A former status symbol hotel that would have been coveted when a Devon seaside town was at its prime looks like it could be turned into apartments.
The Grade II-listed Royal Beacon Hotel in Exmouth is the subject of ambitious plans to overhaul the building in a bid to create 19 apartments.
The proposals are set to go in front of East Devon District Council’s planning committee on Tuesday (7 July) and are being recommended for approval by officers.
The plans, which would lead to a mix of one-, two-, and three-bed apartments also includes the proposed demolition of a “utilitarian accommodation block” at the rear so that two new-build mews houses can be constructed.
The scheme has been submitted by Keith Richardson, of Richardson Hotels, who has provided evidence to the council that the hotel is “no longer commercially viable”, which makes it acceptable in planning terms to turn it into homes.
A report prepared for the planning committee said: “The building is Grade II listed and sits within the Exmouth Conservation Area.
“The hotel forms part of a terrace of 23 properties along The Beacon, built as high status houses when Exmouth became a fashionable seaside resort in the latter half of the 18th and 19th centuries.”
It added the plans had been designed to “respect the architectural and historic significance of the building, with key elements of significance such as the principal elevation being retained and enhanced”.
“The new build element to the rear is considered to represent an enhancement to the character and appearance of the site and the wider conservation area,” the report added.
“The proposal would allow for the repair and rehabilitation of the heritage asset and put the building into a viable use consistent with its conservation.”
Exmouth Town Council said it felt the number of apartments constituted “overdevelopment” and claimed it had “concern regarding the absence of a thorough historic investigation, which risked erasing or damaging heritage assets without proper consideration”.
A total of 12 residents wrote to the council to lodge objections to the plans, citing the overdevelopment concern as well as fear there weren’t enough parking spaces.
Others claimed the building would provide a “poor standard of access for people with limited mobility”, and claimed the height of the proposed mews houses would “reduce light levels to the houses along Beacon Place” and could “affect the privacy of houses opposite”.
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