A hotel company is finally taking action in Sandown to fix some of the town’s iconic eyesores.
Isle of Wight Hotels owns a number of venues and plots in the seaside town and has now heeded calls of action to do something about it.
With two planning applications, the company, which has developer Nick Spyker as one of its directors, is seeking permission from the Isle of Wight Council to develop the dilapidated outbuildings of the Grand Hotel.
It also wants to build on land where the former Savoy apartments were, on the corner of Victoria Avenue near the library.
Four new residential apartments
The Grand Hotel plans, 21/01422/FUL, will see work on the outbuildings to the rear of the hotel on Culver Parade — demolishing the four former apartments and swimming pool to construct four new residential apartments.
Submitted before recent fire
Fire crews were called to the Grand Hotel earlier this month when a large blaze broke out, causing what Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire Services say is 80 per cent damage to one of the single-storey buildings.
The application was submitted to the council months before the fire, but it was only validated by the planning authority in September, again before the fire.
Savoy Hotel site
Despite the former Savoy apartments being already demolished following a fire in 2011, agents on behalf of the hotel company has said there has been trouble selling the site for years now.
Planning permission for the demolition of the derelict apartments was approved in 2015 with the potential to construct 19 flats on the footprint but plans changed in 2018 to build 12 houses instead.
“12-dwelling scheme not viable”
In planning documents, submitted by MJH Architectural Services, the agents say the 12-dwelling scheme is not viable, due to groundwork construction costs, so it was ‘necessary to look again’ and produce a scheme that would be feasible.
Now, the company is looking to build three four-bed houses on the site instead, which is said to be mainly outside the footprint of the original, now demolished, building.
Comments on both applications can be summited to the council’s planning portal by 12th November.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is part of. Read here to find about more about how that scheme works on the Island. Some alterations and additions may have been made by News OnTheWight. Ed
Image: © MJ Hayles Architectural Services
