Cornwall is extremely popular to British and foreign tourists and, although more and more hotels are closing and being turned into housing, there are lots of plans for new holiday accommodation to open.
Multimillion-pound investments are being made in the county and lots of hotels and resorts are set to open in the next few years.
We look at some of huge plans afoot already transforming Cornwall‘s tourism offer.
Cornwall’s first Holiday Inn Express
A new hotel and restaurant is being built next to Cornwall Services.
Once complete the building, which sits next to the A30, will accommodate a restaurant on the ground floor and rooms on the second and third floors.
It will be the first Holiday Inn Express in Cornwall and is due to have 70 rooms.
No opening date has been released at this stage but according to the Cornwall Services website the hotel is “coming soon”.
(Image: Tom Last)
It forms phase two of the original Cornwall Services scheme. A tourist information centre is also due to be built at the site.
The original plans, first published in February 2011, outlined an 80-bed hotel, however it appears that this number was later reduced.
The hotel was included in the original planning application for the services scheme, which first opened in 2014 and houses a garage, shops and various food and drink outlets including McDonald’s, Costa Coffee, Cornish Kitchen, W.C. Rowe, Open Oven Pizza Company, and Subway.
Premier Inn in Newquay
Artists’ impression of how the Premier Inn could look
The former St Brannocks and Tolcarne hotels in Newquay were demolished in September 2008 to make way for a huge new five-storey development for 75 apartments which never materialised, despite some of the prospective new flats having been sold.
The plot was later bought by Premier Inn, the UK’s largest hotel group.
In February 2018, Premier Inn was given permission to build a four-storey, 82-bed hotel on the site, three months after an application was submitted. The scheme will also include 41 guest parking spaces and a restaurant on the ground floor.
The hotel will open by the end of the year.
Premier Inn in Penzance
Penzance will also be getting a new hotel this year as Premier Inn is set to open its doors in the next couple of months.
The budget hotel chain was first given planning permission in the summer of 2017 with works starting in 2018 at the former Branwells Mill building.
The hotel will have 61 bedrooms and is expected to create 22 full-time jobs.
Premier Inn previously said that it will open early 2019. Cornwall Live contacted the chain for a more precise date and is awaiting for a reply.
Bodmin Jail
Bodmin Jail has started its transformation
Bodmin Jail’s £30 million development to turn part of Cornwall ’s 18th century jail into a 63-bed hotel and visitor attraction is currently under way.
Scaffolding has been put up to carry out the massive project while virtual-reality displays scheduled to be included within the new £8.5m ‘Dark Walk’ attraction are being tested.
According to Chris Wilkes, commercial manager at the jail, the works are creating up to 80 local construction jobs for companies and workers from Cornwall and the South West.
It was also previously announced that 50 to 60 full-time posts would be created at the jail once the works are finished. Alongside the conversion works, an ecology project has been undertaken to protect the seven species of bats residing on site.
Scaffolding surrounds Bodmin Jail (Image: Tom Last)
As well as a 63-bedroom hotel, the site would be extended to include an attraction called Dark Walk.
High-tech film, projections and sets recreating life in the prison up to 200 years ago will allow visitors to experience the ambiance of the jail’s heyday in a sequence of themed rooms.
It is hoped the “amazing experience” will be completed by 2019 and that the hotel itself will open next year.
Eden Project hotel
The planned Eden Project hotel
In February 2017 planning permission was granted by Cornwall Council for a £8.5m 109-bedroom hotel.
Eden Project submitted an updated plan for consideration by Cornwall’s planners in February 2018.
A spokesman for Eden said: “The most significant change to the design is that two buildings would now become one, with a reduction of the overall mass and visual impact to allow the structure to blend in more with the landscape.
Artist impression of the proposed Eden Project Hotel which received planning permission in February 2017 (Image: Eden Project)
“The new design is more in line with the project’s sustainability mission. The hotel will demonstrate best practice for accessibility and inclusivity.”
Construction was due to begin in November 2018 and is due to completion by January 2020.
Eden said the hotel could open in the spring of 2020.
Mystery hotel in Penzance shopping centre
There are plans to turn empty space in Wharfside Shopping Centre into a hotel, a gym, a restaurant and office space.
A couple of chains deserted the site last year but a new pre-application is aiming to regenerate the centre.
It was submitted to Cornwall Council by Agrarian architectural and design services on behalf of Pirate One And Two Ltd, the owner of Wharfside.
The application form reads: “Currently Wharfside shopping centre has in the region of 34,000 sq ft of empty retail space and as such the owners need to invest heavily and reconfigure the centre to revitalise such a key property within the centre of Penzance.
“Prior to making any formal application we are seeking positive and meaningful dialogue with the planning department so that a scheme can be formulated to benefit the centre and central Penzance and that we appreciate the local policies.”
The plan provided as part of the application outlines a major part of the first floor – including the former New Look, the former Argos, the On the Bay Restaurant, Whirlwind, Claire’s, St Justin, Costa Coffee, Saltrock, Game, the Card Factory, The Carphone Warehouse and Lou’s Shoes. The Game shop suddenly closed last week but there is no suggestion as to what will happen to the other stores or whether they would have to close to make way for the new business or businesses.
80-bed hotel at Ponsharden
The proposed scheme (Image: WYG)
The gateway into Falmouth could be totally transformed with plans unveiled for a “landmark” seven-storey building for hundreds of students, along with apartments, retail units and an 80-bed hotel.
London-based Curlew Alternative Asset Management (Curlew) wishes to create a mixed-use development on the former Vospers site at Ponsharden .
For many years the site has been an eyesore, becoming overgrown and surrounded by high wooden fencing.
The scheme includes up to 500 student bed spaces, about 80 one to three-bedroom apartments, an 80 bed-hotel with bar and restaurant and about 2,400 sq ft of retail units, including fast food with about 220 parking spaces in total.
The site (Image: Google Maps)
Sainsbury’s , which owns the Vospers site, had planned to build its largest store in Cornwall there, replacing the one nearby. However the company announced last April that it was selling the site after shelving the proposal for good.
WYG said that although the number of bed spaces that have permission or are likely to be approved exceed the 2,500 that the university said it needs in the next eight years, most are for first year students. This scheme is aimed at second and third years.
It said the development would be “presented in zones to encourage ‘ownership’ of areas and also create positive living environments for future residents”.
The hotel it said, can “make a positive contribution” providing employment and facilities to serve both towns and visitors.
40-bed hotel at Trevithick Manor Retail park
The layout of the Trevithick Manor retail park
Work on the major retail park at Trevithick Manor Farm opposite Morrisons in Newquay was due to get under way late in 2018.
Cheshire-based developer Consolidated Property Group (CPG) was given the go ahead in 2016 to build eight retail units, a food store, two drive-through fast-food restaurants, a pub and a 40-bed hotel.
The plans have been modified to include five retail units, two drive-through fast-food restaurants, a pub and a 40-bed hotel.
Location of the Trevithick Manor retail park in Newquay
Eight big name retailers had been confirmed as principal occupiers of the park, German supermarket giant Aldi , Costa Coffee, Pets at Home, B&M, Wilko , Iceland and KFC , while Marston’s was earmarked to take on the pub restaurant and hotel.
The scheme will create 350 jobs for the area, with a further 150 during construction.
The first phase of the development scheduled to open sometime in 2019.
Travelodge’s potential locations
(Image: Sally Adams)
Travelodge opened their latest hotel, officially called Camborne Redruth Travelodge, in Pool at Trevenson Gateway, in December 2018.
The company said it also has its eye on seven more potential sites across the county as well as one extra on the Isles of Scilly, which it includes in its Cornwall plans. Potential locations include Bude, Falmouth, Looe or Fowey, Newquay, Penzance, St Ives and Truro.
Retallack
Plans have been tabled for a £50-million redevelopment of the Retallack Resort and Spa at Winnards Perch, near St Columb Major, which has been bought by company Aria Resorts.
The plans, submitted to Cornwall Council, include a new reception building, swimming pools including a Flowrider surfing pool, and 334 holiday lodges.
In its application the firm said: “In order to fulfill our vision, we are seeking to make a number of amendments to the previously approved scheme at Retallack. This application seeks to retain the same number of units as previously proposed.
Proposals for the expansion to Retallack Resort and Spa (Image: Cornwall Council/Aria Resorts)
“The scheme merely seeks to relocate and amend the design of some of the previously approved units, particularly in the Moorland Area.”
A spokesman for Aria added: “The proposals emerge as a result of the Retallack resort recently being purchased by the Aria Resort Group, who is a leading operator and developer of UK leisure and hospitality assets.
“Aria is building a premium portfolio of catered and self-catered accommodation and holiday home developments along the spectacular UK coastline that seeks to improve the tourist accommodation in these areas.
“Aria is looking to invest approximately £50m into the Retallack Resort, to ensure that it is a high quality and attractive tourist destination for Cornwall.”
Waterside Cornwall
How the expanded Waterside Cornwall holiday park could look with 118 more chalets
Waterside Cornwall – formerly known as the Lakeview Country Club – has been granted full planning permission to build a hotel, 118 eco lodges among trees and beside a lake and a 25-metre swimming pool.
The huge development, which would see the holiday resort treble in size, will include the construction of a multi-use hall and climbing centre, the extension and refurbishment of the existing seven-bedroom guest accommodation building into a 10-room hotel and spa and wellness centre.
There are also plans for a restaurant as well as several leisure facilities including tennis courts, a new energy centre to power the site, staff accommodation and associated road infrastructure at the Lanivet site, near Bodmin .
Waterside Cornwall is a family holiday resort, specialising in self-catering holiday accommodation and leisure facilities.
There are currently 70 lodges on-site consisting of two and three-bedroom A-frame lodges, some with hot tubs, as well as a gym and fitness suite that includes a swimming pool, sauna and tanning solarium.
There is also a wakepark, FootGolf, Segway and fishing, Waterside restaurant and café-bar.
Artist impression of what the new development could look like at the Waterside Cornwall holiday park in Lanivet
The proposed development will provide additional resort accommodation, landscaping and access in the area currently occupied by the golf course. Previous plans had also included a dry ski slope but this has now been ditched when the proposal raised eyebrows with the community.
A spokesman for Waterside Cornwall said the dry ski slope was removed to be replaced with a climbing wall which the company felt had wider public appeal, especially with holidaying families.
Now it has received the green light from Cornwall Council planners, the scheme is expected to be built in several phases over the next three to five years.
Ian Slater, resort director, said: “Waterside has already benefitted from investment by the new owners over the past year. We are thrilled to get the green light for the new development which will mean the resort has a really exciting future.”
The proposals also include a number of landscape enhancements across the 100-acre site such as an “avenue of gold” highlighting Cornwall’s mining heritage, a geological trail and arboretum, a sculpture area, nature trails with wildlife hides and ecological habitat creation.
The project has been masterminded by Devon -based Peregrine Mears Architects, who specialise in the leisure and tourism sector.
Practice director Peregrine Mears, said: “We are really delighted to see Cornwall Council give their support to this project. It represents a very positive step for tourism provision in the South West and we’re excited about the positive effects it will have on the local community.”
Cornwall’s first six-star resort
How Camel Creek could look from above
Alton Towers founder John Broome obtained planning permission to develop the Camel Creek site, between Wadebridge and St Columb.
The scheme involves a holiday and leisure park with 236 holiday lodges, facilities, exhibition space, a convention centre, ancillary services and service buildings, restaurant, cafe, public house and shops.
The holiday accommodation would include 106 villas, 84 courtyard properties and 46 tree houses . A new access road would be built off the B3274.
The developer promises the scheme will create 900 jobs and take three years to build.