Green light for Torquay Harbour hotel
The go-ahead has been given for Harbour Hotels to build a 60-bedroom hotel and 43 luxury apartments at Torquay harbour, Devon.
Torbay Council Development Management Committee gave the green light to the plans earlier this week.
The four/five-storey hotel is to be located on the harbour side adjacent to Vaughan Parade using the pre-existing grade II-listed Pavilion as a front of house space including reception, spa, restaurants, function rooms and bars, linked to the new development by a ‘bedroom bridge'.
Concerns were raised with regards to the property's size, the loss of car parking in the area and its impact on the Torquay Harbour conservation area and nearby listed buildings. Torbay Friends of the Earth submitted a petition signed by 345 people against the proposal, which was supplemented by a further petition with more than 2,000 people voicing opposition.
However, councillors decided in favour of the development's contribution to the regeneration of the area and the restoration of the Pavilion, which is in need of an estimated £2.5m redevelopment.
Harbour Hotels has a collection of 13 luxury hotels across the south of England, with a new 85-bedroom hotel in Southampton set to open this summer and the reopening of the 35-bedroom Tides Reach hotel in Salcombe, Devon, due for 2018.
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