2015 Planning Application 59766 for the Lee Bay Hotel

UPDATE: 28 September 2016

Revisions to the Lee Bay Hotel application have been submitted.

The final date for submitting comments is 14 October 2016. All residents wishing to make comment will have to do so again via the NDC Planning Portal and/or request that their original comments are considered again.

Copied from NDC email:

The Planning Committee will be visiting the above application site on Thursday, 06 October 2016 at approximately 10:00 a.m. The purpose of the Site Inspection is to allow the Planning Committee to observe the site and clarify certain issues of fact, before consideration at the Planning Committee meeting. It is not an opportunity to discuss the application.

As somebody who has previously made a representation, you are invited to accompany the Planning Committee to the site inspection to hear their observations and answer any questions they may have following their inspection. However, you will not be permitted to make representations in relation to your case nor should you attempt to speak with individual members of the sub-committee on the subject.

Please notify the case officer, Mr. R. Pedlar on 01271 388438 if you, or your representative, will attend the site inspection.

Following the site visit, the Planning Committee will consider the application at their meeting on Wednesday, 12 October 2016 at 10:00 a.m. at Barnstaple Rugby Club, Pottington Road, Barnstaple, EX31 1JH. You are entitled to attend the Planning Committee meeting and, at the discretion of the Chairman, to address the Committee for no more than 3 minutes. If you wish to address the Planning Committee, you should contact Democratic Services on 01271 388254 or 01271 388253 in advance of the meeting.

UPDATE: 08 March 2016

Revisions to the Lee Bay Hotel application have been submitted.

The final date for submitting comments is 25 March 2016. All residents wishing to make comment will have to do so again via the NDC Planning Portal and/or request that their original comments are considered again.

There is a new document from the architects with new visualisations available (please click the link below):

Design Review Summary incorporating CGI Visualisations (Feb 2016)

The following (in blue) is from Duncan Powell of Acorn Blue, outlining the revisions:

Lee Bay Planning Application - Revisions

By way of an update we have now submitted our revised plans for the former Lee Bay Hotel to North Devon Council. As you know, although the submitted scheme was well resolved we felt there were further changes that could be made to improve it in conservation and setting terms. I have attached the covering letter to this email and summarised the key points below:

· Height of the front of the apartment building reduced by 1.2 metres, reducing the building at the seafront

· Removal of two large south facing gables on apartment building, reducing scale and mass of said building

· Simplification of apartment building to further ensure it sits comfortably in the historic environment of the seafront

· Revisions to materials, canopies, stone walling and cladding to terraced dwellings to further reflect the conservation area

· Reduction in size and height of unit 4 to strengthen relationship with terraced dwellings

· Changes to the elevations to reflect the highly varied architectural styles in the area

· Addition of another feature tree to the south west of the north east car park.

Critically whilst these changes further improve the scheme they still ensure it remains viable and thus buildable. We sincerely hope that these changes are welcomed by everyone and that we can get on with the development as the site has been derelict for far too long. We believe the changes reflect the huge amount of time, effort and money that we have put into this project and we look forward to regenerating the valley and sea front.

UPDATE: 18 September 2015

LLRA Statement

Please find linked below the final version of the LLRA Statement.

17 Sep 2015 - LLRA Statement

UPDATE: 07 September 2015

LLRA Statement

Ahead of the ITC Meeting tonight, please read the 4 documents linked below - especially if you are planning to attend:

(Minutes previously linked here have temporarily been removed pending a review.)

05 Sep 2015 - LLRA Statement

UPDATE: 23 August 2015

Proposed re-development of Lee Bay Hotel site: process, current position and next steps

Process

1. Following an initial contact with members of the LLRA Committee in August, the developer, Acorn Blue, first presented its proposals for re-developing the Lee Bay Hotel site to residents at a consultation event in Lee Memorial Hall in early December 2014.

2. At that time, many residents wrote directly to Acorn Blue to express their views.

3. The LLRA Committee held an open meeting to discuss Acorn Blue’s proposals, and followed this up with a survey of residents’ views on a range of issues that emerged from the open meeting. The survey results were made available to residents and were sent to Acorn Blue, the local planning authority, and Ilfracombe Town Council. Copies of the survey report are available here.

4. In June 2015, three members of the LLRA committee attended a meeting with Acorn Blue at their offices. The purpose of the meeting was to gather information about how the initial proposals may have been modified to take account of the views of residents. A report of that meeting, and what we were told by Acorn Blue, was made available to residents and is also available here.

5. Acorn Blue has now submitted an application for planning permission. The plans are on display and further documents submitted by Acorn Blue are available on the local planning authority website.

Current position

6. The planning authority is consulting with local residents, the LLRA, and Ilfracombe Town Council, as well as with a number of other compulsory consultees.

7. The LLRA Committee has compared the plans submitted by Acorn Blue with the report from the survey of residents’ views, and a simple summary of this comparison is available here.

8. There will be a further open meeting for residents to discuss their views on Wednesday 26th August.

9. Following the open meeting, the LLRA Committee will conduct a simple ballot, asking people to vote either ‘I support the plans’ or ‘I oppose the plans’. The committee will report the result of the ballot to Ilfracombe Town Council and the planning authority as its formal response to the consultation.

10. The committee decided not to repeat a more detailed survey of views about the final plans because of the likelihood of divergent views remaining and the need to now give a clear and simple message on behalf of residents to the planning authority.

Next steps

11. It is extremely important that individuals respond directly to the consultation (by 10th September at the very latest), expressing any concerns they may have. This can be done via the planning authority’s website or in writing.

12. Some people are likely to support the planning application whilst others will wish to object.

13. The local planning authority will consider the application in relation to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). It is therefore very important that objections make reference to this framework. The committee is providing three further documents to help those who may wish to object to the plans:

a. Relevant extracts from the NPPF

b. A brief analysis of the relevant parts of the NPPF as they relate to the proposed development

c. A ‘planning objection guidance note’

14. The Planning & Environment Committee of Ilfracombe Town Council (ITC) will consider the application at an extraordinary meeting of the committee on 7th September in Lee Memorial Hall, starting at 7pm.

15. It is important to note that ITC does not make a decision about approval or rejection of the planning application, but makes a recommendation to the local planning authority. Members of the public may attend the ITC meeting and will be invited to speak. (It is usual for members of the public wishing to speak to be given 3 minutes each.)

16. The local planning authority (North Devon District Council) will consider the application at a full Planning Committee meeting on a date yet to be announced. The decision will not be delegated to officers of the planning department.

17. Members of the public may attend the meeting of the Planning Committee of North Devon District Council. Again, it is usual for members of the public to be invited to speak for up to 3 minutes.

There are a lot of papers you may wish to read. In summary, these include:

(The previous 2014 Lee Bay Hotel file archive can be found here.)

View the Plans

Lee and Lincombe Residents’ Association Committee members will be in Lee Memorial Hall on Tuesday 25 and Wednesday 26 August from 2pm-7pm each day when plans for the Lee Bay Hotel site will be available to view.

A member of the Committee will be available to answer questions and queries.

Attend Meetings

An open meeting will follow on Wednesday 26th August at 7pm.

Ilfracombe Town Council planning Committee will also meet in the Memorial Hall at 7pm on Monday 7 September. Members of the public are able to attend this meeting.

Online

You can view the planning documents online on the NDDC website here. However, it's very difficult to easily view all 60 PDF documents when most are not defined unless hovered over, which is impossible on some devices. So please find our link below to all documents which might be a little clearer.

Lee Bay Hotel Planning Documents