Dorset hotel appeals rejection of £65m redevelopment

Dorset Council rejected the redevelopment of Knoll House Hotel in Ferry Road, Studland at the beginning of the year. 

Kingfisher Resorts, the owner, wished to provide 30 hotel bedrooms, apartment and villa accommodation with leisure and dining facilities. 

However, at a planning committee meeting in January, councillors rejected the scheme, citing the planning application needed more work. 

Knoll House hotel in Studland

And this was rejected almost a year after a larger redevelopment scheme was also rejected. 

But defiant company owner Nigel Chapman is now appealing Dorset Council’s refusal of the £65m scheme – prompting a local enquiry at a future date. 

Several points will be discussed at the eight-day inquiry, including the landscape visual and character effects of the hotel and the design in the context of Studland. 

Documents submitted by Black Box Planning on behalf of Mr Chapman said he will explain why the work is needed to be done and sooth any concerns from the initial rejection. 

Black Box Planning said: “The regeneration of the hotel will deliver a high-quality tourism facility.  

“This regeneration will support a more environmentally sustainable and viable business moving forward but necessarily requires wholesale change and substantial economic investment. 

“It will be demonstrated that the resort will operate as a single entity but to deliver the proposed services and facilities for guests requires a critical mass of accommodation.  

“This relationship is central to the business model of delivering a five-star resort.” 

Knoll House Hotel

In total the proposal offers 280 bed spaces, 60 less than the current site capacity, although almost all the live-in staff accommodation was removed from the plans to the council. However, this has now been addressed and amended.  

Dorset Council’s planning committee told Kingfisher Resorts that they wish to see the site redeveloped but added it “has got to be the right application”. 

In addition to bed spaces across the hotel site, villas and apartments, the resort would offer a spa, swimming pool and restaurant.  

All of the existing buildings on the site would be demolished, with only the central façade of the original hotel building being retained.  

Many of the buildings would have green roofs with solar panels proposed throughout the site. 

A date has not been set for the appeal hearing. 

Knoll House started life as a summer residence for the aristocratic Bankes family in the early 1900s, before being turned into a six-bedroom hotel by Chris and Poppy Smith in 1931.

It shut during the war and was used by troops preparing for the D-Day landings.

The hotel is set in 4.33 acres of woodland, with direct access to a three-mile stretch of beach. It is well known for its restaurant and leisure facilities, which include a nine-hole pitch and putt golf course and tennis courts.

Knoll House Hotel was also a favourite of children's writer Enid Blyton, who write the Famous Five novels.