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The former Water’s Edge Hotel in Bouley Bay has been bought for £6.4m by the family who will demolish it and build a stepped luxury home.
The redevelopment of the hotel was approved by the Planning Committee last October and now, six months later, the unnamed family behind it has acquired the property.
The family who will live in the three-storey home said that planning approval “heralds an exciting new era” for Bouley Bay when their plans were passed.
Plans to convert the Water's Edge into a home with guest accommodation, a pool, tennis courts and extensive landscaped gardens were first put forward in June 2021.
They include building a new dive centre, in the same place where it is now, and a new café/restaurant, which is intended as a replacement for the Black Dog pub.
Past Environment Minister John Young referred the application to a public inquiry, but this was overturned by the Royal Court, which said it failed to meet the required legal test.
Pictured: A temporary dive centre will be built on top of the bay's central German bunker.
In parallel to the main application, the company behind the scheme also applied to build a temporary dive centre for the 2-3 years that the demolition and rebuild is expected to take.
Its first attempt – to use the parking spaces by the bay’s bus stop – was rejected by the Planning Committee, a group of politicians who decide on more controversial applications, but a second attempt – building it on the German bunker which is now a viewing platform – was approved in February.
Separately, there had been concern that the popular Mad Mary’s food kiosk would be forced to close but last October its owner, Mary Tunney, was offered a fresh six-year lease when her current tenure expires in September.
As part of a legally binding agreement with Planning, the owners of the site have pledged that the redevelopment won't affect any hill climb events and the cliff path to and from White Rock will remain open.
The owners have also agreed to limit movements of construction traffic during the summer months.
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