once the final reports had been updated, they will proceed “full speed ahead” with the plans.
A BCP Council spokesperson said: “The revised application for the Harbour Heights, Sandbanks and Haven Hotels redevelopment was submitted in August 2022 but was not able to be validated as a large number of required documents and plans were missing or out of date.
“Our planning team replied to the agent and applicant with a full list of plans and documents that need to be updated in order for the application to be validated.”
Once the updated documents are submitted, the plans can be viewed.
It is understood key differences in the new plans are that accommodation is now five metres above sea level and floor to ceiling heights have been adjusted to raise the first floor of the Haven and Sandbanks Hotels.
Mr Carr added: “If we can conquer the Environment Agency, I think we’ve got a good chance at getting this through finally.”
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