A hotel once regarded as the finest in Exmouth has been saved from demolition but its long-term fate is still hanging in the balance. East Devon planners have rejected contentious plans to demolish Devoncourt Hotel and replace it with a combination of apartments and a hotel.

Anita Merritt www.devonlive.com 

The latest planning application for the site in Douglas Avenue sought to build 66 homes and a new smaller 65 bed hotel. Fierce opposition saw around 180 objections submitted and just three in favour of the proposals.

The revised application, submitted by Azim Lalani, had been recommended for approval. However, during an at-times tense debate yesterday, May 21, when planners met to discuss the plans, it was eventually rejected as it was considered to be an overdevelopment of the site and was unsympathetic to its surroundings.

Worries were also raised about parking. Seven councillors on the district council’s planning committee voted to reject the scheme – a motion proposed by vice chair Cllr Matt Hall (Liberal Democrat, Exmouth Withycombe Raleigh) – with four in favour of approving it.

Chair Olly Davey (Green Party, Exmouth Town) didn’t vote to reject the proposal but acknowledged it had been a ‘contentious application’.

After the meeting he said: “There were concerns about the ability of the design to blend in with its surroundings, the scale of the development and also there was a great deal of discussion about the availability of parking for the proposal.

“We had several of the original objectors there, and they outlined similar concerns, including the amount of traffic that would be using the site.”

Cllr Davey said a redesign meant the proposed development would now take up less of the site than initial plans, but the scheme still didn’t fit the design statement for the Avenues area, which states only a quarter of any given plot should be developed.

The plans involved demolishing the existing hotel and replace it with a 65-bed alternative at the southern most part of the land with access via Maer Road car park and its own car park. Vehicular access for the proposed apartments was to remain off Douglas Avenue.

The location of the apartments was on the north and south side of the site. One of the blocks would have been for 15 affordable properties, with some being rented or for shared ownership.

The application was initially debated by East Devon’s planning committee in April. Following a marathon two-and-a-half hour debate, councillors agreed to visit the site to investigate concerns about parking as the new hotel would rely on the nearby council-owned Maer Road car park for its guests.

The council’s car parks manager told councillors that data suggested there would be enough capacity for the hotel guests, given that daily use is generally fewer than 100 transactions per day. However, the car park is currently closed at night as it was previously used by ‘boy and girl racers’, although it was suggested it could be opened all night if demand from the hotel and other users existed.

Some councillors raised concerns about sewerage capacity. However, South West Water stated that storm overflow at the pumping station and the local sewer flooding downstream from the proposed development “is being investigated so the issues should hopefully be resolved before any new connection takes place”.

While the council’s landscape architect and urban designer retained their recommendations to refuse the scheme, officers said “the benefits of the proposal are considered to demonstrably outweigh the harm” with conditions put in place to mitigate certain impacts.

Cllr Davey said the committee would now have to wait to see whether the applicant would submit a revised scheme or try to appeal. Malcolm Gigg, the agent for the applicant, was contacted for comment but was unavailable.

At the April meeting, he said the scheme would benefit the area by providing ‘much-needed accommodation’ from both the residential and hotel perspective. He said the extent of the work needed to retain the existing building was ‘unachievable’.

The Devoncourt was generally considered to be Exmouth’s finest hotel before it began offering 25-year timeshare rooms in the 1980s.

Among the local residents against the plans, one said in his submitted objection to the council: “I object to the thoughts that planning take no notice of what is going on with all of said people who object to a monstrosity that no one wants, when we already have a hotel that everyone loves to visit on a daily basis.

“Who in their right mind planned a carbuncle of this magnitude only to destroy a hotel that has great views of Exmouth and good facilities for all to enjoy, two swimming pools and beautifully kept gardens?

“What a waste, so please wake up as to what you are destroying here now. Throw these plans in the bin where they belong.

“The residents who live all around the area object to these plans and also all who use the hotel for the facilities don’t want what you want, so as I said get your heads out of the sand and scrap the idea completely as it’s not needed.”