Storm brewing over West Kirby hotel?

by Lorna Hughes, Wirral News Series

DEVELOPERS hoping to built a £10m luxury hotel and sailing school in West Kirby have been warned the project could lead them into stormy waters.

Wirral Council has signed a contract with developers Carpenters Investments Ltd to provide West Kirby with a sailing school and high quality hotel.

The development - if approved by planners - would be located at the head of the Marine Lake at the junction with Dee Lane.

Their proposals centre around a luxury design-led hotel, which would include a restaurant, bar, spa and conference facilities together with additional retail provision on the ground floor.

The existing sailing school, which dates from 1965, would be replaced with a new facility funded through the private sector.

The developers say they are committed to the “exciting” and “ambitious” project but councillors have warned the developers to expect opposition.

Cllr Gerry Ellis said he had been contacted by scores of residents unhappy about the proposals.

He said: “From the beginning there’s been big concern and a general feeling that this is too large a concept for this particular site and could cause serious problems with car parking.

“While there would be no spaces lost there wouldn’t be anything gained, while the hotel staff and visitors would create quite a lot of new parking.

“In my view, we really do need to go ahead with the public consultation and a presentation on the plans, which will be set up very soon.”

Carpenter Investments was co-founded by David Brewitt, owner and operator of Liverpool’s award-winning Hope Street Hotel and Alan Beer, director of Beers Timber & Building Supplies.

Their proposal puts forward a number of possible solutions for the re-provision of car parking on the site, with public toilets in the sailing school complex.

Cllr Bob Moon, cabinet member for culture, tourism and leisure, said: “The Hope Street Hotel in Liverpool is a multi-award winning facility and, if its success is replicated in West Kirby, it will benefit the whole of the borough immensely.”