A SAILING club has been given the green light to extend its clubhouse.

Lilliput Sailing Club, which is based on the edge of the Blue Lagoon in Sandbanks Road, has been given planning permission to add a two-storey extension to the front of its clubhouse.

The existing balcony will also be enlarged, and the existing engine shed will be replaced with a larger shed and workshop.

A planning, design and access statement submitted on behalf of the club said the current clubhouse was built by club members in 1965/1966 and has not undergone any work since it was built.

The statement said how the club has grown to a membership of around 300, and remains a member run self-help club.

“The extension will enable the existing cramped changing rooms on the ground floor to be enlarged,” the statement said.

“On the first floor the small kitchen will be similarly enlarged, and a toilet and store provided. The additional space will enable the existing limited facilities to be enlarged and improved.”

The engine shed was built in 1981 and has ‘reached a point where it needs to be replaced’.

The new space will provide a slightly larger engine storage area, which will allow more members to use it, as well as workshop space for use by the club and its members.

The balcony, the statement said, requires refurbishment and ‘will soon reach the end of its life’.

“The replacement balcony will enhance the facilities that the club is able to offer its members and enable them to make the most of the club’s enviable location looking out across the Blue Lagoon and Poole Harbour,” it said.

The statement concluded the plans would enable the club to enhance its existing facilities for its members, while replacing facilities that are coming to the end of their life.

BCP Council planning officers approved the application.

A case officer’s report said the proposal would not result in a ‘detrimental impact on the character and appearance of the building and surrounding area’.

It added the plans would not materially harm neighbouring amenities, while also not compromising bats, trees or increasing flood risk.