Facelift for Sandown as plans submitted to fix eyesores

Isle of Wight Hotels owns a number of venues and plots in the seaside town and has now heeded calls of action to do something about it.

With two planning applications, the company, which has developer Nick Spyker as one of its directors, is seeking permission from the Isle of Wight Council to develop the dilapidated outbuildings of the Grand Hotel.

• Sandown councillor calls for action from derelict site owners

It also wants to build on land where the former Savoy apartments were, on the corner of Victoria Road near the library.

The Grand Hotel plans, 21/01422/FUL, will see work on the outbuildings to the rear of the hotel on Culver Parade — demolishing the four former apartments and swimming pool to construct four new residential apartments.

Fire crews were called to the Grand Hotel earlier this month when a large blaze broke out, causing what Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire Services say is 80 per cent damage to one of the single-storey buildings.

• Sandown's Grand Hotel outbuilding gutted by blaze

The application was submitted to the council months before the fire but it was only validated by the planning authority in September, again before the fire.

Despite the former Savoy apartments, being already demolished, agents on behalf of the hotel company has said there has been trouble selling the site for years now.

Planning permission for the demolition of the derelict apartments was approved in 2015 with the potential to construct 19 flats on the footprint but plans changed in 2018 to build 12 houses instead.

In planning documents, submitted by MJH Architectural Services, the agents say the 12-dwelling scheme is not viable, due to groundwork construction costs, so it was 'necessary to look again' and produce a scheme that would be feasible.

Plans for the site by MJH Architectural Services.

Now, the company is looking to build three four-bed houses on the site instead, which is said to be mainly outside the footprint of the original, now demolished, building.

Picture: MJH Architectural Services

Comments on both applications can be submitted to the council's planning portal by November 12.