£60M redevelopment plans for Dorset hotel rejected
Kingfisher Resorts wanted to bring Knoll House Hotel at Studland up to 5 star standards
Multi-million-pound redevelopment plans for the Knoll House Hotel site at Studland have been rejected by Dorset councillors.
Most backed the £60million investment for the site but say some of the proposed buildings to the rear need to be smaller.
There were also concerns over the number of car spaces although highways officers said they were happy with the hotel parking plan.
Kingfisher Resorts, which has owned the site since 2017, said they wanted to bring the hotel up to 5-star resort standards, offering jobs for more than 230 people.
Its plans included removing all staff accommodation from the site, offering an electric shuttle bus to bring staff to and from work.
Purbeck Cllr Cherry Brooks pleaded with the planning committee to accept the plans as they are. She said the economic benefits would far outweigh the environmental ‘costs’ with the company having produced a series of proposals to minimise any impacts.
“This is not a greenfield site, it is already developed. It doesn’t increase the number of bed spaces…it (the site) needs a major investment which will produce good jobs with progression and qualifications,” she said.
The company had claimed their scheme would be comparable to the quality of another local character holiday destination, the Chewton Glen Hotel.
Swanage councillor Gary Suttle also backed the plan saying the scheme would not cover a greater area than at present. He said the officer reports had heavily focused on negative aspects, backed by objectors including the National Trust, but had not given adequate weight to the benefits.
He called on the committee to ‘be brave’ and help the council achieve its mission statement of bringing prosperity to its residents.
Detractors included Cllr Alex Brenton who described some of the accommodation behind the main hotel as “a prison block of a building”.
“It might be fine in Bournemouth, but it’s hardly the light touch you would hope for on a site like this,” she said, adding later “I would be in favour if it was smaller.”
Swanage councillor Bill Trite said he was on the “horns of a dilemma” over the proposal- suggesting an amended application might find favour.
At the vote he was one of ten councillors who followed the officer recommendation to reject the application by a unanimous verdict.
The prominent site, overloking the bay, became a hotel in 1931. It was used by the army as a base during the Second World War while constructing beach defences, and returned to being a hotel at the end of the war.
Around thirty buildings are on the rambling site currently providing 106 guest bedrooms and 57 for staff – with the hotel previously only opening in the main season until the current owners took it on. The redevelopment proposals from Kingfisher Resorts include retaining parts of the original hotel to offer 30 bedrooms, with the grounds having 39 two-bed apartments, 2 three-bed apartments, 16 two-bed maisonettes; 2 two-bed villas and 4 three-bed villas, according to an amended report presented to the committee.
Leisure facilities would include indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a fitness suite, spa and treatment facilities, function room, casual dining bistro and associated staff areas.
If all the proposals had been allowed it would change the total capacity of the site from 330, including 63 staff rooms, to 324, with parking spaces limited to 87.
Objections had come from the National Trust which owns land around the site and leases a small area to the hotel; Natural England; the Dorset AoNB team; Dorset Council design and conservation officer with tourism officers warning that by removing staff accommodation the hotel could struggle to recruit.