A BOSCOMBE HMO must be converted back into a hotel, an inspector has ruled.

The former Saxonhurst Hotel at 35 Sea Road was converted into a 16-room, 25-bed house in multiple occupation some two years ago, without change of use permission, and in April last year Bournemouth council served an enforcement notice.

Developer Capri Investments Ltd sought to overturn this notice on appeal, however the Planning Inspectorate has upheld the council's decision, saying the loss of a tourism facility had not been justified.

Addressing the latest meeting of the council's planning board, planning officer Simon Gould said: "This is a common type of application that we face.

"People have got a C1 hotel or B'n'B guest house and for whatever reason they want to realise some residential value on that, which is clearly greater than it would be as a tourism hotel use.

"Policy CS 28 says they need to demonstrate that the existing use is no longer viable, and its loss will not cause harm to the function of the area in terms of tourism.

"Quite often the information that comes forward regarding demonstrating viability can be a bit sketchy.

"So it is pleasing to note that an inspector here has given relatively short shrift to the case on the basis they haven't fully demonstrated that the hotel cannot continue."

Mr Gould said the decision showed there was "a difference between what they might expect to achieve from a property by turning it into residential, as opposed to what somebody who wants to run it as a tourism proposition could achieve".

"It is almost like somebody has a hope value for a site, but that is not necessarily, in planning terms, appropriate," he said.

In its report, the inspectorate said "to have this number of people in such a confined site with such limited amenity space is poor design and not acceptable".

The inspectorate said the appellant's claims of the site's lack of viability as a hotel were "a little pessimistic" and quoted the borough tourism scrutiny panel, which had urged "diversification, such as including a restaurant" to revitalise the facility.

"The scrutiny panel also considered that the hotel suffered from a lack of investment for many years," the report states.