More detail of plans to demolish a landmark hotel in a bid to 'bring back Bournemouth's character' have been revealed.
If councillors give the proposals the green light, the Wessex Hotel on the corner of West Cliff Road will be replaced with three six-storey buildings replicating the layout of the site from the 1800s.
The scheme includes a 100-room hotel and 99 new homes set in landscaped grounds, plus 188 parking spaces.
Developers at company Inland Homes have promised to provide “high-quality architecture” with buildings designed as “traditional-style villas” as part of their proposal.
In the application they say the scheme will 'enhance the appearance of the area and regenerate a site that has lost the character typical of this part of Bournemouth. It is considered that our approach will help to achieve the Council’s visual, environmental and regeneration aspirations for the local area."
They plan to recreate the original three villa layout, which had disappeared by 1910 as the hotel was developed.
In this picture above, the hotel is the block on the right.
The application also shows how dramatically the scheme has changed since its inception into its current form.
The Wessex Hotel is currently owned by Inland and operated by a firm called Bespoke.
Late last year, the hotel was bought by developer Philip Oram for £3.75 million from LaSalle Investment Management.
In August the Bournemouth Development Company, a partnership between Bournemouth council and Morgan Sindall Investments, revealed plans to build a 44-flat block on the Durley Road car park, adjacent to the Wessex Hotel site.
The new development would be a six storey block with a mixture of one, two and three bed flats ranging “from starter homes to penthouse style units”, the application states, along with 46 parking spaces.
Several months before, in February, the authority granted permission for the demolition of the Best Western Montague Hotel in Durley Road South and its replacement with 26 flats, six of which will be holiday apartments.
Work is under way on the scheme.
Plans for the Wessex Hotel site were formally submitted to Bournemouth council on December 20 following a public consultation in late October.
Those wishing to comment on the scheme should visit planning.bournemouth.gov.uk and search for application 7-2016-2037-AG.
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