THE 2011 PLANS and their background

The Coliseum site on Crinnis in its  heyday with swimming pool, beach activities and woodland walks on Shorthorn and Polgaver

The current plans by Commercial Estates Group (CEG) for a development on the beaches at Carlyon Bay were given outline consent by Cornwall Council in July 2011.

The application was a "hybrid" application, which means CEG was given detailed permission for constructing sea defences as well as works to channel the Sandy River and cliff stabilisation.  What is built behind the defences is only outlined - there are no details of design or precise layout, so that whatever may have been seen in the public exhibitions as examples of what the development might look like will not necessarily be what is eventually built.   This means the buildings themselves, the 511 residential units, retail and leisure space, parking and various infrastructure facilities etc. have yet to be designed and will be the subject of another planning application when the details are finalised.  

The scheme still wants to build on Shorthorn as well as Crinnis - which was the only part of Carlyon Bay previously developed.  Not only that but Polgaver,  the last remaining natural area which has not previously been part of any application, is now included in the outline plans for the first time.  It comprises a beach facilities building (50 sq.m), tennis courts, play area, picnic facilities and steps.  Now that the principle of development there has been established there is little to stop more intensive use in the future. 

It is also important to note that this is a new application - it replaces the older ones for the site which were first approved in 1990 and which, as explained below, the developer has at various times tried to revise.  

(Click here for our comments and observations on this application which were sent as a formal submission to Cornwall Council planners.) 


Earlier proposals

1953
The Ministry of Housing and Local Government dismissed an appeal against a refusal to allow a small (20 units) caravan site.
1961 - 1987
Various applications including:
200 beach chalets (1963 - no decison made, presumably withdrawn)
Motel and flatlets (1968 - revoked 1976)
Holiday villas (1073 - appeal dismissed)
104 self-catering units and facilities (1976 - expired 1981)
101 self-catering units and facilities (1981 - no detail, expired)

1987
Erection of holiday village - a multitude of objections from national and local institutions and numerous local people.  Concern expressed at the performance of the council officer.  The application received conditional approval but subsequently expired.



1989  - The previous 'extant' permisson 
An application for the erection of 511 multi-storey holiday homes on Crinnis and Shorthorn beaches at Carlyon Bay.  Permission granted on 22 October 1990.

This permission included refurbishment and extension of the existing entertainment and leisure facilities (The Cornwall Coliseum complex).  These facilities had been built originally in the 1930s and 1960s and were the only previously developed part of, and occupying only a small area of, Crinnis.

The permission also included a vertical sea wall with rock armouring laid on a geotextile fabric.  This permission was locally opposed.

The material make-up of the beaches is, in fact, china clay waste, locally called "stent".  The beach was created by the fluvial deposition of this waste material through an adit and it therefore a man-made beach.  Its characteristics and behaviour is possibly unique and cannot simply be regarded as "sand".  It has only been in existence for some 150 years.
(More on how the beach was formed)

1996
Even though there was massive objection, the 1990 permission was renewed.  An application was made again in 2001 to renew the consent but discontinued when a certificate of lawful commencement was issued by Restormel Borough Council on 13 December 2001 confirming that the development had commenced just prior to the expiry of the five-year period, which had been a condition.  

The "commencement of development" was merely a few wooden pegs in the ground and some white lines, none of which can be identified today.  Whilst this might have been sufficient in law to claim a commencement of works, since that time no further construction of any kind of the 1990 scheme has taken place.  Some 20 years have elapsed since that proposed development received planning approval from the local planning authority (Restormel).

2002 
A planning application for an alternative development of similar holiday home scale also proposed an extension of the retail and leisure facilities and included a hotel.  There was again almost overwhelming opposition to this application, including the then-named Cornwall County Council, and 
a call for the application to be 'called in' by the Secretary of State.  As a result of work by Carlyon Bay Watch the application was eventually called in in 2004 and almost immediately withdrawn by the developer, this avoiding a public inquiry into the whole matter of the huge beach development.

The unauthorised sheet piling and rock armour cut off part of the beach at high tide

2004 
The developer, then named The Ampersand Group Ltd., constructed, without planning permission, a sea wall built out into the tidal zone, blocking access to the beach. They claimed it was merely a temporary defence for its workers.   After considerable pressure was placed on the local planning authority by CBW, the developer was forced to make a further application in January 2005 for a revision of the design and location of the sea wall, not as designed for the 1990 consent.  This new application included placing beach replenishment and recharge as part of the flood protection.

This new application for the sea wall was intrinsic to the abandoned 2002 scheme.  By this time, the developer's experts, H.R. Wallingfords, had already advised the site owner that the 1990 sea wall design was "dangerous to life and property".   Although the owners were aware of this advice, this information was not make public until almost the end of the 2006 Public Inquiry which resulted from the application being called in.  The "danger to life and property" would have been a legacy had the application not been called in for a decision by the Secretary of State under the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act.

The application was supported at the Public Inquiry by the local planning authority, Restormel Borough Council.  Objectors included Cornwall County Council, the Environment Agency and Carlyon Bay Watch.  (The individual planning officers for Restormel throughout this process are now senior planning officers at the new unitary authority, Cornwall Council).

2006
The full Public Inquiry was held between 7 November and 8 December 2006.  The Inspector was Mr JI McPherson who produced a 151-page report on 26 March 2007.  This examined the issues surrounding this development.

The Inquiry discussed a number of issues, including safety, sustainability, ecology, traffic management and so on and the application was eventually refused because it conflicted with various government policies (more detail on why the application was refused).

(Find Carlyon Bay on Google Maps)