Seafront hotel in Bournemouth set to be demolished

The Hotel Riviera in Bournemouth's West Cliff Gardens is set to be demolished and replaced with a six storey block of 14 flats with underground parking for 16 cars on the site.

BCP Council has approved an application to allow the changes for A J Developments Ltd.

Almost forty residents had objected to the proposals many claiming the new building was too large for the site and would look out of place in the conservation area.

The approval follows previous applications for the site which have been dismissed at appeal. The last, for a similar number of flats, was refused in November 2019 on the grounds that it was an overly large and unsympathetic development for the area, the loss of tourism accommodation and concerns about cliff stability.

Since then proposals for the site have been reduced in size and the footprint of the replacement building no longer projects so far to the south. The underground bin storage area has also been removed from the design, together with some other minor alterations.

A planning officer report into the design changes said: “Overall, it is considered that the proposed development, as amended, would be sited in an appropriate manner on the site such that it would not affect the key views and building lines within the conservation area.

"The scale of development was considered acceptable by the Inspector in the earlier appeal, and it was also indicated that the proposed design and form would be acceptable to replace the existing building on the site.”

It had been claimed that the 34-bedroom hotel, which had been able to offer accommodation for up to 61 people, was no longer financially viable, which was accepted by the appeal inspector. The business has since closed.

The, now approved, block of flats will be mainly 2-bed, with four 1-bed and two 3-bed.

An adjoining site to the west, which used to be St George’s Hotel, has since been demolished and is also likely to be redeveloped with flats.

• Bournemouth
• Hotel