Hotel applies to keep some of illegal construction

The hotel that hosted world leaders for the G7 summit in Cornwall wants to keep elements of an illegal construction built for the event.

The Carbis Bay Hotel said the meeting rooms were required for the event in June 2021, but it did not have planning permission for them.

The Carbis Bay Hotel, near St Ives, has now applied to retain some elements of the construction.

The hotel argues that to remove concrete slabs and foundations could lead to the risk of a landslide and be hazardous to people using Carbis Bay beach and the neighbouring South West Coastal Path.

The hotel, on Beach Road, has applied to Cornwall Council’s planning department for the “habitat enhancement and retention of concrete structures, section of the post and wire fence on land to the west of hotel and the tarmac service access track and stone terracing to the south of the hotel and erection of a gated access”, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

There were protests when the hotel’s owner built the unauthorised meeting rooms in front of the beach at Carbis Bay in time for the summit.

It was attended by international leaders, including US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister (at the time) Boris Johnson, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Angela Merkel.

Cornwall Council previously issued an enforcement notice ordering the hotel to remove the pods and meeting rooms – including huge solid concrete footings – and return the site to its original form.

However, the hotel proposes to retain some of the constructed features on the site to ensure the beach is protected from possible falling rocks.

A decision will be made either by Cornwall Council’s planning department or by committee on a future date.

Follow BBC Cornwall on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].