A DEVELOPER’S bid to build a five-storey property at the site of the Sandbanks Yacht Club have been refused once again.

The controversial proposals, submitted by Jacob Carr Homes and Phoenix Spencer Sandbanks, attracted dozens of letters of objection.

Concerns centred around the scale of the scheme, which would have seen buildings at 30-38 Panorama Road, which includes the yacht club’s Boatyard Restaurant and a car showroom, knocked down and replaced with 31 flats, two commercial units, and a new marina office and chandlery.

Poole council planning officers had recommended that the application be refused planning permission.

Planning committee members agreed with the objections and decided to turn down the proposals at their last meeting.

Submitted in April, the proposals included the provision of ground floor commercial units with the upper four floors accommodating 31 flats.

A similar scheme to redevelop the site was submitted in 2016 but refused by the planning committee with councillors saying that the scale of the building was “too much, too quickly”.

In a bid to address the concerns, the latest proposals set the fifth floor back from the rest of the building which, a planning statement said, would have hidden it from ground level.

Pure Town Planning consultant Matthew Annen said the development would have created a “carefully balanced and attractive contemporary proposal that would not represent an overdevelopment of the site”.

However, Poole council planning officer Claire Moir said that the changes “do not overcome concerns”.

In a report to the planning committee she said: “The current proposals have addressed some of the previous refusal reasons by proposing to retain the restaurant use as part of the composite uses of the boatyard.

“The bulk and massing of the building nevertheless remains very similar to that previously refused and as such does not overcome concerns about these aspects of the proposals.”

She added: “The proposals would therefore result in a development which by reason of its site coverage; height; scale and bulk; massing; and width, would not reflect or enhance the pattern of development in the surrounding area.”