Pendower Beach Hotel Regeneration plans submitted to Cornwall Council
PBHH Ltd, owners of the former Pendower Beach House Hotel, affectionately known as the ‘pink hotel’, has submitted plans for the regeneration of the disused and largely derelict former hotel located on the Roseland Peninsula.
Scaled back from those submitted in the original 2020 planning application, the new plans are 25% smaller in size and reflect feedback from stakeholders, the general public, the Parish Councils of Philleigh, Gerrans and Veryan, and Friends of Pendower Beach organisation.
Providing year-round economic benefit to the local economy, including local jobs, the proposed destination aparthotel will create employment for 12-15 staff who will be on site at any one time, with 2-4 staff on site at all times.
Consisting of a two-storey scheme, the regeneration encompasses 23 two and three bed family self-catering holiday-let suites, a public café and restaurant with 40 internal and up to 40 external covers, a shop for use by self-catering visitors and beachgoers, and on-site accommodation for staff.
Designed to attract year-round visitors, including families with younger children, groups of couples, mature families, and retirees, the aparthotel has a key role to play in bringing valuable spending power to the local area.
Benefiting local businesses, shops, pubs, cafes, outlets, and attractions, as well as services that supply the aparthotel, the hotel will become a net contributor to the local economy.
Requiring approximately £1m of necessary stabilisation work to protect road access to Pendower Beach and its slipway, the regeneration of the hotel will also future-proof Rocky Lane against coastal erosion for future generations to come.
Central to the regeneration plans is the protection of the sensitive local environment within which the hotel sits. This includes new measures that will result in a significant biodiversity net gain (BNG), including increased use of green roofs, enhanced native planting, retention of significant trees, the increase of canopy cover by 15%, and the use of additional Cornish hedging. The result will be a biodiversity net gain score of 17%, which is significantly higher than the benchmark figure set by Cornwall Council of 10%.
Commenting on the plans being put forward to regenerate the former Pendower Beach House Hotel, Johnny Goldsmith, local businessman and founder of PBHH Ltd, said: “Over the past 17 years we have listened carefully to the views of the local community, revising and reducing our plans to take account of feedback, while ensuring that the future of the hotel remains viable in a way that enhances the Roseland Peninsula.
“Bringing income into the wider economy, creating jobs, and both protecting and enhancing the environment, we hope that the new and significantly scaled back plans will be widely welcomed.”
Dr David Mlynski, who has recently joined the PBHH Ltd team as an investor, and has a PHD in ecology, added: “Having been brought up in Veryan, spending much of my youth diving for sea urchins, or out on the boat catching crab and lobster with my father, I’ve witnessed the hotel fall into a sad state of dereliction.
“The plans that we are putting forward are designed to sensitively breath life back into the site, regenerating and transforming the former hotel into a valuable local asset that will not only attract affluent visitors, bringing money into the local economy, but also enhance amenities for locals and users of the beach through the restaurant, café and beach shop.
“In particular, the plans pay special attention to the ecology of this site, which is my particular area of interest. Measures such as bat and bird boxes, bee bricks, and the introduction of a new purpose-built bat roost building – designed to support populations of lesser horseshoe and common pipistrelle bats – will all help to generate an ecological net gain. Combined with actions to enhance canopy levels by 15%, measures to remove invasive species, and activity to safeguard the ecological designations on site, we are confident that the regeneration of the hotel will play an important part in enhancing the natural environment.”
Key features of the plans, which have been updated to reflect feedback from the public consultation process will be outlined at a further community engagement event at Philleigh Village Hall/Community Centre (TR2 5NB), 4-6pm on Monday 18th March. Full details of the plans can be viewed on Cornwall County Planning portal. These include:
- Limited regeneration plans for the site
- Design features of the aparthotel, restaurant, café and shop
- Use of renewable energy
- Burying of overhead power cables
- Removal of invasive species that threaten the natural environment
- Plans for a new purpose-built bat roost building
- Increase in green roof area
- Reduction in hard landscape to the east of the existing farmhouse due to coastal erosion limits set
- Cliff stabilisation to safeguard access to the beach and slipway via Rocky Lane
- Safe removal of historic potential pollutants from site
- A reduction in the overall building footprint
- A change in building angles to protect trees on site
- Repositioning of a block away from wet woodland, shortening its length and visual impact from the South West Coast Path
- Sympathetic changes to the historic farmhouse
- Sustainable drainage solutions
- Use of information boards detailing the local environment and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
- Sensitive use of local building materials
- Enhanced amenities for users of Pendower Beach
- Eco-design adopted across the site
- Benefits of the aparthotel model to the local economy, local business and services
- Details of Pendower Beach Hotel Regeneration’s environmental custodianship commitment
Further details about the plans for the hotel can be found on the Cornwall Council online planning register. A decision on the plans by Cornwall Council is anticipated in early summer 2024.
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Media Enquiries:
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Ewan@absoluteprandmarketing.com Gill@absoluteprandmarketing.com
For more information on the Pendower Beach Hotel regeneration visit: www.pendower-development.co.uk
About Pendower Beach Hotel Holdings
Pendower Beach Hotel Holdings (PBHH Ltd) was set up by local property developer Johnny Goldsmith in 2007, to buy Pendower Beach House Hotel, known as the ‘pink hotel’, located on the Roseland Peninsula. PBHH Ltd aims to breathe life back into what has become a sadly neglected site, which has been disused for more than a decade, in a sensitive way to protect the local environment, and to provide year-round economic benefit to the local economy.
