Hotel challenging Cornwall Council over enforcement action for G7 building work

A hotel is challenging Cornwall Council's decision to take enforcement action over meeting rooms built without permission.

The Carbis Bay Hotel started work on the three meeting rooms ahead of hosting the G7 summit with world leaders in June.

However, the hotel cleared the site for the development and started building work without having secured planning permission.

After a number of complaints and protests, the hotel submitted a retrospective planning application which Cornwall Council said it would allow to go through the normal process before deciding whether to take action against the development.

More than 400 objections were lodged against the application.

When the hotel decided to withdraw the application in September the council announced it would serve an enforcement notice calling for the buildings to be removed and for the site to be returned to its original state.

The hotel had the right to appeal against the enforcement notice and has done so.

The planning inspectorate has published details on its website which invites people to make representations to the appeal.

Any statements have to be received by January 4 with the appellant given until January 25 to make their final comments.

No indication has been given as to whether the appeal will be subject to a public hearing or a date when a decision might be made.

The building of the rooms was highly controversial as planning permission had previously been refused for the hotel to build lodges on the same site.

A design and access statement issued with the application for the meeting rooms appeared to have copied some of the same elements of the previous application.

The hotel said that the meeting rooms were needed to host the G7 summit but the Cabinet Office said that there had been sufficient facilities in place when the hotel was selected for the event and said it had not requested additional space.

Several protests were held on the beach in front of the hotel with campaigners angry that trees, shrubs and wildlife habitats had been cleared for the development.

To view the appeal search appeal reference APP/D0840/C/21/3284828 on the planning inspectorate website.

Credit: Richard Whitehouse, Local Democracy Reporter