Cornwall planning: David and Goliath battle in St Ives sees Premier Inn refusal

People power has won out in what has been described as a David and Goliath battle between residents of St Ives and hotel giant Whitbread. The company's plans to build a 90-room Premier Inn hotel overlooking the town have been refused by a Cornwall Council planning committee.

The proposals have been hugely controversial since they were first announced with protests being held and St Ives Town Council strongly opposing the scheme which would have seen the demolition of Cornwallis Care Home, the town's last remaining care home, and its residents moved to other homes in Cornwall. The meeting at County Hall / Lys Kernow today (Monday, April 29) saw another protest by worried residents outside the building this morning.

Despite the opposition, the council's planning department had recommended approval stating that previous planning permission for the site on Trewidden Road for an aparthotel gave "significant weight to the current proposal". The plan for the five-storey Premier Inn was deemed satisfactory in size and boundary screening.

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Brian Selman, whose daughter's family live at neighbouring Trinity Watch, which he said would be overlooked by the hotel, told the meeting that it was "beyond belief that this is described as 'less than substantial harm'." This was what was stated in the planning officers' report recommending approval.

He said: "The claim that this will be a budget hotel attracting a different clientèle is nonsense. Whitbread admit that the peak room rate will be £250 per night. Whitbread also claim that they will accommodate 64,100 overnight visitors, a third of all existing visits. That's 175 for every day of the year. What utter nonsense. This monstrosity will not be at capacity 365 days a year. This simple arithmetic has bypassed the planning officers.

"It will mean less stays in existing locally-owned accommodation. There will be no net gain. The only winners will be Whitbread shareholders. It's beyond baffling that this unprecedented monstrosity - much bigger than anything else in St Ives - is deemed acceptable. It's not on any grounds."

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Another objector, Shelley Thornton, said it should be a material consideration that it would lead to the loss of a care home. "St Ives' last one, which has been in operation for 40 years and is home to 39 people. It doesn't break the skyline or ruin the lives of hundreds."

She added that a local had told her she thought the move would kill her dad, a resident of the home. She asked if other care providers had been asked to take it on and if Whitbread had looked for a more suitable site in the town centre or on the edge of St Ives.

Ms Thornton said using the previously approved aparthotel as a baseline for this application was "fraught with legal risk", adding the Premier Inn proposal was higher and twice the length of the aparthotel.

She pointed out that 613 people had objected on the council's planning portal, with just three supporters. "That's a phenomenal number of objections for a tiny town like St Ives, which is a little fishing village. It's not the cash cow and tourist mecca big chains think it is. Pizza Express and Wetherspoons have both realised this, thankfully in existing buildings which can be repurposed. If built, this eyesore will forever ruin our iconic skyline."

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Local member Cllr Andrew Mitchell was passionate in his opposition: "Anybody looking at this building, particularly from the harbour, would say these eight following words: 'How the bloody hell did that get planning?'

"This is a story of David and Goliath; a story where the officer has been hoodwinked by the applicant at the expense of listening to the voice of reason from the people who actually care. It's simply not appropriate for such a compact site - it's the architectural equivalent of putting a pint into a half-pint pot.

"If approved, this scheme will become a bad neighbour and create a horrible urban, five-storey oppressive streetscape in an area characterised by generous and lush gardens where buildings are set back sensitively. We do not want a skyline filled with 90 windows and a restaurant glowing into the night."

Cllr Mitchell added the comparison to the smaller aparthotel plan was "utter nonsense". He said the maximum the site could take would be the previously approved scheme of 39 rooms, but that was agreed on the proviso it would help fund a new care home in the parish. He said the new plans would mean residents being moved to Penzance."

He raised the likelihood of Whitbread appealing a decision to refuse. "The case, I imagine, will largely be determined on scale and mass, and impact on the residential nature of the area. When that day comes we will be ready to show how powerful a town of united Davids can be against Goliath."

Cllr Mitchell was admonished by a council solicitor for his choice of language, particularly his suggestion officers may have been "hoodwinked" by the applicant.

Whitbread's Louise Woodruff told the meeting: "Our research shows there is a clear unmet demand for affordable, good quality, year-round visitor accommodation within St Ives." She said it would create 30 permanent jobs and help investment in the local economy.

Chris Dadds, a town planner supporting the Premier Inn plan, was asked if he felt the height and mass of the building was in keeping with the surrounding area. "Yes," came his succinct reply.

Following discussion by councillors, where concerns were raised about its scale and negative effect on other accommodation businesses in the town, the planning committee refused on the grounds that it would have an adverse impact on the skyline and any economic benefits would not be outweighed by the hotel's visual harm. Ten councillors voted to refuse with one abstention and no votes in favour.