Revised plans for St Ives Premier Inn are submitted to Cornwall Council
Fresh plans for a Premier Inn hotel in St Ives have been submitted in response to community feedback.
Plans for the new hotel at Trewidden Road have been reduced in scale, from 100 bedrooms to 90, with reduced height and massing of the building plus a revised design using natural materials, more in keeping with St Ives’ vernacular.
The height of the proposed building has been reduced by half a meter which has been achieved by lowering the level of the hotel basement and by reducing the floor to ceiling height of the ground floor.
Bedrooms have also been removed from the top floor to reduce the sense of ‘mass’ of the new building and removed from the south-facing wing of the hotel to increase the distance between the proposed hotel and neighbouring properties and gardens.
Projecting bays, to be finished in granite, have been introduced into the new design to reference the proportions of nearby residential terraces, further breaking up the front elevation and the ridge line of the hotel building.
The previously proposed copper finish has been replaced with white render, and the top floor will be finished with grey zinc, which aims to further reduce the sense of massing of the new hotel.
If granted planning permission, the new hotel is expected to create around 30 permanent year-round jobs and deliver £10 million investment into the local economy by Whitbread, the owner of Premier Inn, which will own and operate the new hotel.
Louise Woodruff, Property Acquisitions Manager at Whitbread, said:
“Following months of meaningful consultation and engagement with the St Ives community and stakeholders at Cornwall Council, we have made some significant changes to our plans at Trewidden Road.
“We have reduced the hotel’s height and size, changed the design and building materials and by reducing the number of hotel bedrooms from 100 to 90, we have been able to increase the distance between the proposed hotel and neighbouring properties.
“The feedback we have received has helped to create an improved design for the site and my team and I are looking forward to engaging further with Officers and local representatives on our proposals as we work towards a decision on the application.
“If we are granted permission to build, the new hotel is sure to be a popular choice with leisure guests during peak times as well as business travellers which make up around half of our customer base year-round.”
Whitbread’s team has also been working to address concerns from community stakeholders around parking and traffic impact.
To better understand the availability of parking adjacent to the site, surveys of the Trenwith Car Park were undertaken for a week at Easter (April 2023) and during the busy summer period in August 2023, across a 10-day period that included two weekends.
These surveys demonstrated that car parking spaces were available at all times of the day, with peak demand building in the morning when hotel guests will be leaving and falling in mid to late afternoon when guests will be arriving or returning to the hotel. Overnight there is significant capacity for additional parking.
Louise Woodruff added: “We hope this fresh evidence will reassure local stakeholders that a Premier Inn hotel on this site would no add significant pressure to parking availability in St Ives.”
For more information about the proposals, go to: www.premierinn-stives.co.uk.
