Midland Hotel Boundary Wall Under Threat

Phase 1 of the Urban Splash proposals to develop the central promenade area include demolition of the boundary wall in front of the Midland Hotel to create a new setting for the building.

The Midland is a Grade II listed building and that includes the boundary wall and spiral entrance piers. These are unique in the setting for the Midland and would be of great architectural loss if they were to be removed.

As far as can be seen, no planning application has been submitted to demolish part of the listed building; but plans for Phase 1 have already been submitted and therefore the wall would have to go if they were to proceed.

Controversy over Central Promenade Plans

Plans to redevelop Morecambe's Central Promenade site were submitted late 2007 by Urban Splash, but were not available to view fully until mid 2008. This has only given the public a short time to view and comment on what could be one of the resorts' biggest and controversial developments in recent years.

The Architectural firm FLACQ originally won an architectural competition on how to develop the promenade site in 2006.

Since then there have been only two public consultations on the plans. One, for the public to see and comment on the original six finalists and a second after the competition to comment on Urban Splash and FLACQ's new plans for the site.

It is clear from what was submitted in the original competition that what is proposed now very different from what has been submitted in their recent planning application.

What we have now are six fingered blocks. These mostly rise at four floors from the promenade to heights of six to eight floors at the sea. The first two blocks in Phase I start at four floors from the ground, next to the Midland, and six at the rear. This makes them higher than the current Midland Hotel, and these are the smallest blocks! Apart from the way they fan out from the promenade the blocks bare very little resemblance to their original proposals.

The original tourist attraction, now referred to as the 'Summer Garden' seems to have shrunk in size considerably and is more angular in design than their original.

The bulk of the development is actually residential with apartments and studio flats (bed-sits) occupying five of the fingered blocks. These number about 380 units in total. The sixth block is thought to be a new 130 bed hotel.

So far, a large number of objections have been submitted to the Lancaster City Council concerning the plans.

It should also be noted that at the original consultation showing the six finalists, this scheme was not the public's most popular choice. The favourite was actually included new urban lakes with piers running across, new green areas, a few building blocks, hotel and Ferris wheel restaurant. Also mentioned was a sort of float-in cinema.

One also has to wonder if the six finalists were the six of the best. About a hundred different proposals were originally submitted and many of these can still be found on the Internet.

Elms Hotel is Saved!

It has since been learnt that the local authority have, thankfully, refused planning permission for this controversial development.

It is just a pity they couldn't have used the same common sense with regards to the Broadway Hotel....