Birnbeck Conservation Group (BCG) was formed in 2021 following publication of new planning proposals for a tower block on the site of the former Royal Pier Hotel in the Birnbeck area of Weston-super-Mare.
The Royal Pier Hotel site is hatched in orange above
BCG were highly concerned that the period Victorian heritage of this older part of the town might be coming under increasing threat from insensitive, overbearing, unsympathetic and poorly-considered redevelopment, thereby damaging the town’s future economic prospects and the quality of life available to its residents and the wider outside community.
You can read residents’ and BCG objections to the tower block proposals using the archive links below. But we are pleased to say that in 2023, the local planning authority resoundingly rejected the 2021 proposals, as transgressing an overwhelming number of the formal planning policies applicable to the area.
You can read the Decision refusing planning permission HERE.
BCG remains vigilant to future attempts to damage the heritage and economic prospects of the Birnbeck area, and is working with interested parties to assist in securing the future of the Royal Pier Hotel site.
Meanwhile, a few hundred metres from the former Hotel site, works are well underway to restore historic Birnbeck Pier, following its acquisition by North Somerset Council in 2023. We will assist in any way possible to ensure the future of the Hotel site is complementary to that of the Pier.
You can get in touch with us at any time using the ‘Contact us’ link at the bottom of this page.
About us
We are a group of residents, businesses, visitors and admirers of the town who wish to see it thrive whilst properly preserving its traditional character.
We look to work alongside the many established groups, societies and trusts who share a love for this town and see its heritage as a crucial economic advantage as well as a vitally important social asset to the local community.
The Birnbeck Conservation Area
Birnbeck is situated within both the Great Weston Conservation Area and the associated Seafront Character area, which were formally recognised by North Somerset Council in December 2018. Birnbeck was previously recognised and designated (in 1984) in its own right as a unique conservation area in this part of Weston, being set as it is between the North Somerset shoreline, Weston Woods and the Hillside. This older area includes Birnbeck Pier, Birnbeck Island and Prince Consort Gardens along with the sweeping terraces of fine Victorian buildings surrounding them, some of which are formally listed.
CONSERVATION AREAS IN WESTON-SUPER-MARE
(Link to North Somerset Council website)
History of the 2021 proposals for the former Royal Pier Hotel site
These were first announced in April 2021 by CNM Estates (the same developer that had allowed Birnbeck Pier to further deteriorate since taking possession of this neighbouring site in 2014) to build a multi-storey apartment building adjacent to Prince Consort Gardens, on the site of the old Royal Pier Hotel (RPH) which was demolished following two fires in 2009 and in 2010.
This was the second time that plans for the site have been presented by CNM Estates to North Somerset Council (NSC). The first occasion was in January 2011. No development subsequently occurred, with receivers later being appointed before the land was reacquired by a CNM Estates-related and co-directed company, Birnbeck Investments Ltd.
Please see here for more details of the earlier Royal Pier Hotel site proposals.
A large tower block on the site as proposed would have dominated the heritage settings in the Birnbeck conservation area including the Town Green-status Prince Consort Gardens, as well as comprehensively ruin the majestic outlook toward the Bristol Channel, Steep Holm Island and Brean Down.
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| Prince Consort Gardens – artist’s impression as seen at present | Developer’s own artist impression of the proposed new tower block as published in April 2021 |
Our objections to the proposals
BCG and its supporters objected to excessive redevelopment of the site to a height greater than the former hotel lost to fire. Whilst the developer claimed its proposal would bring economic regeneration to the area, the truth, we believed, was that a sympathetic low-rise development could equally achieve the same end – and without despoiling the beautiful landscape & seascape which is itself an economic asset to Weston.
As Historic England state in Planning Note 3 of their December 2017 document ‘The Setting of Heritage Assets, Second Edition‘:
“Sustainable development under the National Planning Policy Framework can have important positive impacts on heritage assets and their settings, for example by bringing an abandoned building back into use or giving a heritage asset further life. However, the economic viability of a heritage asset can be reduced if the contribution made by its setting is diminished by badly designed or insensitively located development.“ [Our emphasis]
OUR MAJOR GROUNDS FOR OPPOSITION TO CNM ESTATES’ 2021 FORMAL PLANNING APPLICATION CAN BE READ HERE
AN ADDITIONAL SUBMISSION CAN BE READ HERE
Our petition
As part of our opposition to the 2021 proposals, BCG launched a Petition which was presented to the local planning authority with over a thousand signatures. It called upon the statutory planning & conservation authorities to limit the height of any redevelopment of the Royal Pier Hotel site to that of the former hotel lost to fire.
Other objections to CNM’s Royal Pier Hotel plans:
Please see here for a summary of these objections
Contact us:
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© 2022 Birnbeck Conservation Group
Birnbeck Conservation Group 