Residents’ fears Sandbanks will be turned into ‘Magaluf-style’ resort after plans to transform historic solarium into ‘Love Island’ beach club get the green light

• Plans for a beach club at the posh Sandbanks family resort have been granted
• Critics have slammed the transformation of the solarium as an act of ‘vandalism’
• Entrepreneur Luke Davis will replace the 1930s building with the ‘trendy’ club
• Local residents fear that the nightspot will attract a loutish ‘Love Island crowd’

Sandbanks residents fear that the posh family resort will turn into the ‘Magaluf of Britain’ after plans to transform a historic solarium into a ‘Love Island’ style beach club were granted.

The plans for the trendy beach club in Dorset attracted over 200 letters of objection from local residents amid concerns that it will attract ‘loutish visitors’.

Entrepreneur Luke Davis, who is behind the scheme, will replace the seafront building at Branksome Chine, in Poole, Dorset with a Rockwater Village. 

The 1930s art-deco building was Britain’s first solarium, with critics calling its replacement an ‘act of gratuitous vandalism’. 

Entrepreneur Luke Davis, who is behind the scheme, intends on replacing the 1930s art-deco building with a Rockwater Village (Pictured: CGI proposal plans for the Rockwater Village at Sansbanks)

Despite the reservations, officials at Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council granted the development planning permission, going against advice from their own conservation officers.

It will now become a trendy beach club that will offer yoga and pilates classes during the day and serve as a swanky nightspot with a ‘trendy vibe’ in the evening.

In January this year, plans for a ‘monstrosity’ of a four-storey block of ‘Magaluf-style’ flats in Poole Harbour, Dorset, sparked dozens of objections from Sandbanks residents. 

The Rockwater Village development will have a large bar and restaurant with roof terrace, serving £16 cocktails to guests.

A Rockwater has previously set up a beachfront club in Hove, which offers to provide the ‘ultimate destination to spend your days from sunrise to sunset’.

Local wrote of concerns that it will be designed to ‘attract the Love Island crowd’ and it will lead to ‘loutish visitors’.

One objector described the appearance of the proposed development as ‘straight out of a Miami beach scrapbook of unsuitable designs’.

They added it will be an ‘act of gratuitous vandalism’ to replace the current building with the beach club.

Entrepreneur Luke Davis, who is behind the scheme, will replace the seafront building at Branksome Chine, in Poole, Dorset with a Rockwater Village

Sandbank residents fear that the posh family resort will turn into the ‘Magaluf of Britain’ (Pictured: Magaluf Beach in Calvia)

Another critic, Mike Watts, has predicted that the nightspot will be come a ‘drinking/get-drunk hub for loutish visitors that have come here to let off steam and don’t care a jot about our health and wellbeing.

‘If BCP allow this then it is clear their intent is on changing the face of Poole from a family resort with beautiful beaches to become the ‘Magaluf’ of Britain.’

Other critics have pointed out that the beach club could invite a ‘yob element’ who invade Sandbanks in the summer months

Mr Davis who opened a shack selling food and drink at the former beach shop last year at the same location last year. said: ‘I think the shack’s opening changed the mindset from just fear that we were bringing some sort of Benidorm atmosphere to Branksome, which isn’t true.

‘When they saw the shack and the way it was open from 7am for coffee for dog walkers and swimmers, it’s brought that area to life a little bit. It’s enhanced the area rather than taken away from it.

‘That’s all we want to do, enhance the beauty that’s already there and create more of a sense of community for the people that were objecting.

The decadent solarium opened in 1932, and allowed people to ‘sunbathe’ all year round in deckchairs and loungers as it shone powerful ultraviolet lights on them

Mr Davis who opened a shack selling food and drink at the former beach shop last year at the same location last year

‘I’m pretty sure that they will be customers in the future.’

The decadent solarium opened in 1932, and allowed people to ‘sunbathe’ all year round in deckchairs and loungers as it shone powerful ultraviolet lights on them.

It even had a sandy floor to mimic the beach across the prom.

The stylish art-deco building was highlighted by revered architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner in his seminal book The Buildings of England.

The solarium didn’t last and the building was later turned into a cafe which has become tired and run down in recent years.

BCP Council’s planning committee voted 9-3 in favour of approving the plans, despite strong objections and advice from its own conservation team that the changes should not be allowed.

Committee vice chairman Cllr Toby Johnson said it was a good development for the area which would provide extra space for local people and visitors.

He said: ‘I quite like the contemporary style*I think it is an intensification, but that’s not really a bad thing. The benefits of changing it do outweigh the conservation concerns.’

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