Fury over £250million plans to BULLDOZE a Victorian seaside hotel to turn millionaire’s resort of Sandbanks into 'Britain’s Palm Beach'

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Residents in Poole slammed plans to bulldoze two Victorian seaside hotels to make way for a new £250million development dubbed 'Britain’s Palm Beach'.

An application has been submitted to Poole Borough Council to knock down the Sandbanks Hotel, in the Sandbanks Peninsula, Dorset, and replace it with a luxurious 175-room hotel, which will be Art Deco-themed, and an underground car park. 

The application also states plans to replace the four-star Haven hotel with 196 residential apartments in four blocks with a 7,000 sq ft restaurant called the Jurassic Eye at the top, and to demolish the Harbour Heights Hotel to make way for a 40-suite 'aparthotel' - aka a hotel with flats inside.

The history of the Sandbanks Hotel and the Haven Hotel date back to the Victorian times.

Plans have been submitted to knock down the Sandbanks Hotel, above, in the Sandbanks Peninsula, Dorset, and replace it with a  175 bedroom Art Deco hotel

Above is the artist impression of what the new complex, replacing the Sandbanks Hotel, would look like. It has been likened to Miami Beach

The application also outlines a plan to demolish the Harbour Heights Hotel to make way for a 40-suite 'aparthotel'

This artist impression shows what the Harbour Heights Hotel could be replaced with. It would be an 'aparthotel', aka an apartment hotel, with 40 suites

Property developer Richard Carr has drawn up the schemes on behalf of the owner of all three properties, John Butterworth of FJB Hotels, and has taken inspiration from Florida's famous Palm Beach. 

He said: 'If you went to Palm Beach you would not expect to find hotels that are 100 years old.

'The Sandbanks and Haven Hotels are old buildings that are coming to the end of their economic life cycle.

'No amount of money can put into The Sandbanks right now because the rooms are too small and the bathrooms are substandard.

'It's common sense that people's aspirations and needs have changed.

'The new hotels will be state of the art and provide the facilities that anyone from anywhere in the world would be happy to receive.

Property developer Richard Carr has drawn up the schemes on behalf of the owner of all three properties, John Butterworth of FJB Hotels. He said: 'If you went to Palm Beach you would not expect to find hotels that are 100 years old'

The Haven Hotel was built in 1887 after its predecessor, the North Haven Inn, was demolished. The Haven Hotel could be replaced with 196 residential apartments in four blocks with a 7,000 sq ft restaurant called the Jurassic Eye at the top

'Sandbanks has a high-class reputation and if people are going to stay there they expect facilities that they would get in top hotels in any major city in the world.

'People never like change but change has to happen, things have to move on.

'If it doesn't happen now it will have to happen in ten years time.'

John Butterworth, managing director of FJB Hotels, added: 'Engineers tell us that the structure of the buildings are coming to the end of their commercial life, so we are going to have to rebuild them.

'They're going to have to come down eventually and at the moment it's difficult to offer the public the facilities they rightly expect.'

However people living in the town rejected the idea, with one resident branding it 'hideous' and another saying it was a 'disgrace'.

Writing on Facebook, Andy Sheppard said: 'I think it's an absolute disgrace. Especially demolishing the Haven for flats! Terrible idea. That is a historic building, prime location, great rooms, restaurant and bars for locals and visitors. And they want to build more flats instead.'

Alison Oliver wrote: 'Hideous! Surely the Haven Hotel is a listed building! I think the sandbanks is in need of a facelift but the Haven is part of Pooles history!'

Dave Hatchard added: 'Poole and Bournemouth have already been ruined over the years, Is there nothing left sacred? I am all for something new but please leave our grandkids some kind of heritage to be proud of.' 

The Sandbanks Hotel is one of the earliest buildings on the exclusive peninsula. The current hotel dates back to the 1920s but a previous hotel,  the South Haven Inn, was built in the 19th century

The seaside view of the Sandbanks Hotel. John Butterworth, managing director of FJB Hotels, said: 'Engineers tell us that the structure of the buildings are coming to the end of their commercial life, so we are going to have to rebuild them'

Plans for the new luxurious hotels have been slammed by local residents. Dave Hatchard added: 'Poole and Bournemouth have already been ruined over the years, Is there nothing left sacred ?'

In response to the comments, Mr Butterworth said: 'The FJB Group has been in business since the 1930's and on the Sandbanks peninsula since the 1960's proudly owning and operating, through our family business, the Haven Hotel and the Sandbanks Hotel. As time passes expectations in hospitality change - when we bought the Sandbanks Hotel in 1966 it didn't even have en-suite bathrooms! 

'Today, the Haven Hotel is very popular but as it was re-built in 1927 with a steel frame sadly it is coming to the end of its life structurally - the building just can't go on forever, as is evident from the engineers' reports.

'Our vision is to provide a hotel on the current site of the Sandbanks Hotel that delivers more than the sum of the parts of the two hotels today. 

'It will have over 170 bedrooms and internationally attractive facilities so it wouldn't make any sense at all to have a second hotel on the peninsula, so we propose to build a residential development where the Haven Hotel is now that will make owning a property on Sandbanks accessible to many and we intend to incorporate restaurants and bars in that Haven development for locals and visitors to enjoy that will be of a far higher standard than currently available, so no one will be losing out at all. 

'And, when developed, the Sandbanks Hotel of course will be something for Poole and indeed the whole South of England to be really proud of long into the future.'

The application for planning permission has been lodged and developers hope to be granted approval within nine months.