DOVER KENT ARCHIVES

Sort file:- Dover, March, 2021.

Page Updated:- Wednesday, 31 March, 2021.

PUB LIST PUBLIC HOUSES Paul Skelton

 

International Hotel

 

Townwall Street

Dover

From the Kent Messinger 31 October 1969.

Intenational Hotel

Now Eurotel plan is on.

'Green' for £1½ scheme.

REVISED plans for Dover's £1,500,000 Eurotel and office complex designed to, overlook the Channel on the existing Townwall-street car park site were approved by the council on Tuesday.

Original plans were approved by the council in June but were later turned down by the county council because it considered part of the design was old-fashioned.

The revised plans now go back to the county council for approval, This time Dover's deputy town clerk, Miss L. Cumberland, said: "We do not anticipate any difficulties."

The plans include some streamlining in design, alterations to the multi-storey car park and to bedrooms. Work on the building was due to start on October 1. Completion date was by October, 1971.

And a start will probably not now take place until early next year.

The Eurotel when built, will be the first in Britain and will occupy the town's last undeveloped bomb site.

DOVERS £1½ million town centre development held up for four months because the planners have been at loggerheads, has now got the green light.

The County Council, which rejected the first plan for the project which includes a 23 story International Hotel, conference hall, exhibition hall, offices, showrooms, and multi-story car park, are now willing to approve a substitute plan.

This was revealed at Tuesday's meeting of the Town Council, when borough engineer Mr. David Bevan, said: "The modification which is basically the same, is acceptable to the County."

Mr. Bevan said that the new plan was dramatic in appearance and gave the hotel an additional 25 bedrooms.

Work on the project, which when completed, will give employment to 600 people, is expected to start  before the end of the year.

The hotel will be Britain's first Eurotel, a project organised by an international company with headquarters in Zurich. It will have a penthouse restaurant, roof gardens and luxury apartments.

 

From the Dover Express, Thursday, 29 December, 2011. 60p

HOTEL PLANS

DOVER: Details of what the new hotel, planned for the St James' area will look like are due to be discussed in the new year by Dover Town Council and Dover District Council.

The construction is the first step towards the demolition of the towering and long-vacant Burlington House in Townwall Street and will include a restaurant and bars on the ground and three upper floors.

The siting of the planned hotel is on the west side of Woolcomber Street and the south side of what is left of St James Street.

A second planning application, submitted by Bond City Ltd, is for an illuminated LED screen. The hotel would take a small section of the Russell Street pay-and-display car park and will not have its own separate car parking facility.

 

From the Dover Mercury, 10 May, 2012. 80p

MULTI-MILLION TOWN CENTRE SCHEME MEANS BURLINGTON HOUSE COMING DOWN

Burlington House and Paul Watkins

District council leader Cllr Paul Watkins at the St James' Street area which is to be redeveloped. The buildings, including the Burlington House office complex, will be demolished

Picture: Graham Tutthill FM2038113

 

PROGRESS is at last being made on the redevelopment of a major part of Dover town centre.

Planning permission has been given for the multi-million pound scheme at St James' Street which brings the demolition of the empty Burlington House office block and the derelict multi-storey car park a step nearer.

Once the six-week period for objections has expired, the council and developers will be able to go ahead with compulsory purchase orders to secure the last sections of the site which are needed for the development to go ahead, including the office block.

Planning approval was given last Wednesday night for shops, eight homes and other works associated with the Dover Town Investment Zone. In March, permission was given for a hotel building with restaurant and bars on the nearby area between Russell Street and Woolcomber Street.

District council leader Cllr Paul Watkins said it was “excellent news” for the district.

“It is a major example of continuing investor confidence in the area.

“It is another key foundation for the development and growth agenda for Dover, and will complement other emerging proposals and ensure that the community, residents and visitors alike can access the modern retail facilities without being encouraged to go elsewhere.

“It is a timely demonstration of how the council, working in partnership with the private sector, can deliver quickly on the decisions that have to be taken to allow development to move forward.”

John Laker, of Laker Developments, representing Bond City, said: “Receiving planning approval is very rewarding and another piece in the jigsaw of creating a vibrant shopping area in Dover town centre.

“We can now continue our discussions with retailers in the confidence that the scheme can be delivered within a set timescale.” The decision was also welcomed by district council opposition leader Cllr Gordon Cowan. “It creates the opportunity for the people of Dover to get the much-needed development of this key site.”

It is hoped that once work gets under way, it will encourage other investment and development in the town, including the refurbishment of the former "Snoops" nightclub site in Castle Street, where Wetherspoons has plans for development.

 

From the Dover Mercury, 2 August, 2012. 80p

TIMETABLE SET OVER EYESORE DEMOLITION

WORK on the demolition of Burlington House and the redevelopment of the site should start within the next three years.

Planning permission was given in May, and the formal document was issued in June.

Members of the district council's planning committee are being told at their meeting this evening (Thursday), that work must begin within three years, but that some sections of the scheme can not begin until other conditions have been met.

The plan is for the demolition of the buildings in the Dover Town Investment Zone in the St James' Street area of the town, stretching from Townwall Street to Castle Street and King Street across Russell Street to Woolcomber Street. It also includes land fronting Flying Horse Lane, and what is described as a pocket park at the comer of King Street and Flying Horse Lane.

The development will include shops, homes and car parking.

A timetable for the work has to be submitted to the council and officers want to see samples of some of the materials that will be used before the work takes place.

They are also stipulating that the pocket park must be completed before any of the shops are occupied.

 

From the Dover Mercury, 4 July, 2013. 80p.

APPROVAL OF BURLINGTON FRESH PLANS WEEKS AWAY

Amended plans for the Dover Town Investment Zone, which now include a cinema, are expected be passed within weeks - once they are submitted.

This would then clear the way for fresh compulsory purchase orders to be approved so that existing buildings, including the Burlington House office block, can be demolished.

It was in May last year that planning permission was given for the previous multimillion-pound scheme at St James's Street, and the council said that once a six-week period for objections had expired, the council and developers would be able to go ahead with compulsory purchase orders to secure the last sections of the site which are needed for the development to go ahead.

Hailed at the time by district council leader Cllr Paul Watkins
as “excellent news” for the district, there has been disappointment on all sides that nothing has happened since.

However, Cllr Watkins said this week that the current planning application was being amended, and two other applications relating to the rest of the site were due to be submitted. Once the applications are approved, compulsory purchase orders will follow.

He said it was the owners of the office block and the land who were holding up the development - and the demolition of Burlington House.

Cllr Watkins said: “If the lessees would engage, we would have it down tomorrow.

“They are the blockage, not us. Hopefully they will come to the table and will accept the commercial deal instead of the compulsory purchase order going to an inquiry.”

 

From the Dover Mercury, 1 August, 2013. 80p.

EYESORE TO GO AS TOWN RE-STITCHED

Improvements planned to riverside walk in facelift bid for run-down area

Burlington House and Paul Watkins

District council leader Cllr Paul Watkins at Burlington House, which could be demolished

Planners are being asked to give the go-ahead for the redevelopment of the St James' area of Dover.

The scheme would involve the demolition of buildings including the Burlington House office block.

It would provide more than 10,000 square metres of new shops in three main blocks, plus other business and residential development.

The site is between Townwall Street, Woolcomber Street, Castle Street, King Street and Russell Street and includes land at Flying Horse Lane.

Some of the proposal is similar to a plan approved by the district council last year, which followed the approval of a previous plan in 2009.

However, that included Asda as the anchor store for the development, and since then the company has withdrawn.

Councillors, who will consider the latest plan next Thursday, August 8, are being told that the difference between this application and the last one is an increase of 68 square metres in the floor space of one of the main shopping units and five fewer car parking spaces.

Improved

“While the changes are modest, they are nevertheless material and require re-advertising and re-appraisal,” said the council's case worker Peter Wallace.

There will be a “pocket park” on the comer of King Street and Flying Horse Lane, the character of Flying Horse Lane will be enhanced by a single-storey, timber, painted kiosk on the north side, the riverside walk will be improved and a new pedestrian route will be created to the A20.

"‘The application seeks to transform the commercial offer in Dover,” said Mr Wallace.

“It is considered that it achieves this in a manner that ‘re-stitches' and improves the urban form, while respecting the setting of heritage assets.

“The buildings have been arranged so that they reinforce some of the existing street frontages, forming a number of small urban blocks and a series of public spaces, streets and pedestrian routes.”

The applicants have set aside £10,000 towards the long-term storage of archaeological items found on the site.

Describing the condition of the site, Mr Wallace said it had a rundown appearance.

He said: “This negative impact is accentuated by the architectural form of the remaining buildings and in particular Burlington House which is now widely recognised as an eyesore.”

Most of the authorities and organisations asked for their views on the proposal have no objection.

These include English Heritage, the Environment Agency, Affinity Water and Southern Water.

Six representations have been received from the public, which are said to generally support the plans, although some specific issues have been raised.

One person said the development failed to integrate with either the town or port and did not take the opportunity to improve the pedestrian links between the town centre and sea front.

There were also concerns that the development could hit business in existing shops in the town centre and could harm shops in Deal, as well as the loss of the "County Hotel" at a time when the council should be preserving hotel accommodation.

Existing landowners' properties would have to be vacated, said one, while another described the level of consultation as "disappointing".

The council is also being asked to find an alternative site for the soup kitchen.

 

George Pitts cartoon 1995

Above cartoon by George Pitts from the Dover Express 1995.

 

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