Sandbanks hotels plan developer responds to criticism

Richard Carr of Fortitudo says the “substantially wealthy” members of the Sandbanks Community Group are acting selfishly after they objected to his plans to redevelop the Sandbanks Hotel, Haven Hotel and Harbour Heights Hotel.

Opposition over the near £300m development to replace the hotels with new hotel, apartment, and leisure complexes has been fierce since the proposals were first tabled in 2017.

Amended plans were submitted in May addressing the flooding concerns which saw the proposals refused by BCP Council last year.

CGI of proposed development at Sandbanks Hotel. (Image: Fortitudo)

Since then, approximately 150 new objections have been lobbied including from the Sandbanks Neighbourhood Forum – an offshoot of the main community group – which gave a scathing assessment of the revised plans.

A spokesperson said: “[This] represents an unprecedented, ‘once in a century’ opportunity to improve the available facilities and enhance the public realm, which these drab and quite unremarkable proposals simply do not provide.

“The loss of the Haven Hotel and its replacement by an unremarkable, crowded, arrangement of small flats would represent a historic planning failure of epic proportions which the SNF strongly opposes.

“The proposed Sandbanks Hotel is also a lost opportunity, with an incongruous blob design that is way too large for the site.”

CGI of proposed development at Haven Hotel in Poole (Image: Fortitudo)

However, developer Mr Carr says these objections are driven by a “vocal few” and reiterated his belief that Sandbanks needed to offer holidaymakers more.

He told the Echo: “When you’ve been working on an application for seven years, like I have with this one, you get used to hurdles being put in front of you.

“I think it’s a shame that the minority seem to have the loudest voice in Sandbanks. I talk to an awful lot of people in the area who can’t wait for these areas to be redeveloped.

“There’s a serious lack of amenities in Sandbanks. If you want to be a world-class resort, you need word class facilities.

CGI of proposed development to Harbour Heights Hotel in Poole. (Image: Fortitudo)

“You will always have detractors of change.

“The Sandbanks Community Group is driven by a small group of substantially wealthy people who have their own interests at heart and try to stop things because they don’t like it – they don’t act in the interests of the area.”

BCP Council is awaiting a report from the Environment Agency before taking it to committee.

If approved, Sandbanks Hotel will be replaced with a 171-bedroom luxury hotel, the Haven Hotel with three blocks of 119 residential apartments, and the Harbour Heights with a 38-suite ‘aparthotel’.