THE long running battle over the future of the An Mor Hotel in Bude has reached its conclusion - in favour of the developer.

After an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, based in Bristol, the inspectorate has upheld the appeal made by Churchill Retirement Living to demolish the existing building and construct 39 retirement living apartments in its place.

Cornwall Council had refused permission for the development in November 2024, citing the need for affordable housing and the environmental impact of the development.

In March, over 100 residents and local representatives attended a public inquiry as part of the inspectorate appeal process at the Falcon Hotel.

One of those present, Dr Pauline Anthony, a GP at Neetside Surgery was one of many residents who took a stand to address the inspectorate.

In her statement on behalf of the surgery she said: “As people who live in this area will already know, the NHS in this area is under great strain. That is not unusual, it is under strain in other parts of the country, but Bude is unusual in that we are over an hour and a half from the local hospitals that serve us.

“This creates a particular problem for Bude, as although it is a reasonably well resourced town, it is a long way from secondary and emergency care centres.

“Our concern as a practice and as part of the primary care network and NHS […] is that the type of people who would choose to move into a retirement flat that is not a nursing home tend to be people who just starting to become a bit frail.

“People might move in from out of the area, without local families to support them, and those people tend to be high users of NHS services. GP appointments will be affected, nurse appointments will be affected, healthcare assistant work will be affected […] and we are already stretched.”

However, Jonathan Parsons of the planning inspectorate decided in favour of allowing the appeal, meaning that An Mor is set to be demolished in accordance with the original planning permission.

In the decision notice, he said: “The appeal is allowed and planning permission is granted for the demolition of the existing building and redevelopment to form 39 retirement living apartments for older persons including communal facilities, car parking and landscaping at An Mor Hotel, Hartland Terrace, Bude, EX23 8JY in accordance with the terms of the application, Ref PA24/03683.”