Approval has been granted for demolition of the Bay View Hotel in Port St Mary, built in 1834, and replacement with three three-bedroom flats.

The plan (17/00976/B by Red Pen Ltd) provoked objections from the local authority, because members said it was over intensive.

Residents argued the building has hosted historic Manx events, such as the inquest into the Brig Lily disaster in 1852, and should be retained on grounds of its age and use of traditional materials.

Government planners turned it down as it would ’not sit comfortably in the streetscene’.

In addition, the current building ’contributes positively to the character of the village’ and that it had not been demonstrated that the principal walls could not be retained and the building renovated.

The decision was taken to appeal by the company Red Pen, which argued there was significant local support for the scheme.

It felt that the concern of the planning committee may be related more to nostalgia than to aesthetics.

Several Victorian buildings in Port Erin of higher quality than this hotel have been demolished and replaced with modern buildings, indicating that ’the retention of traditional buildings is often impractical and unviable’.

It is two metres higher to allow for ground floor, off-street car parking.

The planning committee said that the building was in a very poor state of repair and that its registration was not warranted. However, three external walls could be retained. There was no adequate justification for its demolition.

Independent inspector Brian Sims said conservation and planning officers said it failed to justify formal registration or retention due to modern alterations having removed many original internal architectural features, and the general deterioration of the building. Its renovation ’would have to be radical, with only the three main external walls remaining and there is some doubt as to their structural stability’.

Also the hotel was not within any designated conservation area.

He added if the building was registered, or proposed for registration, ’I consider that it would have been necessary for fully documented, professional structural engineering and viability reports to have been submitted to justify demolition. But it is not.’

’Therefore, I find no planning requirement or justification for refusing the proposed demolition.’

He concluded the proposed building would not be ’harmfully dominant with respect to its neighbours and, in my view, the building would serve to make an appropriate new architectural statement of its own, which would respect, and indeed preserve, the character of the surrounding townscape.’

He recommended if approved there should be a condition requiring prior approval of details to the front boundary wall. Also, a photographic record of the building internally and externally must be taken as it is ’an historic feature of the streetscene’.

Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture Minister Geoffrey Boot agreed with Mr Sims and approved the plan.