The hotel that hosted world leaders for the 2021 G7 summit in Cornwall has reapplied to keep some rooms and facilities built for the event without planning permission.
The Carbis Bay Hotel, on Beach Road near St Ives, applied in March 2021 for the retention and completion of three single-storey buildings to provide nine meeting rooms and a conference facility on the site, as well as an access pathway.
The application received 400 comments from concerned residents who argued that the development would spoil the beachside views and impact negatively the wildlife and ecological systems in the area.
However, Carbis Bay Hotel went ahead with the construction without obtaining planning permission, citing the project’s urgency. In September 2021, Cornwall Council issued an enforcement notice requiring the removal of all structures and infrastructure and to reinstate the land to its original state and condition.
The new application, submitted on 3 January, asks for the "retention of concrete structures, section of the post and wire fence on land to the west of hotel and the tarmac service access track and stone terracing to the south of the hotel and erection of a gated access."
Seven people have already commented opposing the application.
A geotechnical report prepared for the hotel argues that the removal of the concrete structures without appropriate long-term retention and support "will lead to increased risk of landslip and collapse of material."
"The applicant must be enforced to reinstate the area as it was, before it was illegally built on (as previously directed by the planning decision)," wrote one concerned commenter on the application in the Cornwall Council online planning register. "The fact that there could be a risk of landslide is his own doing – nobody else’s.
"With all the technology available to us, I am sure that any potential risk could be readily mitigated. This application should be refused as otherwise it will set a precedence for other planning misdemeanours."
Cornwall Council’s planning department will decide on the application at a future date.
