Plans for new 60-bedroom hotel in centre of St Austell
A planning application has been submitted to build a hotel complex on the car park next to the Sedgemoor Centre
There are plans to build a new 60-bedroom hotel on a car park in St Austell town centre.
A planning application has been submitted to Cornwall Council to build the hotel complex on the car park next to the Sedgemoor Centre on Priory Road.
The plans are for a 60-bed hotel over three/four floors and also include a restaurant in the building and on-site parking.
In a design and access statement submitted with the plans it explains: “The current proposals seek to optimise the potential of the site providing a quality 60 bed hotel with café restaurant and onsite parking. It seeks to contribute positively to its setting by creating a striking and elegant building.”
It adds: “The hotel will be three/four storeys high in a ‘T’ shape arrangement which is very much in keeping with the Campus building to the North of the site ensuring that they both compliment one another.
“The hotel will predominantly sit over allocated parking and drop off areas to make best use of the site. The restaurant area is located on the south side with panoramic glazing.”
And in the summary of the statement it is said: “The site presents an opportunity to provide a quality viable commercial development, within an existing urban area close to excellent transport links and amenities.
“The proposed development would make efficient and effective use of the site and create a contemporary, yet sympathetic, design. This would capitalise on the opportunities afforded by the site, whilst minimising any potentially negative effects.
“The core aim is to create a new development, which positively interacts with its surrounding area employing high quality design. The scheme is mindful of the nature of the site location and seeks to ensure quality of outlook and privacy for both users and existing adjacent occupiers.”
Design and Access Statement
There is currently one objection to the application on the Cornwall Council planning portal.
Wendy Earl states: “I do not object to having a hotel on this site. It will bring more people to our town centre and be a spur to our economy. However, there are serious access/traffic issues to say nothing about an already overloaded sewage system. (That really needs fixing now!)
“However, I do object to the design. It looks like something parachuted in from any city in the world – so is quite unfitting for a town in Cornwall. Bearing in mind the efforts currently been made to restore our heritage (THI) and St John’s Church being right in front of the proposed hotel no concessions whatsoever have been made for this historic site. (eg the cladding is quite unlike anything else locally.)
“I am pleased to see some ‘green’ concessions but they require detailed scrutiny bearing in mind the huge CO2 emissions which will result from this construction. Cornwall is aiming to be carbon neutral in only nine years so it is essential that new builds are future proofed. Will the building run as carbon neutral? Will it be able to generate a significant amount of its own power. I trust it will have ground or air source heat pumps installed which a new build can do easily do.”
Mrs Earl adds that she hopes that councillors will “look at the details of this application very closely”.
Wendy Earl
No date has been set for when a decision will be made on the application. To comment on the plans the application number is PA21/01006.