Swanage to get beachside sauna hut
It's been approved for a site off Shore Road
A beachside sauna hut has been approved for Swanage.
It follows a trend of other Dorset resorts now boasting their own beach sauna – popular with sea swimmers, including at Seatown and Studland.
The Swanage sauna, of just 17 square metres, will be put on a hardstanding in Shore Road, close to the fun park.
The application submitted to Dorset Council by Wareham-based Swanage Bay Sauna says the venture will create one full-time and one part-time job.
The business already runs the sauna at Knoll Beach in Studland.
Opening times in the planning application are listed as 7.00am until 7.00pm each day.
The sauna will be sited on Swanage Town Council owned land adjacent to the site of a recently approved Carve coffee and ice-cream ‘pop-up’ business.
Said a statement from a planning agent: “The Town Council are supportive of this proposal which will provide social benefits to the local community and tourists, helping to realise the Local Plan strategic objectives ‘to support local communities’ and ‘to provide a thriving and prosperous economy with a variety of businesses’.”
The sauna will have three rooms – a larger communal sauna, a smaller private sauna and an office/reception room.
The building will be timber-clad, painted black with grey glazed windows under a rubber roof, the windows allowing a view out, but not in.
Comments submitted by the public had welcomed the proposal.
Said one Bournemouth resident: “This is a great idea. I enjoy a swim in the sea in the summer months. The Sauna at Studland has opened a new way for me to enjoy a very quick swim over the winter months as well. Just what Swanage needs.”
Another, from Corfe Castle, told Dorset Council: “This valuable project will bring life and income into the town during the quiet “off season” months. The mental health benefits of sauna/winter swimming are well known and will bring benefit to residents and extend the tourist season. Those running this sauna have a proven track record of safety and good practice from their successful site in Studland. I wholeheartedly support this application.”