Controversial plans to create a hotel in an empty Lake District building have been approved – for the second time.
An initial bid to convert Pearsall House, on the shores of Windermere, into a hotel was approved in October 2023, but were forced to go back to the drawing board.
In March last year, members of the Lake District National Park Authority’s development control committee was asked to revisit the site at Far Sawrey because its condition had changed.
An ‘over-eager’ site manager had begun to make changes to landscaping at the site.
The plans previously faced objections from residents and parish councils concerned over wastewater management and overdevelopment.
This week, plans to transform the building into a 15-bed hotel and create a 24-space car park have been given the go-ahead.
But Southport-based Mikhail Hotels and Leisure Holdings Ltd has been told that the building could not be occupied until the sewage system had been enhanced as the current situation was deemed inadequate to cope with the potential drainage level of the hotel.
If the building is occupied before sewage works are completed, the LDNPA could issue an immediate stop order – to which non-compliance would be a criminal offence.
Another condition, to restore the landscaping was agreed.
Jim Jackson, deputy chair of the committee said it was an opportunity to bring back into service a useful building.
Resident Anthea Jones objected to the application. She said the building would be a blight on the landscape if left unoccupied due to the drainage issue and added she had little reassurance over the authority’s enforcement actions. She said the development risked irreversible damage to the natural environment.
The firm’s agent, Julian Handy, said the company did not want to wai. He said the budget of the conversion would be into millions as the hotel would be high quality for a national park.
Previously, Claife Parish Council and Windermere and Bowness Town Council objected to the proposal.
Campaign group Save Windermere also raised concerns about the proposal.
The building was last used by the Freshwater Biological Association.
