Borough of Poole: Pure Town Planning is pleased to announce that planning permission has recently been secured for the demolition of the existing Salterns Hotel on Poole Harbour at Lilliput and the erection of a replacement  five-storey hotel with a ground floor marina bar/café and a top floor panoramic restaurant; 22 luxury hotel suites; conference rooms; a state-of-the-art spa/gymnasium and treatment rooms.

Following relatively positive pre-application advice from the Borough of Poole, we knew we were on the right track and after a number of alterations, we submitted the scheme to the Local Planning Authority. The existing building on the site is tired and somewhat unattractive with a mish mash of piece-meal extensions (mansard roofs, flat roofs, hipped roofs gabled ends all abutting each other). The existing building and outdated hotel accommodation does not make the full potential of this idyllic marina location. The “suite” style hotel accommodation approved significantly improves the tourism offer on this unique site and raises the bar in terms of quality tourist accommodation for Poole. The Council’s Tourism Officer was in full support of the proposal.

The scheme was designed by local architects; Anders Roberts. The contemporary design and form proposed incorporated a high level of architectural detailing whilst maintaining the commercial function. The scheme is for a five-storey building and whilst appearance was a reserved matter, the intention is for the scheme to be unashamedly contemporary and cutting edge. During the application process, the scale of the upper floors had to be cut back from that of the originally proposed scheme in order to reduce the visual impact, bulk and mass of the building and safeguard the amenities of the neighbouring flatted blocks. These alterations enabled the scheme to receive a favourable recommendation from the planning officer. However given the importance of this scheme and the high level of neighbour interest, a Ward Councillor “called in” the application which meant that the application had to be determined at Planning Committee. Matt from Pure Town Planning presented a deputation to the Planning Board justifying why the application should approved and why it would not be harmful to the character of the area or neighbours. It was put to the vote and the application was approved unanimously by the Members.

If you are considering a commercial development, large or small, which will take your business forward next year then why not contact Pure Town Planning to seek our expert planning advice?