Sandbanks hotels redevelopment plans 'ghastly'

Revised plans for a hotel and flats on Dorset's exclusive Sandbanks peninsula are "ghastly" and will "wreck the happiness of thousands of people", opponents say.

More than 250 people have already responded to the latest bid to demolish hotels on three separate sites.

Under the proposals, Haven Hotel would be replaced with three blocks of flats, Sandbanks Hotel would be replaced with a new hotel and Harbour Heights Hotel would make way for hotel apartments.

Sandbanks is one of the most expensive addresses in the UK, with flats and houses costing an average of £1.2m, according to property website Zoopla.

Well-known residents include football managers Harry Redknapp and Tony Pulis.

A consultation on the plans ends on 27 July.

Owner FJB Hotels want to "consolidate" the accommodation in its three "outdated and inefficient hotel buildings" on to two sites and use the harbour entrance site for a residential development to help fund the hotel proposals.

The revised outline proposals for the Haven Hotel site are now six storeys high instead of 10 but Sandbanks resident Alison Thatcher is among the objectors who say the scheme is still too big.

"No building in Sandbanks is over five storeys and this is how it should remain," she wrote.

Other opponents include Haven Hotel guest Jane Bayley from Andover who described the plans as "ghastly".

The Protect Sandbanks protest group said the "six-storey, faceless, mass development" would have a "devastating impact on an area of outstanding natural beauty".

The previous application attracted thousands of objections to Borough of Poole.

The BBC has contacted FJB for a comment but they did not respond.